Thameslink

Thameslink

Govia Thameslink Railway Class 700 Desiro City standing at Brighton in December 2020.
Overview
Locale	South East England Greater London East of England
Predecessor	Thameslink, 2 March 1997 – 31 March 2006 First Capital Connect, 1 April 2006 – 13 September 2014
Current operator(s)	Govia Thameslink Railway, 14 September 2014 – 1 April 2028[1]
Website	www.thameslinkrailway.com
Route
Termini	Bedford Peterborough Cambridge Sutton Orpington Sevenoaks Rainham Horsham Three Bridges Brighton East Grinstead
Train number(s)	TL
Line(s) used	Brighton Main Line Chatham Main Line East Coast Main Line Midland Main Line Snow Hill tunnel South Eastern Main Line North Kent Line Sutton Loop Line
Technical
Rolling stock	115 Class 700 Desiro City
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 50 Hz AC Third rail, 750 V DC
Track owner(s)	Network Rail
Route map

Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough, Welwyn Garden City, London Blackfriars and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham, Three Bridges, Brighton and East Grinstead. The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. All the services are currently operated by Govia Thameslink Railway. Parts of the network, from Bedford to Three Bridges, run 24 hours a day, except on early Sunday mornings and during maintenance periods.^[2]

The Thameslink Programme was a major £5.5 billion scheme to increase capacity on the central London section by accommodating more frequent and longer trains, and providing additional routes and destinations. The new services began operating in 2018. In 2016, new Class 700 trains started operating on the route and replaced the Class 319, Class 377 and Class 387 trains which were withdrawn and transferred elsewhere.