Southern Railway offers a live departure service, which indicates the likelihood of being seated on your chosen train. The find quieter trains on Southern Railway service described below will show you departure times from any station on the network within 2 hours of the time of your internet search.

How to find quieter trains on Southern Railway
Worthing Railway Station – Find quieter trains on Southern Railway
Go to Southern Railway’s Live Train Departures page on their website.
Look for the Check live trains option.
Enter the name of the station you will be travelling from and your destination station.
Click or touch the SHOW LIVE DEPARTURES button.
The service will show you departures within 2 hours of the time of your internet search.
To the right-hand side of the grid showing departures, you will see a column labelled “Seat Availability,” which features an explanatory icon.
For an explanation of the seat availability icons, scroll down to the section entitled “Usual seat availability.”
Quieter trains on Southern Railway – Bonus Tip
It is not immediately apparent, but if you click or tap the train departure time you are interested in, the details will expand to show the train route from its starting station to its destination. The details will also show you all the train calling points. If your desired train has already departed from its starting station, you will also see a train icon indicating the train’s current location.
If you scroll down the list of train calling points, the Seat Availability icons may change to reflect changed seat availability as the train travels along its route.
At the end of the expanded details above, Southern Railway states that its usual seat availability data is based on information it holds for the last 14 days.
Other railway companies operating in East and West Sussex
Gatwick Express
Their Find a Quieter Train Service has train capacity details from Brighton to London Victoria Railway Station. It works similarly to the quieter trains on the Southern Railway service described above. However, there is no option to expand the details to show only the calling point, Gatwick Airport Station. While you will see icons representing seat availability, you cannot see how it may differ between Brighton and Gatwick Airport, and then onward to London Victoria. Please note that you must hold a valid Gatwick Express train ticket to use this service.
South Western Railway
The Seat Capacity Checker to London Waterloo page only displays morning train capacity information for trains heading to London Waterloo Railway Station. Additionally, the service information is available only between Monday and Friday.
Of the three train operators discussed in this post, Southern Railway offers the most comprehensive seat availability service.
The Find Quieter Trains on Southern Railway information was correct on the date this post was published.
Find Quieter Trains on Southern Railway
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