Still crowded, but change is coming (ThamesLink)

Member Name: jamesontheroad

Product:	ThamesLink
Date:	05/01/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stations being rebuilt, new trains ordered

Disadvantages: Very crowded, London bottleneck still limits service

It's important to note that "Thameslink" rail franchise no longer exists; it was subsumed into a larger franchise in 2006 that will run until at least 2015. That franchise is part of the First Group and is called First Capital Connect.

The Thameslink name continues to live on, primarily because it existed in the pre-privatisation days of British Rail as the name of the ambitious project to connect suburban railway lines north and south of London. The hopelessly optimistic Thameslink 2000 project has now evolved into a contemporary project called simply "The Thameslink Programme".

The Thameslink Programme takes the ambitions further, and will eventually connect more south London suburban train services with more from the north, namely those that currently operate from Peterborough, King's Lynn and Cambridge to London King's Cross. These will join the north-south axis of the Thameslink route and call instead at St. Pancras International and then stations through London to Guildford, Brighton, Eastbourne etc.

That new underground station at St. Pancras International is already up and running, and replaces the cramped station at Kings Cross Thameslink. The station is one of the first on the route to be built long enough for twelve car trains - over the next decade the majority of trains will be 12 carriages long, and may incorporate subway/tram style open carriage ends between coaches so that passengers can move through the entire train to relieve over crowding.

Much more information about the project is online and in many cases open for customer feedback at http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/

Since the first DooYoo-er reviewed the franchise, new trains have been ordered and a major new London station has been built. Overcrowding continues, but major infrastructure work has begun to allow 12 coach trains and many more trains to run through the crowded bottleneck of central London. Change is coming...

Summary: A daily grind, but maybe your grandchildren will fare better