From the Daily Telegraph web-site, 23 May….
A joint business between UK transport company Go-Ahead Group and Keolis of France has been handed a seven year contract to run what will be Britain’s biggest railway franchise in a bitter blow to FirstGroup, which currently runs some of the services covered by the new agreement.
The complex new Thameslink contract, which will carry 273m passengers a year, combines several sets of rail services in one. It is expected to generate revenues from passengers of £12.4bn.
These include the current Thameslink services connecting Bedford with central London, Gatwick Airport and Brighton; Great Northern services from London King’s Cross to Cambridge; and Southern services from London to the south coast.
FirstGroup is currently the operator of both Thameslink and Great Northern services while Southern is run by Govia, a joint business between Go-Ahead and Keolis. Go-Ahead owns 65pc of Govia.
I’m not that concerned about the quality of service, but please, please can they get rid of that foul ‘Barbie’ livery. Trains should NOT be purple and pink (though it has to be said that it looks better on a model than on the real thing!)
esngblog 