Thameslink:

Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running 225 km (140 mi) north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton which reopened in 1988 offering a well-used commuter route and serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. By late 1998 it was carrying more than 28,000 passengers during morning peak times and was severely overcrowded. The Thameslink programme is a major £5.5b scheme to extend the service to a further 100 stations and to greatly increase capacity on the central London section to accommodate more frequent and longer trains. Major parts of this new scheme will be in place by the 2012 Olympics. Thameslink services will be complemented by Crossrail which will offer east to west mainline services across London.

Route

Trains operating the "main line" service (Bedford to Brighton) include first-class accommodation. Those serving the "suburban loop" are generally standard-class-only. The previous franchisee designated these services as "Thameslink CityFlier" and "Thameslink Metro" respectively, but the present operator has dropped this branding.

Most of the route is over the Brighton Main Line and the southern part of the Midland Main Line. There is also a suburban loop through Sutton and Wimbledon.

Similarities to the tube

Thameslink is often compared to many tube lines, particularly the Sub surface lines like the Metropolitan line and the East London line. The line also has tube like frequencies. The line also appeared on the tube for a number of years from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s

Services

Brighton to Bedford (fast from Kentish Town to St Albans) 6tph (Trains from the Brighton end also run fast from East Croydon to London Bridge however the stations in between are operated by Southern Trains

Orpington or Beckenham Junction to Bedford (fast) 2tph in addition to four tph from Orpington to London Victoria operated by Southeastern trains

History

Passenger services operated across London from mid-Victorian times until World War 1 from when services terminated at Moorgate from the Midland line to the north, and at Holborn Viaduct for SE&C trains from the south at a time when most of the inner cross-London traffic had been lost to buses and trams. There were separate lower level platforms under the main part of Holborn Viaduct station known as the Snow Hill platforms, and these can still be seen today when leaving City Thameslink station travelling northwards.

The route remained operational for cross-London freight trains until 1970, just lasting into the diesel era, when the short section between Farringdon and Holborn Viaduct was closed.

The Snow Hill tunnel was re-opened to passenger trains after 72 years allowing mainline passenger services to begin on the full Thameslink network in May 1988.^[2] City Thameslink was called St. Paul's Thameslink when it opened on 29 May 1990. It was renamed in 1991 to avoid confusion with St. Paul's station on the London Underground (Central Line), which is about 500 m (550 yd) away on the opposite side of St Paul's Cathedral

In the south there are two branches. The main line runs through London Bridge to East Croydon, then to Brighton. A second branch has a more convoluted history. To begin with^[when?], trains went via Bromley to Orpington and Sevenoaks also via Herne Hill & East Croydon to Purley (off peak only). Some time after that, the non-Brighton trains ran via Elephant & Castle and Streatham to West Croydon. Although this route, still used by other train services, comes close to the "main line", it never relinks with it. After West Croydon the line ran through Carshalton Beeches to Sutton then to Epsom, Leatherhead, and Effingham Junction, finally terminating at Guildford.

Around 1994 the second branch was cut back to West Croydon as this route crossed the commuter networks of what were to become several different rail companies and the onset of rail privatisation made the route increasingly difficult to maintain.

Then around 1995 a major overhaul occurred when the route was changed completely. Thameslink no longer served the West Croydon route and instead a new route to Sutton was opened up over existing track through Mitcham Junction with the line then continuing on a loop up to Wimbledon and then rejoining itself south of Streatham. It should be noted, however, that morning peak trains only run in a clockwise direction around this loop, which is a major source of inconvenience for commuters in this area.

By late 1998, more than 28,000 passengers were carried at morning peak times.^[3]

From 1 April 2006 it was taken over by First Capital Connect along with other services previously operated by WAGN.^[4] The branding of most trains, stations, and signs has been changed to match the name of the new company, but City Thameslink and West Hampstead Thameslink stations keep the word Thameslink in their names as it refers to the route itself.^[5] After criticism of the loss of the apt name for this group of routes, First Capital Connect's publicity now calls this set of services its "Thameslink route" to distinguish it from the former WAGN services which the company also operates.

The Moorgate Branch closed permanently in March 2009 when major work on the Thameslink programme started along with various other changes.^[6]

Thameslink Programme (Thameslink 2000)

Following the success of the original scheme plans were drawn up by successive railway authorities to upgrade the Thameslink network to cope with increasing passenger numbers which in recent years have led to severe peak overcrowding.^[7] Network Rail obtained planning permission and legal powers in 2006,^[8] funding was secured in July 2007^[9] and construction began in October 2007.^[10] Much of the work due for completion by the end of 2011 with further work programmed for the period from 2012-2015.^[11]

Rolling stock

The Thameslink rolling stock is mainly the entire fleet of 86 Class 319 trains built by BREL between 1987-88 and 1990. These are electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units rated to carry 289, 308 or 319 passengers. They use 25 kV AC overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 V DC third rail to the south. Four Class 319 trains had been transferred from Southern in December 2008 and the last four followed in March 2009, from which point all 86 Class 319 trains were available for use on Thameslink.

First Capital Connect acquired 23 new-build four-coach Class 377 trains during 2009, on sublease from Southern to be used on the Thameslink route for additional capacity and also to allow some of the Class 319 trains to be released for use on the Catford Loop service to Sevenoaks which is jointly operated with Southeastern under Key Output 0 of the Thameslink Programme.^[12]

Class 317 units built in the early 1980s were still in use when services into Moorgate (25 kV AC) ceased in March 2009 under the Thameslink Programme. The last timetabled service, consisting of a single Class 317 unit operating the 18:19 service from Farringdon to Bedford on weekdays only, ended on 9 October 2009.

New energy-efficient trains will provide an additional 14,500 seats on the Thameslink route and will be delivered from 2012 to 2015.^[13]