90-526: Govia Thameslink Railway ( GTR ) is a British train operating company that operates the TSGN rail franchise . Within the franchise, GTR runs trains under the sub-brands: Thameslink , Great Northern , Southern , and Gatwick Express . GTR is a subsidiary of Govia , which is itself a joint venture between the British Go-Ahead Group (65%) and French company Keolis (35%). The franchise
180-712: A 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western . Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains . Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach . The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express , an open-access operator outside
270-521: A 3% profit, and the risks on operating costs will be Govia's, while the DfT will profit or lose from fluctuations in revenue. Prior to the start of the franchise, Govia stated its plans to invest £50 million in all 239 stations that it would manage. The specifics of these plans include: Govia also stated its intention to bring about the following: In order to replace the Class 319 trains and to operate
360-571: A company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority , which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses. A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by
450-491: A direct-award contract expiring on 1 April 2025, with the option for the government to extend this until 1 April 2028 at the latest. GTR is one of several train operators impacted by the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes , which are the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades. Its workers are amongst those who have voted in favour of taking industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions. GTR
540-518: A franchise commitment with the Department for Transport. Previously passengers with an off-peak travelcard could travel on any train after the morning peak had finished at 09:30 however, passengers would no longer be able to use an off-peak ticket for trains leaving London stations between 16:30 and 19:00. Passengers using these peak-hour trains would pay an additional charge to travel. The evening peak restriction does not affect southbound travel. This
630-459: A government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on the rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or a national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by
720-458: A management contract that sees all fare revenues going straight to the Department for Transport (DfT), which in turn pays GTR fixed amounts that add up to £8.9 billion across its first seven years of operation. GTR introduced several fleets of new trains, including the Class 387 , Class 700 , and Class 717 . In terms of infrastructure, Govia planned to invest £50 million into
810-498: A number of failings in the way in which it handled this incident, including a need to improve communications with passengers. First Capital Connect inherited a fleet of Class 319 units from the former Thameslink operator. It also inherited a fleet of Class 313, 317 and 365 units from WAGN on the Great Northern routes. The rolling stock composition is specified by the franchise agreement. All Thameslink route rolling stock
900-561: A petition on the Prime Minister's website to end First Capital Connect's franchise during 2009. Other people have asked for a full enquiry into the service, while Lord Adonis , the former Secretary of State for Transport , described the service offered by FCC on its Thameslink route as "shoddy" and "very substandard", and said that if improvements were not made the company could be stripped of its franchise. In its Autumn 2009 National Passenger Survey, Passenger Focus said FCC had
990-423: A result of heavy snow in south-east England; although snow was not the only problem, and although significant snowfall ended on 6 January, FCC continued to run emergency timetables through to 11 January. Trains returned to the normal timetables from 18 January, but delays and cancellations continued as a result of signalling problems. It was revealed that First Capital Connect achieved 60% in its punctuality during
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#17327808405441080-399: A significant challenge to organise within the normal form of franchise. During December 2015, GTR announced that the majority of its ticket prices would be frozen, and that the average fare rise for the coming year would be only 0.8%. In June 2016, amongst criticism of the performance of its services, Go-Ahead warned of lower than anticipated profits on the franchises, leading to 18% drop in
1170-425: A specified duration, while a small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for the duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by
1260-536: A suburban loop serving Sutton , Mitcham and Wimbledon and on weekdays a suburban line via Catford and Bromley South to Sevenoaks . Great Northern is the name of the suburban rail services run on the southern end of Britain's East Coast Main Line and associated branches. Services operate to or from London King's Cross and Moorgate . Destinations include Hertford North , Welwyn Garden City , Stevenage , Peterborough , Cambridge and King's Lynn . In May 2018,
1350-446: Is only capable of operating a very minimal timetable on any of the planned dates for the strikes due to the number of staff involved. Govia Thameslink Railway has operated Thameslink and Great Northern services since 14 September 2014. Thameslink is a 68-station main-line route running 225 km (140 miles) north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton , serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport , with
1440-666: The Great Northern brand are those on the Northern City Line , the stopping services to/from Cambridge and Letchworth Garden City and the express services to/from Cambridge, Ely and King's Lynn, as well as Peterborough at peak times. The Great Northern off-peak service pattern, as of June 2024, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), consists of the following: The Southern and Gatwick Express brands joined Govia Thameslink Railway on 26 July 2015. Southern routes run from London Victoria and London Bridge through
1530-765: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
1620-622: The InterCity East Coast franchise. First Capital Connect First Capital Connect ( FCC ) was a British train operating company , owned by FirstGroup , that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise. First Capital Connect was a major provider of commuter and regional services in London and
