First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

, owned by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

and

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) franchise. First Capital Connect was a major provider of commuter and regional services in London and the south east of England. It operated passenger rail services from

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

via the

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * ...

, Wimbledon and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

via

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. It also operated commuter, suburban and regional services out of

London King's Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kin ...

and London Moorgate to

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to t ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. Major destinations served included

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

. First Capital Connect ceased operations at 02:00 on 14 September 2014, when the franchise was taken over by

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...

, and became part of the larger

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) is a management contract for the provision of passenger services on the Thameslink and Great Northern route, Great Northern routes to , , , , , , Moorgate station, London Moorgate, Sutton railway s ...

History

On 8 April 2005, the

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'. I ...

announced that

Danish State Railways DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, go ...

/ EWS,

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.John Laing/

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

and

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

had been shortlisted for the Thameslink Great Northern franchise. On 13 December 2005, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

awarded the new franchise to FirstGroup, with the services operated by

and

West Anglia Great Northern West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...

transferring to First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006. The term of the franchise was originally for nine years, finishing in 2015. This was dependent on performance targets being met at the end of the fourth year, which would trigger an automatic two-year extension, and an extension for up to three years after the sixth year at the discretion of the DfT. It was announced on 5 August 2011 that the franchise would end on 14 September 2013. "This will help to facilitate the continued project delivery of the Thameslink Programme, in particular the introduction of new rolling stock, which will be completed after the expiry date of the existing franchise." The Thameslink franchise and the Great Northern part of the

franchise were amalgamated in preparation for the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

(formerly Thameslink 2000), designed to increase capacity on the Thameslink route, with trains from King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough. On 24 July 2007 the government announced that it was fully committed to funding the Thameslink Programme, and the project is now largely complete. In the early part of 2007, First Capital Connect conducted a study and undertook consultation on options for increasing the capacity of services to Peterborough and Cambridge. The final recommendations involved lengthening four peak services from eight to 12 carriages from May 2009, and adding or removing a small number of stops to balance loads between trains. 1,779 more seats have been provided during the morning peak and 2,490 during the evening peak, significantly reducing the number of rush-hour commuters unable to find a seat.

Demise

In December 2011, the DfT announced that all services operated by First Capital Connect would be included within the new

Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) is a management contract for the provision of passenger services on the Thameslink and Great Northern routes to , , , , , , London Moorgate, Sutton, Wimbledon and Brighton, as well as the whole ...

franchise. On 29 March 2012, the Department for Transport announced that

Abellio Abellio (also Abelio and Abelionni) was a god worshiped in the Garonne Valley in Gallia Aquitania (now southwest France), known primarily by a number of inscriptions which were discovered in Comminges, in the Pyrenees. He may have been a god of ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Govia Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History Establi ...

and

had been shortlisted for the new franchise. The Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012 and the successful bidder announced in early 2013. But in the wake of the

InterCity West Coast InterCity West Coast (ICWC) was a 1997–2019 Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain, railway franchise in the United Kingdom for passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line (and branches thereof), between Euston railway station, London E ...

re-franchising process collapsing, the government announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review. In January 2013 the government announced it would be exercising an option to extend the franchise until 31 March 2014. In March 2013, the

Secretary of State for Transport The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent is ...

announced plans for a direct award franchise to run until 13 September 2014. On 18 February 2014 the Department for Transport announced it had agreed a new short-term franchise with First Capital Connect, running for six months to September 2014. On 23 May 2014 the new TSGN franchise was awarded to Govia with services operated by First Capital Connect transferring to

on 14 September 2014.

Routes

The routes operated by First Capital Connect off-peak Monday to Friday were, with frequencies in trains per hour:

Great Northern

From London King's Cross

* to Peterborough – 2 (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping) * to Cambridge (non-stop) – 2 (1 extended to King's Lynn) * to Cambridge – 2 (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)

From Moorgate

* to Hertford North via Gordon Hill – 3 (1 extended to Letchworth Garden City) * to Welwyn Garden City – 3 Unlike the Thameslink route, there was only one control centre for FCC services on the Great Northern route, at King's Cross, within the power signal box.

Thameslink

* Sevenoaks via Catford to Kentish Town (off-peak) or Bedford (peak trains)– 2 (jointly operated with Southeastern) * Bedford to Brighton– 4 (2 semi-fast, 2 stopping) * Luton to Sutton (London) via Wimbledon– 2 * St Albans to Sutton (London) via Mitcham Junction– 2 This gave a frequency of 10 trains between London Blackfriars and St Pancras which increased during peak hours. FCC had two control centres (or 'Service Delivery Centres', SDC) for the Thameslink route. North of Blackfriars was controlled from

West Hampstead West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden in north-west London. Mainly defined by the railway stations of the same name, it is situated between Childs Hill to the north, Frognal and Hampstead to the north-east, Swiss Cottage ...

, within the power

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...

; south of Blackfriars from Three Bridges, which was also home to other southern TOC controls.

