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First Capital Connect

December 9, 2011 by · Comments Off on First Capital Connect 

First Capital Connect, AFTER years of being packed in like sardines, First Capital Connect commuters will be greeted by 12-carriage trains from Sunday. They feature in the new Thameslink route timetable that comes into force on that day. A total of four trains in the morning and four in the evening in each direction will be lengthened to 12 carriages on the Bedford to Brighton line and a further four services will be extended to eight carriages on the Luton to Sutton service group. Travellers from St Albans will find three Bedford to Brighton services featuring 12 carriages during the morning peak and three returning in the evening peak.

Between them they will add over 3,200 more seats at the busiest times of the day. Off-peak during the week there will be over 1,200 seats and between London and St Pancras, almost 3,900 more Saturday seats.

The 12-carriage services have resulted from extensive upgrade work under the long-awaited Thameslink Programme which has resulted in Network Rail lengthening platforms and upgrading power supplies to accommodate them.

Customer service director Keith Jipps said: “We’re working hard to improve services for customers and have targeted the extra capacity on those trains that need it most.

“The Thameslink Programme has imposed some tough times on our customers with lots of track closures for engineering work but with the start of the new 12-carriage services we can finally see improvements coming on line.”

Details of the new timetable can be seen at www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk or by picking up a copy at any staffed FCC station.

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