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Southern takes over Thameslink







dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,386
Burgess Hill
Good news. FCC are utter sh*te. Crap (old, badly designed, tatty) trains, poor timeliness record, constant delays and cancellations. I don't have an option if I want to get to my desk by 7am.

I'm more worried though about the impending carnage at London Bridge as they rebuild the station...............time to look for a job in the West End methinks
 


HawkTheSeagull

New member
Jan 31, 2012
9,122
Eastbourne
With a horse and cart

Well, that is what FCC planed to give commuters an actual cattle class service.....rather than providing it with actual stock.

Hastings/Eastbourne and Lewes will all get faster services to London, but still get shafted by Brighton which will now get EIGHT off-peak trains to London an hour.....talk about overkill when the East and West coast lines suffer overcrowding on London services.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
59,493
The Fatherland
This is ****ing unbelievable. How on earth can you let this happen? Seriously, how?
 






Prince Monolulu

Everything in Moderation
Oct 2, 2013
10,201
The Race Hill
I know sod all about trains. Basically, does this mean that the useful footie ticket (GroupSave) will now cover a wider geographical area?
 


Arthur

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
8,562
Buxted Harbour
Good news. FCC are utter sh*te. Crap (old, badly designed, tatty) trains, poor timeliness record, constant delays and cancellations. I don't have an option if I want to get to my desk by 7am.

I'm more worried though about the impending carnage at London Bridge as they rebuild the station...............time to look for a job in the West End methinks

Always have a working toilet though!!

I'm not joking either. My southern operated line has the modern turbostar fleet which are I would guess more than 10 years old now and still in pretty good nick. Comparable to other rolling stock especially the awful FCC stock they are very nice.....however the toilets on them are the modern electronic ones which lock themselves when they are full, with a belly full of beer and an hour plus journey home I know which one I'd be on.

Incidentally the guard on my service announced as we pulled into London Bridge yesterday morning this news and sounded very pleased with himself. I don't have an issue with it at all. Southern are shit but if they were to be replaced they'd only be replaced by someone equally as shit if not more. A case of better the devil you know in my opinion.
 






Tony Meolas Loan Spell

Slut Faced Whores
Jul 15, 2004
18,067
Vamanos Pest
Gatwick Express fleet to be replaced, as will the 319 trains which will start to be replaced this winter.

Southern 313 fleet should also be replaced.


Hooray those trains are worse than the Fcc ones.

Uncomfortable
One single door at each end
Takes ages to get off
Always and I mean always breaking down. Especially the doors.
 




seagullsovergrimsby

#cpfctinpotclub
Aug 21, 2005
43,690
Crap Town
Wasn't the whole point of privatisation to provide competition and therefore keep prices down?

(Rather than make money for corporate shareholders as some cynics suggested at the time?)

No , making more money for corporate shareholders rather than ploughing some of the profits back into the business to make ongoing improvements was always the aim. Privatisation is all about making more money for shareholders from squeezing the pips.
 




Ken Newbury

Active member
Feb 6, 2006
426
1/2 mile from LDC country
Hooray those trains are worse than the Fcc ones.

Uncomfortable
One single door at each end
Takes ages to get off
Always and I mean always breaking down. Especially the doors.

I'd argue about them being uncomfortable, I prefer the seats on the Gatwick Express trains to those on Southern and FCC, they are comfortable with decent legroom. When I get the train to London roughly twice a week I'd always chose Gatwick Express over the other two for comfort.

I must just be lucky I guess, twice a week on average for the last three years and only ever had one Gatwick Express train cancelled, never broken down and rarely more than 5mins late into London!
 


8ace

Banned
Jul 21, 2003
23,811
Brighton
Always have a working toilet though!!

I'm not joking either. My southern operated line has the modern turbostar fleet which are I would guess more than 10 years old now and still in pretty good nick. Comparable to other rolling stock especially the awful FCC stock they are very nice.....however the toilets on them are the modern electronic ones which lock themselves when they are full, with a belly full of beer and an hour plus journey home I know which one I'd be on.

313s have no toliets on board, try catching one of them from Portsmouth to Brighton after a couple.
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
70,151
I'd argue about them being uncomfortable, I prefer the seats on the Gatwick Express trains to those on Southern and FCC, they are comfortable with decent legroom. When I get the train to London roughly twice a week I'd always chose Gatwick Express over the other two for comfort.

Same, absolutely. They might be old, as the NSC trainspotters tell us, but they don't FEEL old, and they're invariably less crowded than Southern/FCC trains, particularly in the rush hour. OK, so some of them tend to get a bit bogged down at Gatwick while one lot of tourists dawdle off and then another lot of tourists dawdle on, but many Gatwick Express trains offer the priceless benefit of not stopping at the ghetto that is East Croydon. What's not to like?
 




Tricky Dicky

New member
Jul 27, 2004
13,558
Sunny Shoreham
313s have no toliets on board, try catching one of them from Portsmouth to Brighton after a couple.

I've always thought that should be illegal. All trains and stations should have compulsory decent toilet facilities. It may be my personal agenda, but I'm Not joking.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,960
Living In a Box
Some FCC mangers will be very nervous over this announcement.
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
70,151
I've always thought that should be illegal. All trains and stations should have compulsory decent toilet facilities. It may be my personal agenda, but I'm Not joking.

Seems to recall that [MENTION=257]The Large One[/MENTION] reported on here, either last Winter or the Winter before, that he and a couple of dozen random passengers got stranded on an evening broken down train with no toilets between Lewes and Brighton for about six hours. As memory serves, they had to, er, IMPROVISE. Can you imagine the absolute CARNAGE if that happened after an evening game at the Amex?
 


albionite

Well-known member
May 20, 2009
2,753
Some FCC mangers will be very nervous over this announcement.

I would imagine they will restructure the managment over all three tocs in south east they run.

As far as i'm aware fcc will revert back to thameslink, gatwick express will stay the same and southern will be southern. Can't see too much changing it will run as it runs now.
 




An excellent decision. I'm looking forward to the expansion of the Thameslink network, with trains running through to Peterborough - as well as Farringdon developing into a seriously good interchange station with connections to Crossrail (and services to Wales, Bristol and East Anglia). It will also reduce the overcrowding on London Underground's cross-London routes.
 


Beach Hut

Brighton Bhuna Boy
Jul 5, 2003
71,960
Living In a Box
I would imagine they will restructure the managment over all three tocs in south east they run.

As far as i'm aware fcc will revert back to thameslink, gatwick express will stay the same and southern will be southern. Can't see too much changing it will run as it runs now.

You have missed the point as SR has enveloped in Gatwick Express to the management structure already, the only difference is the branding and uniforms so the same will happen with FCC.
 


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