Thameslink

Thameslink is a fifty-station line in the British railway system running 225 km north to south across London from Bedford to Brighton through Snow Hill tunnel. It is a significant commuter route and serves the airports at London Gatwick and London Luton. There are around 40 million passenger journeys on the system annually. It incorporates the Brighton Main Line and part of the Midland Main Line

Upon the privatisation of British Rail the operation of Thameslink services was franchised to Govia under the name Thameslink, but as of 01:59 BST 1 April 2006 it has been merged into First Capital Connect along with other services previously operated by wagn. The branding of the trains, stations, signs etc. has been changed from 'Thameslink' to 'First Capital Connect'; however, City Thameslink and King's Cross Thameslink stations currently retains the word 'Thameslink' in their names.

History

The Snow Hill tunnel was re-opened to passengers after 50 years in 1988 and the Thameslink network in May 1990. The northern part of the network replaced the "Bedpan" service from Bedford to St Pancras station, and uses the Midland Main Line. Running from north to south the central London stations are: Kings Cross Thameslink on Pentonville Road (close to King's Cross railway station and connected to Kings Cross St. Pancras tube station via foot tunnel); Farringdon station, which links into the London Underground's Circle and Metropolitan lines; City Thameslink (formerly St. Paul's Thameslink station — the name was changed to avoid confusion with St. Paul's tube station which is a considerable distance away), which replaced the demolished Holborn Viaduct; Blackfriars, which links to a number of other franchises and the District and Circle lines on the Underground; and London Bridge, which also links to a number of other lines.

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. Initially the line ran via Elephant and 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, Effingham Junction and finally terminating at Guildford. However 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. In 1994(?) the second branch was cut back to West Croydon. Then in 1995(?) a major overhaul occurred when the route was changed completely. West Croydon was abandoned by Thameslink 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.

The proposed Crossrail project would operate a similar cross-London service from the east to the west, although unlike Thameslink it does not involve re-opening old tunnels.

Rolling stock

The Thameslink rolling stock is composed of 72 Class 319 trains built by BREL in 1987 and 1988. These are electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units rated to hold 284 or 314 passengers. They use 25 kV AC overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 volt DC third rail to the south.

Thameslink Programme (Thameslink 2000)

Thameslink 2000, now the Thameslink Programme, is an £800 million project to expand the Thameslink network to 169 stations, spreading northwards to Peterborough, Cambridge and King's Lynn via a new connecting tunnel (which although bored has not been fitted with permanent way yet) north of King's Cross, and south to Guildford, Eastbourne, Ashford, Kent and Dartford. Before this, as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, King's Cross Thameslink will be closed and replaced by a new facility (to be known as St Pancras Midland Road) under London St Pancras station.

The scheme had been discussed since 1991 but planning only begin fully in 1997, when Railtrack applied for Transport and Works Act powers. A decision was expected the following year, but was deferred while problems with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link were addressed. This affected the Thameslink project as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Act specified that London and Continental Railways (LCR) (via Union Railways) was responsible for creating the box where the new sub-surface Thameslink station was meant to be (but not the fitting out, something that years later Union Railways offered to do but the government refused on the grounds of lack of funding the new Thameslink station, which to this day is still relevant). Later in 1998 LCR approached the government again and funding was agreed for the CTRL along with LCR's restructuring. Meanwhile Railtrack revised the proposals and submitted a Supplementary Order in September 1999.

In 2000 the government called for a public inquiry, which then commenced later that year and finished the next. The planning inspector's report of July, 2002 said there was a strong case for the project, but three planning issues remained to be resolved (demolition of the listed buildings on Cowcross Street at Farringdon, not repairing the street frontage at Blackfriars, demolishion of listed buildings and 'destroying the historic fabric of around Borough Market'). The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) deferred a decision on the Thameslink 2000 TWA Orders pending submission of planning proposals that address the resolution of the three deficiencies and the preparation of "an amended, expanded and updated Environmental Statement covering the whole scheme."

Network Rail saw to the requests that the ODPM made during 2003 and 2004, and then in January 2005 the DPM and the Secretary of State for Transport called for a new inquiry regarding the planning issues. They also stated that, if necessary, they would resume the original inquiry if there were any other issues which were not given full consideration previously.

On 6 September 2005, the public inquiry was opened; it closed on 9 December 2005.