Thameslink to introduce more services throughout September
Thameslink have announced they will restore more services in coming weeks September after a disastrous timetable launch in May.
Shortly after, trains on the Woolwich line were cut back to one an hour during off-peak times. This meant a 20% drop in services for stations such as Greenwich.
Whilst welcome, the forthcoming changes do little to improve things on the line. On 10th September new counter-peak services will run – the 07:46 Luton to Gillingham. Not much use as against the commuter flow in south east London.
In addition an afternoon counter peak will operate, the 16:00 Gillingham (Kent) to Luton. Not sure why neither are going to Rainham.
Unfortunately this does little to improve the off-peak service on the line, which has had six trains an hour off-peak for many years until May this year.
It also lessens through trains from Medway to Dartford, Abbey Wood, Woolwich and Greenwich. In the evenings this can be a real pain as only one runs per hour.
One get-out-of-jail card for Govia and Thameslink is that there is no longer pressure to ensure two an hour are running by December to connect with Crossrail at Abbey Wood.
Other services will be introduced on other Thameslink lines including:
Monday 17 September 2018
06:41 Three Bridges to St Albans City
08:22 St Albans City to Sutton
09:49 Sutton to St Albans City
17:35 London St Pancras International to Gatwick Airport
Monday 24 September 2018
06:57 Cambridge to London Kings Cross
08:36 London King’s Cross to Welwyn Garden City
1702 Welwyn Garden City to London King’s Cross
1751 London King’s Cross to Cambridge
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When will they just get rid of Thameslink from this neck of the woods? It hasn’t worked and it won’t work, at least a Crossrail were honest about not being able to run the service until late 2019, which is what Thameslink should have done.
Restore the fasts from Gillingham and the old time table for The Woolwich line
Sorry Carl,but you are quite wrong. Thameslink has been a Godsend in getting us from Greenwich to St Pancras. It has cut the journey time by half. There are very many people who find the new route very beneficial, so just speak for yourself.
Most of the time the service has been down to 1tph which for us who live further out isn’t good enough! Too many pointless stops and lets face more people want Charing Cross than St. Pancras (which the Medway has via the premium HS1) trains are still getting cancelled or delayed and the timetable has been butchered in the SE area (uneven gaps between trains devices, lack of real connection to Crossrail etc) so it might okay for you personally but do not speak for us who live beyond Dartford who face longer journey times.
When I have ridden on the Thameslink most of the passengers get off at London Bridge and very few carry on to St. Pancras, of you want Thameslink to carry on have it start at Plumstead or Dartford but Medway has been affected by Thameslink.
And why should we in Medway be happy with a pointless all stops service just because inner city commuters like you now have a fancy link to St. Pancras? That’s selfish