Thameslink

This article is about the railway route. For the main operator of services on the route, see Greater Thameslink Railway. For other uses, see Thameslink (disambiguation).

Thameslink

Two Govia Thameslink Railway Class 700 Desiro City trains at Blackfriars.
Overview
Locale	South East England, Greater London, East of England
Predecessor	Thameslink 2 Mar 1997 – 31 Mar 2006; First Capital Connect 1 Apr 2006 – 13 Sep 2014; Govia Thameslink Railway 14 Sep 2014  – 31 May 2026
Current operator	Greater Thameslink Railway
Website	www.thameslinkrailway.com
Route
Termini	Bedford Blackfriars Peterborough Cambridge, Sutton Orpington Sevenoaks Rainham Horsham Three Bridges Brighton East Grinstead
Train number	TL
Lines used	Brighton Main Line, Chatham Main Line, East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line, Snow Hill tunnel, South Eastern Main Line, North Kent Line, Sutton Loop Line
Technical
Rolling stock	Class 700 Desiro City
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Overhead line, 25 kV 50 Hz AC Third rail, 750 V DC
Track owner	Network Rail
Route map

Thameslink is a main line route on the British railway network which connects destinations north and south of London via tunnels under Central London. It runs from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough, Welwyn Garden City, London Blackfriars and Cambridge to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham, Three Bridges, Brighton and East Grinstead. The initial network opened as a through service in 1988 and, as of 2025, calls at 135 stations in regular service. A part of the route, from Bedford to Three Bridges, runs 24 hours a day, except on early Sunday mornings and during maintenance periods.

The Thameslink Programme was a major £7 billion scheme to increase capacity on the central London section by accommodating more frequent and longer trains, and providing additional routes and destinations. The programme was divided into three key phases, with the final Key Output 2 introducing world-first Automatic Train Operation (ATO) technology over European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2, enabling 24 trains per hour through the core section. The new services began operating in 2018, though the full projected timetable of 24 trains per hour has never been achieved. Passenger service on the route use purpose-built Class 700 trains, which were introduced in 2016.

Passenger services on the Thameslink route, along with all others operated by Govia Thameslink Railway, transferred to the state-owned Greater Thameslink Railway on 31 May 2026.