Northern has announced that the timetable, due out in May 2018, will begin at 9.30am.
At the moment the first train out of Whitehaven to Carlisle leaves at 12.33pm and there is no service at all south of the town.
A full weekend timetable and improvements to many of the smaller stations were part of a deal that saw rail company Arriva win the tender for the Barrow-Carlisle line from Northern Rail.
There will also be more frequent trains between Whitehaven and Barrow and coaches are expected to be gradually updated.
More details on the weekend timetable and a new weekday service will be announced nearer the time, according to Cumbria County Council’s outreach officer Laurence Hilland.
Work has already begun on installing automatic ticket vending machines and electronic information boards in some unmanned stations.
Arriva operates on the Cumbrian coast as Northern.
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