AMENDED VERSION
More than 12,000 extra seats will be provided on some of the country's busiest rail commuter routes, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today.
A package of improvements that includes expanding the Gatwick Express service, building new trains and leasing more carriages will boost capacity from the end of the year. All the additional seats will be available by the end of 2008.
The Secretary of State announced that;
* The Gatwick Express will be retained as a non-stop service between Gatwick Airport and London every 15 minutes. At the busiest times of day the service will also run beyond Gatwick to Brighton, doubling the number of express trains between Brighton and London Victoria in the high peak. Unused coaches will be taken from storage and reconditioned to provide the extra trains. At least two extra trains will also run between Redhill and London in the peak. These changes will provide more than 3,700 seats into and out of London at the busiest times.
* An extra 48 carriages will be made available on the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect. The first 16 are due to begin operating on the line, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through Central London, by the end of 2007 with all 48 in place by December 2008. This allows FCC to double the remaining four-carriage services to eight carriages during the peak. As a result, the company says it can add almost 8,300 seats during the busiest times. The extra coaches will be transferred from Southern.
* Southern will replace them with 48 new Electrostar coaches (the same model as the rest of its fleet). The investment of around £55 million is set against the background of the recent announcement by the Secretary of State that 1,000 new carriages are intended to be added to the network over the next seven years.
Mr Alexander said: "This is good news for both rail and air passengers. Not only are we adding more seats and more trains on some of the country's busiest rail routes, we are also keeping the fast, frequent Gatwick Express. We have done this by making better use of track-space, taking carriages out of storage and approving the building of new trains.
"The need to increase capacity is a real challenge facing the railway industry and it is a priority for my Department. No single improvement will provide all the extra capacity we want to see but piece-by-piece and route-by-route, we are working to address the challenge. I have already said that there will be 1,000 new carriages on the rail network by 2014."
The current Gatwick Express franchise will be ended early in May 2008 to allow the creation of a new franchise that will include both the Gatwick Express and Southern services.
More than 12,000 extra seats will be provided on some of the country's busiest rail commuter routes, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today.
A package of improvements that includes expanding the Gatwick Express service, building new trains and leasing more carriages will boost capacity from the end of the year. All the additional seats will be available by the end of 2008.
The Secretary of State announced that;
* The Gatwick Express will be retained as a non-stop service between Gatwick Airport and London every 15 minutes. At the busiest times of day the service will also run beyond Gatwick to Brighton, doubling the number of express trains between Brighton and London Victoria in the high peak. Unused coaches will be taken from storage and reconditioned to provide the extra trains. At least two extra trains will also run between Redhill and London in the peak. These changes will provide more than 3,700 seats into and out of London at the busiest times.
* An extra 48 carriages will be made available on the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect. The first 16 are due to begin operating on the line, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through Central London, by the end of 2007 with all 48 in place by December 2008. This allows FCC to double the remaining four-carriage services to eight carriages during the peak. As a result, the company says it can add almost 8,300 seats during the busiest times. The extra coaches will be transferred from Southern.
* Southern will replace them with 48 new Electrostar coaches (the same model as the rest of its fleet). The investment of around £55 million is set against the background of the recent announcement by the Secretary of State that 1,000 new carriages are intended to be added to the network over the next seven years.
Mr Alexander said: "This is good news for both rail and air passengers. Not only are we adding more seats and more trains on some of the country's busiest rail routes, we are also keeping the fast, frequent Gatwick Express. We have done this by making better use of track-space, taking carriages out of storage and approving the building of new trains.
"The need to increase capacity is a real challenge facing the railway industry and it is a priority for my Department. No single improvement will provide all the extra capacity we want to see but piece-by-piece and route-by-route, we are working to address the challenge. I have already said that there will be 1,000 new carriages on the rail network by 2014."
The current Gatwick Express franchise will be ended early in May 2008 to allow the creation of a new franchise that will include both the Gatwick Express and Southern services.
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