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Thameslink
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Thameslink is a fifty-station route in the British railway system running north to south from Bedford to Brighton through the Snow Hill tunnel in Central London.
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Encyclopedia
Thameslink is a fifty-station route in the British railway system running north to south from Bedford to Brighton through the Snow Hill tunnel in Central London. It is a significant commuter route and serves the airports at London Gatwick and London Luton. The line is currently the only main line to pass through central London. In some respects it resembles a local underground line in the city, with stations similar to the sub-surface Circle Line's, and metro-style services between St. Pancras and Blackfriars running every four minutes during peak hours. In late 1998, more than 28,000 passengers were carried at morning peak times. Most of its route is over the Brighton Main Line and the southern part of the Midland Main Line. There is also a suburban branch consisting of a loop through Sutton and Wimbledon.
Upon the privatisation of British Rail the operation of Thameslink services was franchised to a subsidiary of Govia, the train operating company Thameslink. From 1 April 2006 it 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 reflect the name of the new company, but City Thameslink and West Hampstead Thameslink stations retain the word Thameslink in their names, since the suffix refers to the Thameslink route itself. Following criticism of the loss of what had been widely regarded as a useful and meaningful name for this group of routes, First Capital Connect's publicity now refers to this set of services as its "Thameslink route" to distinguish it from the former WAGN services which the company also operates.
History
The Snow Hill tunnel was re-opened to passenger trains after 72 years in 1988 and this allowed timetabled cross-London services to begin on the full Thameslink network in May 1988.
Prior to this, following an overhead electrification project completed in 1982, the northern section was run as the Midland City Line service from Bedford along the Midland Main Line to London St Pancras and the City Widened Lines to Moorgate. From the south, services terminated at Holborn Viaduct.
Running from north to south the central London stations are: 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; 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.
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, trains went via Bromley to Orpington and Sevenoaks. 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. 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. Around 1994 the second branch was cut back to West Croydon. 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.
Thameslink Programme (Thameslink 2000)
Since 1991, British Rail (followed by Railtrack, then Network Rail) have been developing proposals to expand and upgrade the Thameslink network in the light of increasing ridership on the route, which in recent years has seen severe overcrowding at peak hours. Initially called Thameslink 2000, the project is known as the Thameslink Programme. After a complex and prolonged planning process (which officially began in November 1997) Network Rail was finally given planning permission and legal powers on 18 October 2006, and funding for the required work was approved on 24 July 2007. Construction began on 24 October 2007, with Luton Airport Parkway the first station to be extended. The provisional completion date is 2015.
Rolling stock
The Thameslink rolling stock is composed of 78 Class 319 trains built by BREL between 1987 and 1990. These are electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units rated to hold either 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 were transferred from Southern in December 2008 and an additional four will follow in March 2009, from which point all 86 Class 319 trains will be available for use on Thameslink.
In addition to the new Class 319 trains, First Capital Connect will acquire 12 new-build four-coach Class 377 trains during 2009, which will be used on the Thameslink route both for additional capacity and to free up Class 319 trains for use on other routes run by the same operator.
New energy-efficient trains will provide an additional 14,500 seats on the Thameslink route and will be delivered from 2012 to 2015.
Class 317 units built in the early 1980s are still in use on services into Moorgate (25 kV AC) but the section between Moorgate and Farringdon is due for closure in March 2009 as part of the Thameslink Programme.
Footnotes and References
External links
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