1710-680: The Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets the Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground , a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly
1800-955: The Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 , which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann , the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
1890-736: The North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise . In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. In the same year, Thames Trains
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#17327808405441980-570: The Secretary of State for Transport announced that the franchise would be extended again to run up to 13 September 2014, and that the future franchise would be a management-style contract due to the level of investment and change on the route. During September 2013, a revised invitation to tender was issued. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that Govia Thameslink Railway had been awarded the franchise. On 14 September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) took over services from First Capital Connect ; at
2070-584: The Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017, the responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside ,
2160-514: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year. Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners. In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating
2250-681: The West Anglia Great Northern franchise were amalgamated in preparation for the Thameslink Programme (formerly Thameslink 2000), designed to increase capacity on the Thameslink route, with trains from King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough. On 24 July 2007 the government announced that it was fully committed to funding the Thameslink Programme, and the project is now largely complete. In
2340-791: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
2430-431: The railway system of Great Britain , a train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by the Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for
2520-416: The 16:30 Brighton to Bedford service. Another train of the same type was sent to assist the failed train, and was eventually coupled to it at 20:20 but by this time passengers had used the emergency release handles to open the train doors in an attempt to improve ventilation (as the air-conditioning and lighting systems were no longer functioning by this point). The train began to move at 21:03 but this movement
2610-451: The 239 stations it manages to improve accessibility, replace information systems, and increase staffing hours, alongside general redevelopment work. Various measures at increasing capacity and improving service were also planned, such as the doubling of overnight Thameslink services, half-hourly King's Lynn to London services, and extending the Oyster card network. As early as June 2016, GTR
2700-630: The Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of a national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons
2790-565: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender: The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels . The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts . The Great Western Holdings ' management also were awarded
Govia Thameslink Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2880-536: The British government announced that services of First Capital Connect , Southern (with Gatwick Express ) and some Southeastern routes would be merged into a single Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise (TSGN). The Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced during Spring 2013 and TSGN originally due to start in September 2013. However, following
2970-510: The Class 700s. In addition to these, GTR ordered 25 new six-car trains to replace 40-year-old Class 313 units, which were being run on the Great Northern suburban services out of Moorgate . During December 2015, Siemens was selected to provide these as a follow-on to the Class 700 order. They were designated as the Class 717 in June 2016, and were first introduced in September 2018. In May 2023
3060-557: The DfT Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority . The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail , which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies (ROSCO) and are leased to
3150-659: The East Coast franchise. In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone . In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern . The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
3240-474: The Gatwick Express service from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. Gatwick Express operates an express commuter and airport transfer service between London Victoria , Gatwick Airport , Haywards Heath and Brighton . Between 6:00 am and 9:00 am on weekdays, northbound services call additionally at Preston Park , Hassocks and Burgess Hill . Services stop additionally at
3330-513: The Go-Ahead share price. Passengers had previously rated its Thameslink service as the worst in the country. Only 20% of Southern trains arrived on time in the year from April 2015 to March 2016, and there was an ongoing industrial dispute over driver-only operated trains. On 12 July 2016, after 15% of Southern services were cancelled for a period of weeks to improve service reliability, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan called for GTR to be stripped of
3420-587: The North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators: In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name. Great Western Holdings , which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became
3510-582: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by ScotRail , and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales , are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations. The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises
3600-701: The South London suburbs of Battersea , Norbury , Peckham , Sydenham , Crystal Palace , Norwood, Croydon , Streatham , Purley and Sutton to towns surrounding London including Caterham , Epsom and Tadworth . Further afield, Southern also serve Redhill , Tonbridge , Uckfield , East Grinstead , Gatwick Airport , Brighton , Ashford (Kent) , Worthing , Hastings , Portsmouth , Eastbourne , Horsham , Southampton , Littlehampton and Bognor Regis . Additionally, Southern run West London route services from Milton Keynes to South Croydon via Watford and Clapham Junction . Since 2008, Southern has operated
