Govia get Thameslink Franchise

[swt_passenger]

Sorry I mean the signs which include other operators who serve the said stations

Ah right. Probably take a while - but I'd expect they'll concentrate first on things that need to be exactly right, like those PF warning notices that list all the relevant TOCs at the station. Something like one of those notice board departure time listings, they'd probably leave until the next routine change, probably the normal December date, but we may be surprised...

 

[jopsuk]

The route is mainly that which was operated by the Great Northern Railway company, established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. it became part of LNER in 1923.
British Rail still referred to the route as Great Northern (e.g. I have a book called "Great Northern electrics" covering the Kings Cross/Moorgate-Royston electrification in the 1970s)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern_Railway_%28Great_Britain%29

There's this sign on the side of Finsbury Park, from the BR era

 

[Deerfold]

There's this sign on the side of Finsbury Park, from the BR era

And at Highbury and Islington (and other locations) signs still show the way to connect to British Rail.

 

[jon0844]

I saw today that they append London Transport information at the end of the stopping pattern, but it's a bit odd standing on platform 3 to Welwyn Garden City and getting a train to Peterborough with it announcing the stations and that there's a delay on the Bakerloo Line! Perhaps they should be a bit selective on that feature?!

 

[fusionblue]

Passed through catford station yesterday and in the ticket office there's "hi we're you're new train operator" poster up. I only passed it at a glance but it appeared to be standard one with contact details.

I'm certain that's going to lead to some confusion given it's jointly operated nature (which wasn't really publicised in the first place) on that route, and Catford Bridge (remaining with SET) being a stone throws away?

Wouldn't it have made sense to have put on them "we're sharing services with southeastern until Dec 2014 and then we take over them solely"?

 

[hassaanhc]

Thameslink have said there is currently no plan to use the Journeycheck system that FCC did and many other TOCs use. It is a shame because they'll be tweeting out service alterations which will clutter up the feed. Just take a look at Southern's feed!
Or maybe I'm just used to Journeycheck with SWT and FGW? :P

Meanwhile, this morning they had major issues. Signalling faults at London Bridge, Leagrave, and Harpenden. Ouch.

 

[jon0844]

I am still getting text alerts from my commuting days, which is an old system that I signed up to years ago - and can't edit or stop because I have no access to the system to change them!

The alerts don't have FCC in the text anymore, but nor GTR.

I thought that was JourneyCheck but now I'm not sure, or maybe they'll stop soon?

 

[JaJaWa]

I am still getting text alerts from my commuting days, which is an old system that I signed up to years ago - and can't edit or stop because I have no access to the system to change them!

The alerts don't have FCC in the text anymore, but nor GTR.

I thought that was JourneyCheck but now I'm not sure, or maybe they'll stop soon?

I believe they're powered by Twitter!?

 

[southern442]

I saw today that they append London Transport information at the end of the stopping pattern, but it's a bit odd standing on platform 3 to Welwyn Garden City and getting a train to Peterborough with it announcing the stations and that there's a delay on the Bakerloo Line! Perhaps they should be a bit selective on that feature?!

I was at St. Albans (a completely separate city) yesterday and heard the same thing!

 

[thelem]

I am still getting text alerts from my commuting days, which is an old system that I signed up to years ago - and can't edit or stop because I have no access to the system to change them!

Try replying to the text with just the word "stop"

 

[jon0844]

No number to reply to. They spoof the sender details to show text.

 

[Kite159]

Nice to see the TFL national rail map updated with Great Northern shown in a lovely gold colour with Thameslink keeping the original FCC purple.

Will the station sign at New Southgate be finally updated?

 

[Skimble19]

Nice to see the TFL national rail map updated with Great Northern shown in a lovely gold colour with Thameslink keeping the original FCC purple.

Will the station sign at New Southgate be finally updated?

I'd imagine so, although ironically we've basically gone back to those colours

As I'm sure jonmorris0844 will notice in the next day or so, even doors at stations are now going Purple

 

[jon0844]

I think those signs are listed!

 

[talldave]

From my observations at Gatwick this morning, Thameslink are now running trains with a mixture of purple (ex-FCC) and green (Southern) rolling stock, so no clear identity so far.

 

[TimG]

From my observations at Gatwick this morning, Thameslink are now running trains with a mixture of purple (ex-FCC) and green (Southern) rolling stock, so no clear identity so far.

They have been doing this for ages. Some have now been painted white!

 

[ModernRailways]

From my observations at Gatwick this morning, Thameslink are now running trains with a mixture of purple (ex-FCC) and green (Southern) rolling stock, so no clear identity so far.

Unbranded Southern? If so, it's been like that a while as it was never painted into FCC colours when Southern gave it to FCC.

 

[Bald Rick]

The Southern liveried 319s have been on TL / FCC services since at least 2009 when the Moorgate branch closed and all the 319s were transferred to the Thameslink route. (The Southern branding has gone however).

Using Southern liveried 377s is a much more recent phenomenon, driven by the arrival of new 377/6s & /7s, releasing /2s to Thameslink which in turn allowed 319s to got for refurb and/or ooop North.

Class377/5 will be along shortly to point out what I've got wrong..

 

[Aictos]

How dare any of you guys and gals lose weight (or put it on)!



Yup.

Its called good living I have you know

 

[Manchester77]

Oh dear, when you search for 'thameslink' on Twitter you get some right tripe that a tory councilor has tweeted.

@DanHolden85: So in its first week of operation the new #Thameslink seems to be as bad as old @FirstCC service. How hard is it to run a railway!?

Good to know that your local public servants are well informed of how things work!:roll:

 

[drbdrb]

So they had hopes that same trains, same staff same track did not equal same poor service?

 

[Manchester77]

So they had hopes that same trains, same staff same track did not equal same poor service?

Seems so :roll:

 

[jon0844]

A lot of people thought FCC was sacked.

 

[LBSCR Times]

A lot of people thought FCC was sacked.

The Directors were........
(Well, except the one who went to South Eastern!)

 

[jon0844]

The Directors were........
(Well, except the one who went to South Eastern!)

Are they actually sacked (as in they were on a specific contact linked to the franchise), or simply go back for working within First Group?

 

[Abpj17]

So they had hopes that same trains, same staff same track did not equal same poor service?

You could argue that a different operator could improvement some aspects over time (staff training, sensible allocation of staff to trains, cleaning trains etc.) but not miracles overnight. And, of course, most of the issues this week were weather/network rail related - which they had no influence on! I don't imagine it was the most enjoyable first week they might have hoped for tho!

 

[Clip]

A lot of people thought FCC was sacked.

A lot of people are very very stupid. As that tweet above proves.

 

[Skimble19]

The Directors were........
(Well, except the one who went to South Eastern!)

None of them were "sacked", and not all of them have left the company..

 

[LBSCR Times]

None of them were "sacked", and not all of them have left the company..

Contract terminated on expiry of franchise then.

 

[Bald Rick]

Are they actually sacked (as in they were on a specific contact linked to the franchise), or simply go back for working within First Group?

AIUI, all employees from MD downwards transfer to the new company under the TUPE regulations. However, as the organisation is (very) different at the top level, the directors' jobs don't exist any more, and they have been made redundant.