Class 717’s for Great Northern, Enviro400H City buses for Route 20 and London Bus Tender awards

The Class 717’s have finally entered service on National Rail’s Great Northern routes serving the Moorgate branch.

Extract from Govia

For the first time in 40 years, passengers are riding on new trains in the tunnels to London Moorgate, as Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) begins to replace mainland Britain’s oldest electric rail fleet.

In a £240 million investment, 150 new carriages are being introduced between now and late summer, to replace trains that first entered service in 1976.

New trains for Greater Anglia and Great Northern

Greater Anglia has announced they are testing their new Class 745 and 755 trains manufactured by Stadler Rail.

From Greater Anglia

Watch out for Greater Anglia’s brand new trains – which are being tested in daylight on more routes in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex from later this month.

Greater Anglia is replacing every single train with brand new state-of-the-art trains which will start to come into service in the middle of this year.

Automatic trains enabled for the Thameslink Core

Automatic Train Operation (ATO) is now starting to be used for the main core section of the Thameslink, which serves the Central London stations.

From Network Rail

Passengers have ridden the UK’s first self-drive mainline train in a major milestone for the rail industry, delivered by the Thameslink Programme.

On Monday 26 March 2018 the 09.46 service from Peterborough to Horsham, one of the new routes that will be opened up by the industry’s biggest timetable change for a generation in May, ran under automatic train operation (ATO) between St Pancras International and London Blackfriars.

End of an era for the original Thameslink Class 319 trains

The Class 319 trains were withdrawn after serving nearly 30 years on the Thameslink railway.

From Brighton and Hove News

The oldest trains in the Thameslink fleet are being retired today (Sunday 27 August) with the final passenger journey leaving Brighton for Bedford at 6.14pm.

Go Ahead Group wins Dublin Bus contract but loses West Midlands Rail franchise

Go Ahead has won a contract from Ireland’s National Transport Authority (NTA) to operate 24 bus routes in Dublin but they lost the West Midlands rail franchise.

From National Transport Authority Ireland

Go-Ahead has been selected as the preferred bidder for the contract relating to the operation of 24 Public Service Obligation (PSO) bus routes in the Dublin metropolitan area. NTA has written to Go-Ahead to inform the company of the decision. Go-Ahead is expected to begin operating some of these routes by the end of November 2018 and all routes by February 2019.

Chief Executive of the National Transport Authority Anne Graham said:

Rail franchise bidders announced for West Coast Partnership and South Eastern

A short news update: the Department for Transport has announced the bidders for the West Coast Partnership and South Eastern rail franchises.

From Department for Transport

I am pleased to inform the House that we have today (22 June 2017) published the shortlists of companies that will bid for the new West Coast Partnership (WCP) franchise which will launch the first services on HS2, and the next South Eastern franchise.

The House will be aware passenger numbers have more than doubled since privatisation of the railways 20 years ago and our country’s railways need to adapt and change to be able to cope with this and future demands. This government is committed to revolutionising our railways through innovation and investment to transform passengers’ experiences and ensure our railways work for everyone.

Consultation for South Eastern rail franchise

The Department for Transport has launched a consultation for the South Eastern Rail franchise to improve services.

From Department for Transport

Passengers in the south-east are on track to get improved journeys, as the government seeks views on a new franchise.

Passengers in south east London, Kent, the Medway towns and East Sussex are on track to get improved journeys, as the Department for Transport (DfT) seeks views on a new franchise in the south-east.

Thameslink: The missing railway line from the Tube Map

Thameslink is a National Rail route that starts North of London, going from Bedford/Luton/St Albans; it goes via Central London serving Kentish Town, (Kings Cross) St Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars and then ends South at Brighton/Sutton/Sevenoaks.

During the early to late 1990’s, part of the Thameslink route was featured on the Tube Map from North to South, going from Kentish Town to where it splits to London Bridge and Elephant & Castle stations.