New Thameslink consultation on Greenwich line trains
Thameslink have launched a second round of consultation into plans to run services along the Greenwich line. Trains will run from Luton Airport to Rainham in Kent via St Pancras. Here’s a brief round-up:
- Two trains an hour will run all day
- There are still no plans for Thameslink trains to stop at Belvedere and Erith despite sharp growth in recent years and large amounts of homes being built.
- Bexley Council have gone all-out on Crossrail going beyond Abbey Wood, despite little hope of that in the next decade, yet have said little about this reduction in services.
- Woolwich Dockyard will also be skipped despite Thameslink only using 8-carriage trains.
- The last train back from London Bridge is very early at 23:18. Let’s hope late Southeastern services are more frequent.
- Journey times are longer than before the multi-billion pound London Bridge rebuild begun which was sold as speeding up journeys as the tangle of tracks and crossings outside the station would be simplified. Draft timetables show, for example, that Abbey Wood to London Bridge is timed at 32 minutes.
- It was 27 minutes on Southeastern before work begun despite calling at more stations. More timetable padding and manipulation? Where will it go next – 40 minute journeys? This screengrab is taken from Thameslink:
So they’ll be less time waiting to approach London Bridge yet instead trains will be sitting at every station en route for minutes at a time meaning no net gain and slower journeys? Great work.
The positives are a direct link to St Pancras for onward connections, along with trains to Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars, though the last two are close to Cannon Street.
You can email to comment on plans at gtrtimetableconsultation@gtrailway.com.
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Promising that they’ve included it at this stage and created draft timetables. Excellent that it seems to be at the same minutes past the hour throughout the day.
It does note that trains past 11:30pm are subject to a sepetate consultation, so it’s possible there will be trains later than that.
Putting the GTR and the Southeastern consultations together, Plumstead now gets a very welcome 8tph off-peak, but frustratingly still has 20 minute gaps during the high peak!
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Any guesses as to what this will mean for fares? The same overpriced rip off as South-Eastern, or effectively a two tier system where we Thameslink undercuts South-Eastern?
It might be wishful thinking, but there is precedent for it, for example the difference in price between Thameslink and Southern on the line from London Bridge towards Brighton.
Exactly the same fares unless the DfT stipulates they both use the cheaper TfL fare zone scheme, which isn’t only restricted to TfL in London. Other private train franchises use it such as great western, southern and c2c. Its a fair bit less but it takes the DfT to do it and they don’t seem to give a shit for SE London.
We need trains services back on the Greenwich line to Waterloo East (for Waterloo) and Charing Cross to serve the West End.
Welcome the Thameslink trains though. With new housing developments in the area thought Thameslink trains would have stopped at Belvedere and Erith stations. However, any public transport improvement for South East London are very much welcomed. South East London is normally largely ignored when it comes to public transport improvements,
There won’t be any Waterloo East or Charing Cross services calling at Greenwich I’m afraid. They would need to cross over all the other Thameslink and Southeastern lines and the timetable simply wouldn’t work with them.
(Charing Cross trains will however call at every station from Charlton eastwards)
I remember when they used to exist and, whilst the direct journey opportunities were good, the stop-start waits and crawls on the approach to London Bridge in the peaks led to frequent unreliability.
You will of course be able to board a Cannon Street or Thameslink train and change at London Bridge. Unless you have mobility problems this is probably better than an infrequent 2tph service anyway.
Would rather they kept the semi fast Charing Cross to Gillingham service via Lewisham & Woolwich, which is being ditched in favour of the rather ridiculous all stations
Luton to Rainham service via Greenwich, once Crossrail opens Heathrow will be in very easy reach, no one will use Luton from SE London, also getting rid if the semi fasts via Woolwich is a bad idea especially since Abbey Wood and Woolwich Arsenal are busy stations that need a faster service into London
I completely agree, it’ll now take an extra 20 mins to get from Gillingham to London Bridge yet no one has seemed to address that Thameslink is offering a worse service for Medway, semi fast trains will now start at Gravesend and run via Sidcup fast from New Eltham which is useless for us in Medway because of virtually no connections along the line, the demand is for the Woolwich line especially now because of Crossrail, if anything GTR should restore the semi fast pattern and SE Trains should run 10/12 car trains 4tph to Cannon Street, every 15 mins, as for smaller stations like Belvedere and Erith they should be grateful that they’re getting a Charing Cross service and a link to Lewisham plus 6tph its unreasonable that they expect Medway commuters should stop at every station
I would like to see TFL (London Buses) also consider introducing another Central London Bus route for the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Possibly from Woolwich to London Bridge Station or Liverpool Street Station via Greenwich. There are currently no bus services to London Bridge or the City from the Royal Borough of Greenwich,
In the case of industrial action on either the underground or South Eastern for example we have no real alternative. As all other services like DLR and River Buses get packed and cannot cope with the extra passenger demand.
Some of the money given from TFL to Greenwich Council could possibly support the new bus service,
This is just a thought !