Govia get Thameslink Franchise

[jon0844]

The first capital connect text and logo is a vinyl on top of the FCC vinyl, so they could potentially get by with just removing FCC even if the artwork remains. On the 321s it's just a case of removing the lower vinyl as the rest is just blue paint.

Even if there's a cooling off period, there must have been a domain registration that will give the new name for everything, and I'm surprised nobody has revealed it.

Or at least I hope they gave, or else it will be registered by someone else!

 

[user15681]

The first capital connect text and logo is a vinyl on top of the FCC vinyl, so they could potentially get by with just removing FCC even if the artwork remains. On the 321s it's just a case of removing the lower vinyl as the rest is just blue paint.

Even if there's a cooling off period, there must have been a domain registration that will give the new name for everything, and I'm surprised nobody has revealed it.

Or at least I hope they gave, or else it will be registered by someone else!

I thought the same about the domain registration, but nothing as of yet. The Go-Ahead Group Plc have not recently registered any domains, nor have any domains been registered by their admin or to their usual address that would 'fit' any TSGN brand. I wouldn't read anything into that though.

 

[Manchester77]

According to a domain name register website 'www.thameslink.co.uk' and 'www.tsgn.co.uk' are registered but when searched neither bring anything up.

 

[causton]

Or at least I hope they gave, or else it will be registered by someone else!

Just checked and the date is from 2005, but perhaps they Govia are negotiating with the current owners of this one!

http://whois.domaintools.com/thameslinkgreatnorthern.co.uk
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According to a domain name register website 'www.thameslink.co.uk' and 'www.tsgn.co.uk' are registered but when searched neither bring anything up.

Former is owned by First; latter is owned by someone from Letchworth!

 

[Manchester77]

Just checked and the date is from 2005, but perhaps they Govia are negotiating with the current owners of this one!

http://whois.domaintools.com/thameslinkgreatnorthern.co.uk
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Former is owned by First; latter is owned by someone from Letchworth!

Would that not need the addition of southern?

Thanks might not have have much trouble acquiring it off the person in Letchworth.

 

[Stats]

I thought the same about the domain registration, but nothing as of yet. The Go-Ahead Group Plc have not recently registered any domains, nor have any domains been registered by their admin or to their usual address that would 'fit' any TSGN brand. I wouldn't read anything into that though.

They registered thameslinkrailway.com and .co.uk last week.

 

[user15681]

They registered thameslinkrailway.com and .co.uk last week.

Ah right, thanks, I checked both of those this morning, my first thought as GoVia like to put 'railway' in their domains, but nothing came up. They're both showing now though. I should have checked again before posting!

 

[southern442]

They registered thameslinkrailway.com and .co.uk last week.

In that case, then 'thameslink' is most likely to be the brand name of the franchise.

 

[Deerfold]

In that case, then 'thameslink' is most likely to be the brand name of the franchise.

Well, *a* brand name of it, anyway.

 

[asylumxl]

Well, *a* brand name of it, anyway.

It's like I've gone back in time . Hopefully they're better this time round!

 

[infobleep]

Will there be even more usual stopping patterns during peak rush hour?

A friend was trying to get from Burgess Hill to Three Bridges this morning. His motorbike wouldn't start. Therefore he took the first train to Haywards Heath to at least get somewhere. Then he boarded a FCC train. It stopped at Balcombe and even Gatwick Airport. However my friend didn't notice that it didn't stop at Three Bridges.

I imagine it must be the only train on weekdays which stops at Balcombe and not Three Bridges, with no such service like it at all at weekends at.

With odd service patterns like this one has to be so careful.

Anyway once my friend reached Balcombe, there was signaling issues at Haywards Heath and he got stuck there for 1 hour. 1 train was cancelled and the other was 17 minutes late. Other fast trains did pass through but as one would expect to happen they didn't stop. At least I believe my friend can claim full delay repay.

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[tsr]

Then he boarded a FCC train. It stopped at Balcombe and even Gatwick Airport. However my friend didn't notice that it didn't stop at Three Bridges.

