News on rail services from Bowes Park

Hello all,

I thought it would be interesting to share some developments which will affect rail services from Bowes Park. With the new Thameslink Great Northern franchise, which is already in place there are a number of key changes happening in the near future and over the next few years.

Here's a summary:

26th July 2015 - Southern rail services become part of the Thameslink franchise

This means that the services from places as far afield as Milton Keynes, Southampton, Victoria, Brighton and Ashford are managed by the same operator. This will have little practical effect on passengers, but brings together services which will be linked by the new Thameslink service (by 2018, see below) Map here: http://maps.dft.gov.uk/tsgn/

December 2015 - New timetable with more services to Moorgate

Most weekend and early morning and late night trains will run to Moorgate via Highbury & Islington rather than to King's Cross with services from Moorgate operating later into the evening on weekdays too. This will provide good access to the Overground at Highbury & Islington and Old Street at the weekend.

May 2018 - More services

More peak services will operate to/from Moorgate to address crowding – providing nearly 20% more carriages across the three-hour peak. Off-peak trains will increase to four trains per hour from 3 trains per hour today.

2018 (date unspecified) - new trains on Moorgate services

I quote from the train operating company 'new trains will provide a metro-style layout with more capacity, improved reliability, air conditioning and passenger information systems that can be remotely updated to provide real-time travel information'

December 2018 - some services on the Welwyn line will run through Central London

This is as a result of the completion of the Thameslink programme and will allow travel from Bowes Park to locations such as Farringdon (change for Crossrail), Blackfriars (walk to the Tate Modern), Brighton (day at the seaside) with only one change of train, at either Alexandra Palace or Finsbury Park. This is a significant benefit for people in Bounds Green/Bowes Park and worth knowing about! Timetables are not yet set, with this will improve travel times by rail to a wide range of places, as shown in the map linked above.

Hope this is useful - these improvements should make our area an even better place to live and encourage more investment in the area, developing Myddleton Road too.

2 members like this

Attachments:

Route_Factsheet_1_Great_Northern_inner_suburban_services.pdf, 986 KB

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Permalink Reply by Mat Riches on July 25, 2015 at 7:59

Really useful, thanks Matt. Good news too!

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Permalink Reply by Dharmesh on July 25, 2015 at 14:53

Wonderful news! Thank you transport guru Matt!

However my inner child is stamping his feet. I want my new trains now! waaaah!

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Permalink Reply by Susan Mears on July 30, 2015 at 13:38

Good news. Thanks for passing it on.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Wolstencroft on July 31, 2015 at 10:57

Thanks Matt, that is really interesting.

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Permalink Reply by Donald Smith on August 1, 2015 at 13:21

Sorry Matt but regretfully you seem to be over-optimistic and have conflated two items of news

Govia Thameslink Railway has previously issued a public consultation document, CLICK HERE (the pdf is attached)

As set out on page 18 of the consultation:

_____________________________________________________________________________________

December 2015

Great Northern (Inner)

 Letchworth Garden City, Stevenage, Hertford North to London

 Welwyn Garden City to London

Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays

Currently services on this route before 0630, after 2200 Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturdays and Sundays operate to and from London Kings Cross.

It is proposed that services between approximately 0600 and midnight will operate after Finsbury Park to Moorgate serving Drayton Park,Highbury & Islington, Essex Road and Old Street.

As previously consulted by the Department for Transport and subsequently specified as part of the franchise, it is the intention that {from the December 2015 timetable change} the majority of these early morning, late evening and weekend train services will operate to and from Moorgate instead of using London Kings Cross as the terminus station. This is in recognition of previous stakeholder requests following the increasing late night and weekend activity in the Old Street and Moorgate areas and also allowing much improved connectivity arising from key interchanges with the London Overground at Highbury & Islington and as well as continued London Underground connections at Highbury & Islington and Moorgate.

Aside from these changes, there are NO proposed revisions to train services on these routes in December 2015.

