Thameslink - History

History

Passenger services operated across London through the Snow Hill Tunnel from mid-Victorian times until World War I, from when services terminated at Moorgate from the Midland line to the north, and at Holborn Viaduct from the south, at a time when most inner cross-London traffic had been lost to buses and trams. There were separate lower-level platforms under the main part of Holborn Viaduct station known as the Snow Hill platforms, and these can still be seen when leaving City Thameslink station travelling northwards.

On 14 June 1941 railwayman George Dow proposed, in an article in the London evening newspaper The Star, that new routes, in tunnel, be built from Marylebone south to Victoria, and from King's Cross south to Charing Cross. Both were to connect with a Paddington-Liverpool Street that he proposed, anticipating Crossrail by forty years. He also proposed a north east-south west route from Liverpool Street to Charing Cross: all of these routes were designed to give London a comprehensive main-line network of connections.

The Snow Hill Tunnel route remained operational for cross-London freight trains until 1970, just lasting into the diesel era, when the short section between Farringdon and Holborn Viaduct was closed.

Overhead electrification, completed in 1982, allowed the northern section to run as the Midland City Line from Bedford via the Midland Main Line to St Pancras, and via the City Widened Lines to Moorgate. From the south, services terminated at Holborn Viaduct.

The Snow Hill tunnel was re-opened to passenger trains after 72 years, allowing passenger services to begin on the full Thameslink network in May 1988. On 29 January 1990 the section between Blackfriars and Farringdon was temporarily closed to permit the construction of a new alignment. The old route carrying the line through the site of the long-closed Ludgate Hill station and over Ludgate Hill was abandoned and demolished. The replacement route under Ludgate Hill was opened on 29 May 1990 concurrently with City Thameslink station, which was initially called St Paul's Thameslink but was renamed in 1991 to avoid confusion with St. Paul's station on the London Underground (Central Line), about 500 m (550 yd) away.

King's Cross Thameslink on Pentonville Road closed on 8 December 2007 when the new Thameslink platforms at nearby St Pancras opened.

In the south the services divide. Main-line trains run through London Bridge to East Croydon and Brighton. The diverging route has a more convoluted history. To begin with, trains went via Bromley to Orpington and Sevenoaks, ando via Herne Hill and East Croydon to Purley (off peak only). Later, non-Brighton trains ran via Elephant & Castle and Streatham to West Croydon, Carshalton Beeches, Sutton, Epsom, Leatherhead and Effingham Junction, terminating at Guildford.

Upon the privatisation of British Rail Thameslink services was franchised to Thameslink train operating company, a subsidiary of Govia.

Around 1994 the second branch was cut back to West Croydon as this route crossed the commuter networks of what were to become several different rail companies and the onset of rail privatisation made the route increasingly difficult to maintain.

Around 1995 the route was changed completely, with a new route to Sutton via Mitcham Junction continuing on a loop to Wimbledon rejoining itself south of Streatham replacing the West Croydon service. Morning peak trains ran only clockwise, a major source of inconvenience for commuters.

By late 1998, more than 28,000 passengers were carried at morning peak times.

From 1 April 2006 the franchise was taken over by First Capital Connect along with some services previously operated by WAGN. The branding of most trains, stations, and signs has been changed to match the name of the new company, but City Thameslink and West Hampstead Thameslink stations keep the word Thameslink as it refers to the route. After criticism of the loss of the apt name for this group of routes, First Capital Connect's publicity now calls this set of services its "Thameslink route" to distinguish it from the former WAGN services.

The Moorgate branch closed in March 2009 when major work on the Thameslink programme started along with various other changes. This was in order to lengthen platforms at Farringdon (which would have cut across the Moorgate junction) and also to improve service. The tracks are still extant, but disconnected and de-electrified, with barriers at the end of each station, and the Thameslink platforms at Moorgate and Barbican closed.