Thameslink

This article is about the railway route. For the former train operating company, see Thameslink (train operating company).

Thameslink
A First Capital Connect class 319 at Kentish Town.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	East of England Greater London South East England
Termini	Bedford Brighton/Sutton
Stations	50
Services	5
Operation
Opened	1988
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	First Capital Connect
Depot(s)	Bedford
Rolling stock	Class 319 Class 377 Electrostar
Technical
No. of tracks	2-4
Track gauge	Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	25 kV 50hz AC 750 V DC third rail
Operating speed	100 mph (160 km/h) maximum

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, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It also incorporates a suburban loop serving Sutton and Wimbledon. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. The Thameslink Programme is a major £5.5 billion 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. This scheme, scheduled for completion in 2018, is well under way.

Route

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.

The route through central London is St Pancras International for connections to Eurostar and the East Midlands; Farringdon, which links into the London Underground's Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines, as well as Crossrail from 2018; City Thameslink, which replaced the demolished Holborn Viaduct but also has a southern entrance serving Ludgate Circus; Blackfriars, which links to a number of other rail services and the District and Circle lines on the Underground; and London Bridge, which also links to a number of other lines. King's Cross Thameslink on Pentonville Road closed on 8 December 2007.

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

Services

Thameslink

Legend Midland Main Line to Leeds Bedford Ampthill Tunnel (715 yd (654 m)) Flitwick Harlington Leagrave Luton Luton Airport Parkway Harpenden St Albans City M25 motorway Radlett Elstree & Borehamwood Elstree Tunnel (1,072 yd (980 m)) M1 motorway Mill Hill Broadway Hendon Cricklewood West Hampstead Thameslink Belsize Tunnel (1,771 yd (1,619 m)) Lismore Circus Tunnel (88 yd (80 m)) Kentish Town Camden Road Tunnel (308 yd (282 m)) Midland Main Line North London Line/ECML/HS1 Canal tunnels - bored, but not yet connected to ECML St Pancras International Kings Cross Tunnel (1,704 yd (1,558 m)) King’s Cross Thameslink (closed December 2007) Clerkenwell Tunnels 1, 2 & 3 Farringdon Link lifted in 2009 Smithfield Tunnel (292 yd (267 m)) Snow Hill Tunnel (770 yards) Barbican (Closed March 2009) City Thameslink Barbican Tunnel (690 yd (630 m)) Moorgate (Closed March 2009) Holborn Viaduct (closed 1990) Blackfriars Blackfriars Railway Bridge River Thames Elephant & Castle London Bridge to Sevenoaks via Swanley to Orpington and Ashford Loughborough Junction Herne Hill Tulse Hill Crystal Palace Line Leigham Tunnel (302 yd (276 m)) Streatham Tunnel (220 yd (200 m)) Streatham Tooting Mitcham Eastfields Haydons Road Mitcham Junction Wimbledon Hackbridge Wimbledon Chase Carshalton South Merton Sutton Morden South West Sutton St. Helier Sutton Common East Croydon Merstham tunnel (1,830 yd (1,670 m)) M25 motorway and Quarry tunnel (2,113 yd (1,932 m)) Redhill Gatwick Airport Three Bridges Balcombe tunnel (1,168 yd (1,068 m)) Balcombe Haywards Heath Haywards Heath Tunnel (249 yd (228 m)) Wivelsfield Burgess Hill Hassocks Clayton Tunnel (2,259 yd (2,066 m)) Patcham Tunnel (488 yd (446 m)) Preston Park Brighton

The majority of fast trains run between Brighton and Bedford via London Bridge. Suburban stopping trains start at either Wimbledon or Sutton and call at all stations to Luton through the centre of London.

There are also stopping trains from Sevenoaks calling at all stations via Swanley and the Catford Loop Line and terminating at Kentish Town. In addition there are peak-only Southeastern services to and from Rochester, Ashford International or Bearsted with a northern terminus at Bedford.

Brighton to Bedford (fast from St Pancras International to St Albans) 4tph These trains run non-stop between East Croydon and London Bridge.