3690-618: The Southern Class 313 units were withdrawn from service. Brighton Main Line East Coastway line West Coastway line (Brighton to Southampton Central) 387 717 Desiro City Govia Thameslink Railway issued a tender in April 2023 for between 21 and 30 four-coach 100 mph (160 km/h) trains, with an estimated value of £48.6 million. On 12 March 2024 it was announced that Great Northern would lease
Govia Thameslink Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-421: The Thameslink route, there was only one control centre for FCC services on the Great Northern route, at King's Cross, within the power signal box. This gave a frequency of 10 trains between London Blackfriars and St Pancras which increased during peak hours. FCC had two control centres (or 'Service Delivery Centres', SDC) for the Thameslink route. North of Blackfriars was controlled from West Hampstead , within
3870-433: The UK. The franchise has an unusual structure: it is a management contract where fare income does not go to GTR. Under their original contract, the Department for Transport pays GTR £8.9 billion over the first seven-year period and receives all revenue. Consequently, the company carries less revenue risk. This form of franchise was chosen because of long-term engineering works anticipated around London, which would be
3960-483: The collapse of the InterCity West Coast re-franchising process, it was decided to enact a temporary freeze on all franchising competitions until January 2013. In January 2013, the government announced that it would extend the existing contract through to March 2014, and that it intended to negotiate with FirstGroup to operate the franchise under a management contract for up to two years. In March 2013,
4050-589: The commencement of operations, it served 122 stations and operated a fleet of 226 trains. The separate Thameslink and Great Northern brands were maintained upon the GTR takeover. During December 2014, full control was taken of the Sevenoaks Thameslink service, previously operated jointly with Southeastern . During July 2015, both Southern and Gatwick Express became a part of GTR, making it the largest rail franchise in terms of passengers, staff and fleet in
4140-471: The common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises. The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways , who are a subsidiary of Translink , the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs
4230-605: The company introduced a new timetable which included the first regular services through the Canal Tunnels and to other new destinations previously not served by Thameslink. However, due to frequent disruption of services on the whole network, Govia decided to create a new interim timetable with a reduced number of trains; this came into operation in July 2018. The Monday–Friday off-peak service pattern, with frequencies in trains per hour (tph), includes: During peak hours,
4320-405: The early part of 2007, First Capital Connect conducted a study and undertook consultation on options for increasing the capacity of services to Peterborough and Cambridge. The final recommendations involved lengthening four peak services from eight to 12 carriages from May 2009, and adding or removing a small number of stops to balance loads between trains. 1,779 more seats have been provided during
4410-446: The expanded Thameslink network, a fleet of 115 eight- and twelve-car Class 700 trains had been procured during the franchise term of First Capital Connect. These entered service between 2016 and 2019. As a consequence of the delayed procurement of the Class 700 trains, 29 Class 387 trains had also been ordered for the Thameslink route to release the Class 319 trains to newly electrified routes. Deliveries were completed during 2014 and
4500-426: The first half of January 2010 on the Thameslink route. First Capital Connect has since offered improved discount and refund packages for customers affected by the disruption. On 23 December 2010 FCC introduced an emergency timetable on the Great Northern route, reducing the number of rush-hour trains by 75%. This was due to snow which had damaged some of the trains, making them unable to run. Angry commuters started
4590-640: The franchise until 31 March 2014. In March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced plans for a direct award franchise to run until 13 September 2014. On 18 February 2014 the Department for Transport announced it had agreed a new short-term franchise with First Capital Connect, running for six months to September 2014. On 23 May 2014 the new TSGN franchise was awarded to Govia with services operated by First Capital Connect transferring to Govia Thameslink Railway on 14 September 2014. The routes operated by First Capital Connect off-peak Monday to Friday were, with frequencies in trains per hour: Unlike
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#17327808405444680-515: The franchise was taken over by Govia Thameslink Railway , and became part of the larger Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise . On 8 April 2005, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that Danish State Railways / EWS , FirstGroup , John Laing / MTR , National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the Thameslink Great Northern franchise . On 13 December 2005, the Department for Transport awarded
4770-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year. Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
4860-461: The franchise. On 15 July 2016, citing the issues, Rail Minister Claire Perry resigned from her position. In response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic , GTR considerably curtailed its services by mid-2020. Between 30 March 2020 and 3 April 2022, Gatwick Express services were suspended. In March 2022, following changes made due to COVID-19, the DfT gave GTR
4950-401: The franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023. The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers. MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in
5040-433: The full 30-unit fleet of Class 379 units. Former units operated by Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern include: [REDACTED] In February 2015, Thameslink and Great Northern came at the bottom of Which? magazine's Best and worst UK train companies customer survey, scoring a customer satisfaction score of 43%. Thameslink and Great Northern were also scored 2/5 stars in each of the specific categories covered by
5130-567: The individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations , in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease the buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of