Major service disruptions

The disruptions were triggered by FCC drivers declining to work overtime or during their allotted rest days, following their rejection of a proposed pay increase of 0% (rising to 3% in 2010). Without access to overtime and rest day work, FCC was unable to provide enough drivers to maintain its standard Thameslink service. Disruption continued into January 2010 as a result of heavy snow in south-east England; although snow was not the only problem, and although significant snowfall ended on 6 January, FCC continued to run emergency timetables through to 11 January. Trains returned to the normal timetables from 18 January, but delays and cancellations continued as a result of signalling problems. It was revealed that First Capital Connect achieved 60% in its punctuality during the first half of January 2010 on the Thameslink route. First Capital Connect has since offered improved discount and refund packages for customers affected by the disruption. On 23 December 2010 FCC introduced an emergency timetable on the Great Northern route, reducing the number of rush-hour trains by 75%. This was due to snow which had damaged some of the trains, making them unable to run.

Customer satisfaction

Angry commuters started a petition on the Prime Minister's website to end First Capital Connect's franchise during 2009. Other people have asked for a full enquiry into the service, while

Lord Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State ...

, the former

, described the service offered by FCC on its Thameslink route as "shoddy" and "very substandard", and said that if improvements were not made the company could be stripped of its franchise. In its Autumn 2009 National Passenger Survey, Passenger Focus said FCC had the lowest overall satisfaction rating of any UK train operator, at 75%. In early 2013, consumer group ''

Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights and offering independ ...

'' carried out a survey which rated First Capital Connect as the worst train operator in the UK.

Overcrowding

First Capital Connect was criticised for running some of the country's most overcrowded trains; the 07.15 from Cambridge to London King's Cross frequently was reported to have had 76 people standing for every 100 seated. This situation was recognised by FCC itself: "We recognise that overcrowding is the biggest issue affecting our customers. This is at an unacceptable level on some of our services". From 27 May 2009 FCC introduced extra carriages, which meant that this service became a 12-car train rather than an 8-car.

Pricing

Fares

In mid-2006, First Capital Connect introduced evening peak-time fares for northbound travel out of London as a franchise commitment with the Department for Transport. Previously passengers with an off-peak travelcard could travel on any train after the morning peak had finished at 09:30 however, passengers would no longer be able to use an off-peak ticket for trains leaving London stations between 16:30 and 19:00. Passengers using these peak-hour trains would pay an additional charge to travel. The evening peak restriction does not affect southbound travel. This was introduced due to severe peak-time overcrowding. Students at some sixth-form colleges were hit by price increases of over £300 per annum when FCC replaced a discount scheme introduced by previous franchise holders WAGN and Thameslink, with its own 'Student Connect' scheme. The level of discount was greatly reduced, and although in theory the scheme is fairer, in practice many students and parents were left out of pocket.

Incidents

In September 2010, First Capital Connect admitted in an email that, despite being trained in first aid, staff were not allowed to offer medical help to members of the public. An incident was reported by the BBC after a passenger collapsed and FCC's station staff would not help. In October 2010, passengers trapped on a failed train near

gave up waiting, forced the train doors open and walked up the line to the nearby Foxton station. On 26 May 2011 at 18:27, passengers were trapped on a failed Class 377 train between St Pancras International (Low Level) and Kentish Town stations, forming the 16:30 Brighton to Bedford service. Another train of the same type was sent to assist the failed train, and was eventually coupled to it at 20:20 but by this time passengers had used the emergency release handles to open the train doors in an attempt to improve ventilation (as the air-conditioning and lighting systems were no longer functioning by this point). The train began to move at 21:03 but this movement was immediately stopped because passengers were egressing onto the track from the carriages within the tunnel. The passengers were escorted back on to the train, which was authorised to move forward again at 21:12. Three sets of doors towards the rear of the train were still fully open while it travelled approximately a mile to Kentish Town, where all passengers then left the train. First Capital Connect admitted a number of failings in the way in which it handled this incident, including a need to improve communications with passengers.

Rolling stock

First Capital Connect inherited a fleet of Class 319 units from the former Thameslink operator. It also inherited a fleet of Class 313, 317 and 365 units from WAGN on the Great Northern routes.

Fleet at end of franchise

The rolling stock composition is specified by the franchise agreement. All Thameslink route rolling stock was electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units using

25 kV AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...

overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 V DC

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

to the south. In addition to its EMU fleet, FCC owned the last mainline-registered Class 03 diesel shunter, 03179 ''Clive''.

Additional rolling stock

An additional four Class 319s were transferred from

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

in March 2009 to expand capacity on the Thameslink route, giving FCC all 86 319s. The DfT ordered 23 new dual-voltage Class 377 units for Southern, which entered service in 2010 and were sublet to FCC until the new Thameslink rolling stock is introduced, to further enhance capacity on the Thameslink services. FCC also gained 13 Class 321s from

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

: 321401-406 in May 2009, 321407-410 later in 2009, 321418-420 in 2010. These enhanced the capacity on Peterborough / Cambridge - King's Cross services. Three Class 313 units from

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

moved to the Great Northern route for inner-suburban services, King's Cross/Moorgate - Welwyn Garden City/Hertford North/Letchworth Garden City, once all of London Overground's new were delivered.

Diagrams

313 First Capital Connect and Great Northern

Depots

FCC operated two depots: * Bedford Cauldwell - code BF *

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

- code HE

Refurbishment

During its tenure, FCC overhauled all of its rolling stock painting their exteriors in the FCC livery and refreshing the interiors. It had an £8 million programme of upgrades for several major stations.

References

External links

* , - {{Transport in London Airport rail links in London Defunct train operating companies FirstGroup railway companies Railway companies established in 2006 Railway companies disestablished in 2014 Railway operators in London Thameslink 2006 establishments in England 2014 disestablishments in England