Category: Thameslink

Thameslink is a rail route running across London from north to south. It has become more complex over the years, with the latest major changes happening in May 2018.

It has two main entry points into London from the north; one branch begins at Bedford and enters the Travelcard zones at Elstree and Borehamwood, while the other comes down from Peterborough or Cambridge through Hadley Wood (though non-stopping there, with the first London stop generally being Finsbury Park).

Some of the Cambridge trains terminate at King's Cross, but most trains from all northern branches continue through St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, and Blackfriars before crossing the river via Blackfriars Railway Bridge.

At this point the route branches again. One branch heads via London Bridge nonstop to East Croydon and thence south out of London to Brighton, and another goes via Greenwich and Dartford out to Rainham in Kent (not to be confused with the zone 6 station of the same name). The other two go via Elephant and Castle, one to run around the Sutton Loop and the other to branch off via Peckham Rye and Catford to finally terminate at Orpington or Sevenoaks.

It should be noted that there aren't necessarily direct connections from all the northern ends to all the southern ends; for example, there are no direct trains from Cambridge to Sutton, or from Bedford to Orpington, and many services start or end at Kentish Town or Blackfriars. However, several useful direct trains do exist, for example between Luton Airport in the north and Gatwick Airport in the south.

See also:

Auto-generated list of Thameslink stations on this guide (view them on a map):

Last edited 2018-06-09 11:20:51 (version 5; diff). List all versions.