First Capital Connect
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First Capital Connect is a train operating company in England that began its passenger operations on the National Rail network at 02:00 BST 1 April 2006. It is owned by First Group and combines the service on the cross-London Thameslink railway line with the services along the East Coast Main Line from King's Cross and Moorgate to Peterborough, Cambridge, and King's Lynn formerly operated by wagn. This is often referred to as Great Northern. First Group plans to overhaul the trains with new liveries and on-board services as well as an £8 million program of upgrades for several major stations.
The two routes were amalgamated in preparation for the Thameslink Programme (formerly Thameslink 2000), which will increase capacity on the Thameslink route and allow trains from King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough to run via Thameslink. Although there is not yet any confirmed funding for this project, the franchises were joined in 2006 to ensure that management will be fully integrated by the time Thameslink 2000 is a reality.
The current Managing Director of this company is Elaine Holt. Other directors include, Andy Cope (Engineering), Hugh Clancy (Commercial), Karen Boswell (Customer Services), Belan McWilliam (Projects), Mohammed Saeed (Human Resources) and Nigel Holness (Operations and Safety).
News
On 11 June 2006, First Capital Connect caused consternation among commuters by restricting off-peak travel in the evenings for some journeys. Commuters who for many years have used the off-peak service suddenly found they could not get home at their usual evening time without paying an additional fare. This "congestion charge" is attracting protest, the argument being that it unfairly penalises a subset of existing customers for congestion caused by all of them. In addition, FCC will apply these restrictions to delayed trains that were scheduled during the restricted hours. This means that any delay occurring to trains in the restricted evening hours (between 1630 and 1900h) could delay the start of the off-peak time by an equivalent amount, meaning off-peak ticket holders may need to wait for up anything to 2.5 additional hours before they are allowed to travel, even though trains are running regularly through the station.References
External links
- [First Capital Connect official web site]
- [BBC News article on Takeover]
- [Network Rail's Thameslink Programme]
| Current scheduled passenger train operators in Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - First TransPennine Express - Grand Central Railway1 Great North Eastern Railway>GNER - Heathrow Connect - Hull Trains - Island Line - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline Northern Rail - Northern Ireland Railways2 - one - Silverlink - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - Virgin Trains |
| International: | Enterprise 2 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express3 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper4 - Night Riviera5 |
| 1 Starts December 2006 – 2 Operated on the Irish railway network - 3 Operated by one 4 Operated by First ScotRail – 5 Operated by First Great Western | |
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