5220-537: The introduction of regular services through the Canal Tunnels during May 2018, many GTR services on the East Coast Main Line were rebranded from Great Northern to Thameslink . Most of these services have been extended through central London and incorporated into the Thameslink network (as per above), although as of October 2019 some services are yet to be extended. The only services to retain
5310-452: The lowest overall satisfaction rating of any UK train operator, at 75%. In early 2013, consumer group Which? carried out a survey which rated First Capital Connect as the worst train operator in the UK. First Capital Connect was criticised for running some of the country's most overcrowded trains; the 07.15 from Cambridge to London King's Cross frequently was reported to have had 76 people standing for every 100 seated. This situation
5400-455: The morning peak and 2,490 during the evening peak, significantly reducing the number of rush-hour commuters unable to find a seat. In December 2011, the DfT announced that all services operated by First Capital Connect would be included within the new Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. On 29 March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that Abellio , FirstGroup , Govia , MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for
5490-614: The name Wales & Borders . The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains . John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains. Connex , having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains ,
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#17327808405445580-790: The new Thameslink rolling stock is introduced, to further enhance capacity on the Thameslink services. FCC also gained 13 Class 321s from London Midland : 321401-406 in May 2009, 321407-410 later in 2009, 321418-420 in 2010. These enhanced the capacity on Peterborough / Cambridge - King's Cross services. Three Class 313 units from London Overground moved to the Great Northern route for inner-suburban services, King's Cross/Moorgate - Welwyn Garden City/Hertford North/Letchworth Garden City, once all of London Overground's new Class 378 were delivered. [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] FCC operated two depots: During its tenure, FCC overhauled all of its rolling stock painting their exteriors in
5670-423: The new franchise to FirstGroup, with the services operated by Thameslink and West Anglia Great Northern transferring to First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006. The term of the franchise was originally for nine years, finishing in 2015. This was dependent on performance targets being met at the end of the fourth year, which would trigger an automatic two-year extension, and an extension for up to three years after
5760-418: The new franchise. The Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012 and the successful bidder announced in early 2013. But in the wake of the InterCity West Coast re-franchising process collapsing, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review. In January 2013 the government announced it would be exercising an option to extend
5850-487: The power signal box ; south of Blackfriars from Three Bridges, which was also home to other southern TOC controls. The disruptions were triggered by FCC drivers declining to work overtime or during their allotted rest days, following their rejection of a proposed pay increase of 0% (rising to 3% in 2010). Without access to overtime and rest day work, FCC was unable to provide enough drivers to maintain its standard Thameslink service. Disruption continued into January 2010 as
5940-498: The public. An incident was reported by the BBC after a passenger collapsed and FCC's station staff would not help. In October 2010, passengers trapped on a failed train near Cambridge gave up waiting, forced the train doors open and walked up the line to the nearby Foxton station . On 26 May 2011 at 18:27, passengers were trapped on a failed Class 377 train between St Pancras International (Low Level) and Kentish Town stations, forming
6030-404: The purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel , and Heathrow Express , which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport . A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with
6120-716: The railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of the overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
6210-678: The railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by
6300-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over
6390-628: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator. In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn , becoming part of the DB Regio Group. In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with
6480-453: The same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street . The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
6570-437: The same stations in the southbound direction between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm. As of May 2023, the off-peak Monday-Saturday, with frequencies in 'trains per hour' (tph), consists of: On Sundays, Gatwick Express operates a half-hourly shuttle service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport only. The standard off-peak service as of June 2024 is: This franchise is different from many other franchises let since
6660-422: The significant decline of passenger travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic , GTR considerably curtailed its services by mid-2020. GTR is one of several train operators that are experiencing severe disruption of services due to the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes . During 2006, the Thameslink and Great Northern services were merged into a single franchise due to the upcoming Thameslink Programme . In 2012,
6750-406: The sixth year at the discretion of the DfT. It was announced on 5 August 2011 that the franchise would end on 14 September 2013. "This will help to facilitate the continued project delivery of the Thameslink Programme, in particular the introduction of new rolling stock, which will be completed after the expiry date of the existing franchise." The Thameslink franchise and the Great Northern part of
6840-495: The south east of England. It operated passenger rail services from Luton and Bedford via the Thameslink to Sutton , Wimbledon and Brighton via Central London . It also operated commuter, suburban and regional services out of London King's Cross and London Moorgate to Hertfordshire , Cambridgeshire and Norfolk . Major destinations served included Cambridge , King's Lynn and Peterborough . First Capital Connect ceased operations at 02:00 on 14 September 2014, when