I imagine it must be the only train on weekdays which stops at Balcombe and not Three Bridges, with no such service like it at all at weekends

There are some other weekday (Southern) trains with pretty weird calling patterns in that area. It's usually a way of managing both line capacity (especially the time spent braking for/accelerating from platforms) and capacity of the available stock on the relevant diagrams. Take a look at these!

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W60303/2014/06/12/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W60494/2014/06/12/advanced

 

[Skimble19]

Back on topic: rather disappointed at the lack of info that's been given to employees so far.. Absolutely nothing beyond the initial press release / info and the CEO announcement.

(Plenty of rumours, nothing concrete though!)

 

[infobleep]

There are some other weekday (Southern) trains with pretty weird calling patterns in that area. It's usually a way of managing both line capacity (especially the time spent braking for/accelerating from platforms) and capacity of the available stock on the relevant diagrams. Take a look at these!

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W60303/2014/06/12/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/W60494/2014/06/12/advanced

I knew about the Seaford and Hastings but not the evening one. Interestingly their use to be regular services between Seaford and Haywards Heath all day long.

South West Trains on their mainline don't do nearly as many odd stopping patterns. Although thinking about it I can think of a few. More likely to get services that miss out stations, which they would regularly stop at during the day on X service, rather than add them in.

Back in topic I the new franchise adopts journey check solution and it's really helpful as a traveller.

I wonder if there be less or more services from Haywards Heath and stations south that travel via Redhill in the new franchise? I noticed this morning that from Haywards Heath there was a 6.30 to Luton via Redhill; a 6.35 to London Victoria via Redhill and a 6.45 to Bedford via Redhill, with no service in between via the quarry line. Most of the day no trains run via Redhill, with passengers having to change at Gatwick. On Sundays there is a regular hourly service.

Such a service is useful for passengers going towards Reading or Tonbridge. You can change at Gatwick Airport for Reading services but the minimum connection time is 10 minute, where as at Redhill it's a more reasonable 5 minutes.

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[A-driver]

Back on topic: rather disappointed at the lack of info that's been given to employees so far.. Absolutely nothing beyond the initial press release / info and the CEO announcement.

(Plenty of rumours, nothing concrete though!)

Give it time, it's only just been announced and the cooling off period is only just over. Goahead managers will start meeting with first management and that is when stuff will start reaching staff. I don't know what you do but for frontline staff very little will change.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The TSGN franchise contract has been signed - no legal challenge.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/rail-franchising-thameslink-southern-great-northern
That should clear the decks a bit for other franchises at DfT.

 

[infobleep]

New tunnels will link Peterborough and Cambridge to the existing Thameslink route providing easy access across London via St Pancras to Gatwick and Brighton.

I wonder if the new franchise will improve the service between Gatwick Airport and Haywards Heath during between 5pm and 6pm. Currently there is only 4 trains and they are not evenly spread out . that's half the number that normally run off peak.


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[jon0844]

The TSGN franchise contract has been signed - no legal challenge.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/rail-franchising-thameslink-southern-great-northern
That should clear the decks a bit for other franchises at DfT.

Will we be able to see what the other bidders bid? I'd very much like to know if other parties offered to do more, and how the DfT came to its decision.

What's best for the DfT isn't necessarily what would have been best for the passenger.

 

[JonathanH]

I knew about the Seaford and Hastings but not the evening one. Interestingly their use to be regular services between Seaford and Haywards Heath all day long.

South West Trains on their mainline don't do nearly as many odd stopping patterns. Although thinking about it I can think of a few. More likely to get services that miss out stations, which they would regularly stop at during the day on X service, rather than add them in.

Back in topic I the new franchise adopts journey check solution and it's really helpful as a traveller.

I wonder if there be less or more services from Haywards Heath and stations south that travel via Redhill in the new franchise? I noticed this morning that from Haywards Heath there was a 6.30 to Luton via Redhill; a 6.35 to London Victoria via Redhill and a 6.45 to Bedford via Redhill, with no service in between via the quarry line. Most of the day no trains run via Redhill, with passengers having to change at Gatwick. On Sundays there is a regular hourly service.

