Media centre

Wednesday 18 Oct 2006

GOOD NEWS FOR WELWYN GARDEN CITY AS £3.5BN THAMESLINK PROJECT CLEARS MAJOR HURDLE

Region & Route:

| Southern

The transformation of the Thameslink route takes a big step forward today as two key Government departments (Department for Transport and Department for Communities & Local Government) agreed to grant planning permission and legal powers to Network Rail to ‘re-build’ the Thameslink route. The Thameslink project will more than double passenger capacity on one of Europe’s busiest stretches of railway - the core route through London Bridge, Blackfriars and Farringdon - benefiting tens of thousands of passengers daily. The scheme will also increase the number of stations used by direct north / south services by over 200% from the present 51 to 172 and increase the possible length of trains from the present eight carriage services to 12.  Rail passengers traveling from Welwyn Garden City will be among those to benefit from the quicker journeys, longer trains and new routes the Thameslink project will deliver. This is particularly important given the expected population growth in the area over the next 20 years. Passengers from Welwyn Garden City will benefit from direct links to Gatwick Airport as well as Farringdon and London Bridge in the city. At present, passengers from Welwyn Garden City traveling south into London or Gatwick Airport have to travel to King’s Cross then change onto London Underground and Gatwick Express services - the Thameslink project will simplify this and create a direct route straight through central London resulting in quicker and more convenient journeys from the north to the south. By providing direct routes and reducing the need to change trains, the Thameslink project will help to reduce journey times for passengers from Welwyn Garden City while longer trains will also lead to increased capacity and more comfortable journeys. The future of the £3.5bn project now rests on a funding decision. Network Rail will work to support the Department for Transport as it seeks to establish a funding mechanism. An early decision would enable the company to deliver substantial passenger benefits before 2012. John Armitt, Network Rail’s Chief Executive, said: “This is a landmark decision that underlines growing confidence in Network Rail to deliver major improvements on Britain’s railways.  “We are now one step closer to getting the green light for an essential congestion-beating rail project on one of the busiest parts of our network. “Passengers want easier, more frequent, direct and comfortable journeys. The Thameslink scheme offers exactly this, and an early funding decision would enable us to deliver significant benefits before 2012.” There would be a number of key benefits for passengers, including: Increased capacity: more trains and more carriages. Up to 24 trains per hour through the core route (presently eight) during the peak period with the added benefit of delivering 12 carriage services rather than the present eight Less overcrowding: easing passenger congestion across the Thameslink route and reducing congestion on the tube (particularly the Northern and Victoria lines) with much improved tube access at the new Farringdon, Blackfriars and London Bridge stations More routes and stations: more routes, more journey possibilities and more stations.  The new Thameslink route would serve 172 stations (presently 51) enabling passengers to travel from north to south without the inconvenience of changing trains, or from train to tube Simplifying track and modernising signals: reducing bottlenecks and logjams on a busy network that is 150 years old and not designed to cope with modern demands Better stations: major investment at London Bridge, Blackfriars, Farringdon and platform extensions at 50 outlying stations to accommodate longer trains. Blackfriars would become the first London station to span the river Thames, Farringdon would become an interchange with Crossrail, while London Bridge would be completely rebuilt and modernised with capacity for an extra 60,000 people during the peak Better Olympic journeys: connecting more people directly to the special ‘Olympic Javelin’ service from King’s Cross St Pancras to Stratford A direct interchange with Crossrail:  The scheme offers major improvements on North to South rail services across London and the South East, complementing the proposed East to West London Crossrail service