6930-588: The south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia , who began operating it under the name South Central . Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West . The new franchise was initially operated under
7020-415: The start of railway privatisation in 1996. Under the agreed terms of the franchise, the operator, in this case Govia, gives all revenue to the government, rather than paying set premiums. The Department for Transport will pay Govia, totalling around £8.9 billion over the franchise period of seven years, from the expected revenues of £12.4 billion. From these payments, Govia expects to generate
7110-780: The survey (including Reliability , Punctuality and Cleanliness of toilets ) – which is the worst performance of any UK train operator. In the Which? 2017 survey, Thameslink and Great Northern improved their performance slightly with a rating of 46% also, their position in the table was second to bottom(Southern were in bottom place, but had been subject huge disruption due to industrial action). Passenger numbers on Govia Thameslink Railway (which also includes Southern and Gatwick Express ) have risen from 262 million annually in 2010–11 to 327 million annually in 2015–16. [REDACTED] Media related to Govia Thameslink Railway at Wikimedia Commons Train operating company In
7200-461: The trains entered service later that year. It was originally planned that once the Class 700s began entering service, the Class 387s would be transferred to Great Western Railway for use on routes in the Thames Valley . However, a change of plans saw GWR order an entirely new fleet of Class 387s, so the Thameslink units were instead cascaded to the Great Northern route following delivery of
7290-1092: The two trains per hour London Blackfriars to Sevenoaks service (from the table above) is extended through the 'core tunnel' to/from Welwyn Garden City (though a few services originate at Finsbury Park), with extra calls at City Thameslink, Farringdon, St Pancras International, Finsbury Park, New Southgate , Oakleigh Park , New Barnet , Potters Bar and Hatfield. As well as these services, during peak hours, several trains in each direction (approximately two trains per hour) run to/from Orpington (originating/terminating at either London Blackfriars, Luton, West Hampstead Thameslink or Kentish Town), all calling at Petts Wood in lieu of stations from St Mary Cray to Bat & Ball. In addition, there are seven trains per day in each direction that operate to/from East Grinstead (originating/terminating at either Bedford, West Hampstead Thameslink, St Pancras International or London Bridge), which, after calling at South Croydon, call at Sanderstead , Riddlesdown , Upper Warlingham , Woldingham , Oxted , Hurst Green , Lingfield and Dormans . Since
7380-505: The year), Valley Lines Trains , Wales & West , and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern. The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains , commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull . In 2001, Connex , which had operated two franchises in
7470-588: Was electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units using 25 kV AC overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 V DC third rail to the south. In addition to its EMU fleet, FCC owned the last mainline-registered Class 03 diesel shunter, 03179 Clive . An additional four Class 319s were transferred from Southern in March 2009 to expand capacity on the Thameslink route, giving FCC all 86 319s. The DfT ordered 23 new dual-voltage Class 377 units for Southern, which entered service in 2010 and were sublet to FCC until
7560-412: Was awarded, after repeated delays, to Govia Thameslink Railway on 23 May 2014. On 14 September 2014, GTR took over operations for the prior franchisee First Capital Connect ; during July 2015, both Southern and Gatwick Express operations were integrated into GTR. This change made it the largest rail franchise in terms of passengers, staff and fleet in the UK. The franchise has an unusual structure involving
7650-519: Was facing public criticism from officials over its performance, including calls from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for it to be stripped of the franchise. In May 2018, the company introduced a new timetable which included the first regular services through the Canal Tunnels and to other new destinations previously not served by Thameslink; however, an interim timetable that ran fewer trains had to be adopted due to frequent service issues. In response to
7740-417: Was immediately stopped because passengers were egressing onto the track from the carriages within the tunnel. The passengers were escorted back on to the train, which was authorised to move forward again at 21:12. Three sets of doors towards the rear of the train were still fully open while it travelled approximately a mile to Kentish Town, where all passengers then left the train. First Capital Connect admitted
7830-600: Was introduced due to severe peak-time overcrowding. Students at some sixth-form colleges were hit by price increases of over £300 per annum when FCC replaced a discount scheme introduced by previous franchise holders WAGN and Thameslink, with its own 'Student Connect' scheme. The level of discount was greatly reduced, and although in theory the scheme is fairer, in practice many students and parents were left out of pocket. In September 2010, First Capital Connect admitted in an email that, despite being trained in first aid, staff were not allowed to offer medical help to members of
7920-402: Was recognised by FCC itself: "We recognise that overcrowding is the biggest issue affecting our customers. This is at an unacceptable level on some of our services". From 27 May 2009 FCC introduced extra carriages, which meant that this service became a 12-car train rather than an 8-car. In mid-2006, First Capital Connect introduced evening peak-time fares for northbound travel out of London as
8010-496: Was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail . A new operator, Heathrow Connect , jointly run by BAA and First Great Western , began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express. Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
8100-632: Was the South Western franchise ; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand. In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
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