Orpington or Beckenham Junction to Bedford (fast) (peak-time, weekdays only)

Wimbledon or Sutton to St Albans or Luton (stopping) 4tph

Sevenoaks to Kentish Town (stopping) 2tph (weekdays only)

Rochester to Bedford (semi-fast) (peak-time, weekdays only)

Ashford International to Bedford (semi-fast) (peak-time, weekdays only)

History

Passenger services operated across London through the Snow Hill Tunnel from mid-Victorian times until World War I, 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 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.

Overhead electrification, which was completed in 1982, allowed the northern section to run as the Midland City Line service from Bedford via the Midland Main Line to London St Pancras, and via the City Widened Lines to Moorgate. From the south, services terminated at Holborn Viaduct.

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. On 29 January 1990 the section between Blackfriars and Farringdon was temporarily closed to permit the construction of a new alignment. The old route carrying the line through the site of the long-closed Ludgate Hill station and over the Ludgate Hill road was abandoned and immediatey demolished. The route carrying the railway under Ludgate Hill was opened on 29 May 1990 concurrently with the opening of City Thameslink station, which was initially called St. Paul's Thameslink but was renamed in 1991 to avoid confusion with St. Paul's station on the London Underground (Central Line), about 500 m (550 yd) away.

King's Cross Thameslink on Pentonville Road closed on 8 December 2007 when the new Thameslink platforms at nearby St Pancras railway station opened.

In the south the services divide. Main line trains run through London Bridge to East Croydon, then to Brighton. The diverging route has a more convoluted history. To begin with, 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.

Upon the privatisation of British Rail the operation of Thameslink services was franchised to a subsidiary of Govia, the train operating company Thameslink.

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.^{[citation needed]}

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

From 1 April 2006 the franchise was taken over by First Capital Connect along with other services previously operated by WAGN. 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. 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. This was in order to lengthen platforms at Farringdon (which would have cut across the Moorgate junction) and also to improve service. The tracks are still extant, but disconnected and deelectrified, with barriers at the end of each station, and the Thameslink-only platforms at Moorgate and Barbican closed.

Thameslink Programme (Thameslink 2000)

Main article: Thameslink Programme

See also: Thameslink rolling stock programme

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-time overcrowding. Network Rail obtained planning permission and legal powers in 2006, funding was secured in July 2007 and construction began in October 2007. Some of the work, notably platform lengthening, has now been completed, with further work programmed for the period from 2012 to 2018.

The London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy published in July 2011 lays out a provisional 24tph timetable. South of London it would provide four trains to Brighton (one semi-fast, one stopping) and two trains per hour each to Three Bridges, Horsham, East Grinstead, Caterham, Tattenham Corner, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford International, Maidstone East, Sevenoaks and Bellingham. North of London there would be eight semi-fast trains to Bedford, four stopping trains to St. Albans, two stopping and two semi-fast trains to Luton, 2 semi-fast trains to Peterborough, 2 semi fast trains to Cambridge and four stopping trains to Welwyn Garden City. See Thameslink Programme article for table and details.

Rolling stock

The Thameslink rolling stock is mainly the entire fleet of 86 Class 319 trains built by BREL between 1987 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 now jointly operated with Southeastern under Key Output 0 of the Thameslink Programme.

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 using a Class 317 unit ran from Farringdon to Bedford on 9 October 2009.

New energy-efficient trains will provide an additional 14,500 seats on the Thameslink route and will be delivered from 2015 to 2018. Siemens Mobility was named preferred bidder to supply the trains on 16 June 2011, with the Desiro City train family.

Depots for the new rolling stock will be built at Hornsey and Three Bridges.

External links

• Official Thameslink Programme website
• Thameslink Programme - Network Rail
• Thameslink 2000 Public Inquiry 2005 - official website for the second public inquiry
• Strategic Rail Authority Strategic Plan, 30 January 2003, page 101 and route descriptions page 27.
• alwaystouchout.com - information and news on the Thameslink Programme
• Brent Cross Thameslink station - Planning application for new Thameslink station at Brent Cross.
• [1] - Plan to cut Thameslink from Sutton/Carshalton
• [2] - Petition to save Thameslink from Sutton.