How busy is my train?  

Our SeatFinder tools are designed to help you plan a journey with confidence. Using train loading data of the same service from the previous four weeks, we are now providing the most accurate information of how busy your service will be.

How do the seat availability tools work? 

Many of our trains have sensors on board which can detect the weight of each carriage taking into account passengers joining and leaving the train. This information is fed back to our engineering systems which then generate a loading figure for each train and each station that the train has stopped at. 

This information is then fed into industry information systems and enables us to display the average loading for trains for each individual day, based on the average loading figure from the previous four weeks. This data is now available for both weekday and weekend services. 


If you're travelling today... 

If you're travelling within the next two hours, to find out how busy your train is, simply check your journey on our Live Departure Boards

live departure board results

 

 

 

 

 

 



You can also view SeatFinder information on our Southeastern app in Departures & Arrivals, making it even easier to stay up to date with how busy your train is while you're on the move.

Southeastern app Android version


If you're planning ahead... 

If you’re planning your journey in advance, you can use our SeatFinder Timetables to see how busy trains usually are on each individual weekday. So if you’re only travelling a couple of days each week, you can compare each day to help you find the quietest times to travel. 

example of timetable with SeatFinder availability on train timeslegend displaying colours of SeatFinder availability from green to red

SeatFinder Timetables


Understanding seat availability

green roundel with white body silhouette Many seats available
light green roundel with black body silhouette Plenty of seats available
yellow roundel with black body silhouette Some seats available
orange roundel with black body silhouette Only a few seats available
red roundel with white body silhouette Standing room only
n/a non-applicable logo  N/A