________________________________________________________________________

Great Northern (Inner)

Looking forward to 2018

From 2018 customers on this route will benefit from 150 brand new vehicles forming 25 6-carriage trains to deliver much needed capacity enhancements through additional services both during peak times and during the day. In conjunction with the increased capacity, there will also be additional peak train service to Moorgate, increasing the frequency on the route.

From 2018, during off peak periods Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturdays and Sundays there will be an increase from two (Saturdays and Sundays) or three (weekdays) to four trains per hour between Herford North, Welwyn Garden City and Moorgate. Train services between Hertford North and Stevenage will also be increased from one to two trains per hour providing a better service for Watton-at-Stone and more connections with other train services at Stevenage.

From this time, services from the Herford North route will no longer operate north of Stevenage with trains taking advantage of a new terminating platform provided by Network Rail. This is aimed to improve performance both on the Hertford North route, enable additional Thameslink trains north of Stevenage towards Cambridge and provide the capability for more frequent services throughout the entire route.

_________________________________________________________________________________

UPDATE: Work is progressing well on fitting out what are known as the Canal Tunnels (built between 2004 and 2006) between the East Coast Main Line to Kings Cross and the Thameslink route to St Pancras . It is being reported in Rail Magazine that test train movements are likely to begin in the Autumn 2015 with what are known as scheduled (timetabled) empty carriage stock movements (ecm) during mid to late 2016

Attachments:

GTR_Timetable_consultation_document.pdf, 1.2 MB

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Permalink Reply by Susie Holden on August 2, 2015 at 9:56

Thanks Matthew - this is extremely helpful. I live near Ally Pally and don't see Alexandra Palace station on this map. Am I right to assume that the developments you outline for Bowes Park station will be similar/identical for Alexandra Palace station?

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Clark on August 3, 2015 at 9:39

Donald,
Thanks - I've edited the above.
Matt

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Clark on August 3, 2015 at 9:40

Hi Suzie,
Yes, for Alexandra Palace you'll benefit too.

Matt

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Permalink Reply by Richard McConnell on November 9, 2015 at 21:05

Hi All,

First time posting on here. My wife and moved to the area back in January, we've always wondered (wished) if some day the trains would start running though to Moorgate on a weekend with Old Street been the most desirable stop for us as it really does open up a whole new part of London to explore !

I've been trying to find some updated information on this online but no such luck. I'm presuming all is still on 'track', we hope so !

Please if you have heard any updates I would love to hear?

Richard

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Permalink Reply by Alex Goldup on November 10, 2015 at 8:01

Hi Richard. I've read elsewhere - possibly on Harringay Online - that the new weekend Moorgate service is indeed starting around the middle of next month.

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Permalink Reply by Donald Smith on November 10, 2015 at 11:05

ROLL UP! ROLL UP! Hertford trains to Moorgate 7 days a week!

Good Morning Richard and Alex

Richard writes:

I've been trying to find some updated information on this online but no such luck. I'm presuming all is still on 'track', we hope so !

Please if you have heard any updates I would love to hear?

Alex writes:

I've read elsewhere - possibly on Harringay Online - that the new weekend Moorgate service is indeed starting around the middle of next month.

The information IS READILY available ONLINE at the Train Operator's web site (pdf attached)

The result of the consultation for the 13th December 2015 timetable change is attached as a pdf

There are also many changes to the Monday to Friday and Sunday services CLICK HERE

Please note that Drayton Park does not have the capacity to safely handle the large numbers of passengers going to the nearby Emirates Stadium for Arsenal matches* and, in agreement with the police will therefore be closed for two hours before and after each game at weekends to protect the safety of passengers. During the week, current arrangements will apply (which is to close the station only after a match). Passengers are advised to use Finsbury Park station instead. (*Drayton Park is built on a constricted site within a cutting with a single, narrow platform used by both northbound and southbound services. Access is via a single, narrow flight of stairs and there is no area outside the station to manage crowds of football fans. Great Northern is able to keep the station open before weekday matches because these do not ordinarily attract as many people as weekend matches. Weekday crowds also build up during the evening peak service, when there are more frequent trains to handle the number of fans.)

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