Such a service is useful for passengers going towards Reading or Tonbridge. You can change at Gatwick Airport for Reading services but the minimum connection time is 10 minute, where as at Redhill it's a more reasonable 5 minutes.

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It is pretty unlikely isn't it. We already know that Redhill will be served by two pairs of Thameslink services that terminate at Three Bridges (peak) / Gatwick Airport (off-peak) and Horsham respectively. There is also a requirement to run one train each hour from each of Reigate and Tonbridge from London during the off-peak. That suggests that Redhill will have even fewer direct connections to the South come 2018.

http://thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/sites/all/files/article-pdf/Thameslink Core tph update_May14_v7.pdf

 

[infobleep]

Will we be able to see what the other bidders bid? I'd very much like to know if other parties offered to do more, and how the DfT came to its decision.

What's best for the DfT isn't necessarily what would have been best for the passenger.

Well as the announcement says:

Passengers are at the heart of this franchise and will benefit from improved customer service and nearly 1,400 new electric carriages across the network.

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[infobleep]

It is pretty unlikely isn't it. We already know that Redhill will be served by two pairs of Thameslink services that terminate at Three Bridges (peak) / Gatwick Airport (off-peak) and Horsham respectively. There is also a requirement to run one train each hour from each of Reigate and Tonbridge from London during the off-peak. That suggests that Redhill will have even fewer direct connections to the South come 2018.

http://thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/sites/all/files/article-pdf/Thameslink Core tph update_May14_v7.pdf

If that's the case, perhaps they can change the minimum connection time at Gatwick Airport to 5 minutes. It's 5 minutes at East Croydon and that's far more busy during peak rush hour than Gatwick Airport.

Of course Gatwick Airport has more tourists and less frequent travellers but I still think a shorter connection time would be helpful.

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[Stats]

Dyan Crowther has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for the new franchise. She is currently Route MD for London North Western at Network Rail.

 

[LBSCR Times]

Dyan Crowther has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for the new franchise. She is currently Route MD for London North Western at Network Rail.

With this sort of level of appointment, it makes you wonder if there will be separate Operating Officers for Southern and Thameslink, and possibly Great Northern, as I don't think Southern have such a title at present?

 

[Aictos]

Could see Route Directors looking after each route ie Thameslink, Great Northern, Gatwick Express then Southern all answering to the COO at head office?

 

[ModernRailways]

319010 has been repainted into the same livery as the 365s are receiving. Looks ready to have the FCC logo removed easily!

 

[tsr]

Here's a video (by someone else) of the new livery on that 319:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKdosJUX2AY

I'm of the impression that it looks smarter on 365s, to be honest - the yellow cab front just looks a bit stark, as do the seals/opening parts of the windows. Still, I'm not really complaining. I must say I'd like to see a 377 in this livery, and looking back at it, I think the 700 mockup looked fine.

 

[Class377/5]

319010 has been repainted into the same livery as the 365s are receiving. Looks ready to have the FCC logo removed easily!

The FCC livery is just vinyl.

319010 will be n service next week.

 

[ModernRailways]

The FCC livery is just vinyl.

319010 will be in service next week.

But they still would have had the dynamic lines which Govia are unlikely to have wanted as that is one of the main corporate stylings of First Group!

Saying that, it would be a good way to shift the blame to First when something inevitably goes wrong :P


As TSR says it would be nice to see a 377 in this livery! In saying that, I think most livery's suit the 377s well! There's a guy who photoshops the livery's and the Electrostars always seem to look great whatever the colour scheme.

 

[infobleep]

I wonder of First will introduce some special ticket offers to start after September. National Express did that before handing back their franchise.

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[Class377/5]

But they still would have had the dynamic lines which Govia are unlikely to have wanted as that is one of the main corporate stylings of First Group!

The dynamic lines are vinyl on top of the base colour as shown here.


319441 by Sparkyscrum, on Flickr