Thameslink’s future train showcased in London

News provided by

First Capital Connect

Jan 22, 2014, 02:00 ET


(PRWEB UK) 22 January 2014 -- The new Thameslink passenger train will be showcased to the public for the first time at the ExCeL exhibition centre, London, on 29 January 2pm-8pm.

First Capital Connect with the Department for Transport and manufacturer Siemens are inviting passengers to step on board a full-scale mock-up of the new train.

First Capital Connect Managing Director David Statham said: “Our services are some of the most crowded in Britain and this new fleet will give us more trains, more carriages and more capacity which our passengers desperately need. We want our passengers to see what they will be travelling in and hear how the Thameslink Programme is going to transform their journeys.”

A total of 115 state-of-the-art high capacity trains are being built as part of the Government-sponsored £6.5bn Thameslink Programme.

They will run on the current Thameslink route (Bedford – Brighton and Wimbledon loop) and new routes that will become part of a wider Thameslink network in 2018. These include the Great Northern (East Coast Main Line) routes to Cambridge and Peterborough, the route to Sevenoaks via Elephant & Castle and other destinations off the Brighton main line, significantly increasing capacity.

The first new trains will enter passenger service in early 2016 with the remaining fleet following at an increasing rate until there is one new train on the network every week.

From 2018 the trains will operate at high frequencies across central London with one arriving every 2-3 minutes between St Pancras and Blackfriars.

2018 will also see the completion of the new London Bridge station, providing capacity for more cross-London services, including the extension of Great Northern services southward from King’s Cross.

Stations roadshow
After the ExCeL showcase, the Thameslink Programme team will be taking a model of the new train to stations along the network.

For more information visit ThamelinkProgramme.co.uk - #discovernewtrains.

ends

Roger Perkins, First Capital Connect, http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk, +44 8454700789, [email protected]