Searching For What Is Going To Happen On The East London Line After The Thameslink Programme Opens
My E-Mail To Thameslink On The 14th February
On the 14th February, I sent this e-mail to the Thameslink Programme.
At present when I go to Gatwick Airport, I get an East London Line train from Dalston Junction to New Cross Gate or Norwood Junction, from where I pick up a Gatwick Train.
Can you confirm, that the current service will be equally good or even better after the Thameslink Programme is completed?
A Reply From Thameslink On The 17th February
On the 17th February, I got this reply.
Thanks for your email.
The Thameslink Programme is transforming north-south travel through London. This infrastructure and new trains investment programme will increase capacity on one of Europe’s busiest stretches of railway. For more information on the benefits of the programme, you can visit our website here, and an interactive map of our improvement sites here.
We’ve already delivered longer, 12-car trains between Brighton and Bedford, platform lengthening at several stations, track work and upgraded stations including West Hampstead, Farringdon and Blackfriars. The most complex part of the programme is now underway; this includes rebuilding London Bridge station, and laying new track and signalling equipment around the station to create a spacious and better connected transport hub.
We are linking parts of the East Coast Mainline to the Thameslink network, allowing passengers from Cambridge and Peterborough to travel to Blackfrairs and beyond, relieving congestion on the Underground.
There will also be a link with Crossrail at our hub station at Farringdon, giving access to Gatwick, Luton and Heathrow airports and St Pancras International.
Dalston Junction is managed by TfL, and so any enquries about an improved link from this station to Gatwick should be directed to overgroundinfo@tfl.gov.uk.
I hope this is helpful, thanks for getting in touch.
Kind regards,
Jen Pattison, Thameslink Programme
My E-Mail To Overground Info On The 17th February
So I sent off a longer e-mail to Overground Info.
If say you want to go between Dalston Junction and Purley, you will certainly have to change trains.
Currently, it takes between fifty and sixty minutes and you sometimes change at New Cross Gate and at other times the suggested change is Norwood Junction.
It’s alright for me and others who know how to use the various journey calculators or apps, but what about people like my late wife, who never ever owned a smart phone or even sent a text message.
The full simple rule for Dalston Junction to Purley, seems to be something like take a West Croydon train from Dalston Junction to Norwood Junction and then get the first train to Purley from there.
Different rules apply to different stations
Thameslink is going to bring major changes to how we go places along the East London Line and especially, if we venture into any Thameslink territory.
My simple example of Dalston Junction to Purley might get a lot more complicated, as some documents and web pages, say that Thameslink services between London Bridge and East Croydon will not stop. So how do passengers on the East London Line catch these trains to places like Purley, Gatwick and Brighton?
To get to Thameslink, those on the East London Line, will have to go to Whitechapel and get a train to Farringdon or St. Pancras
That will be a pain for anybody, whose local station is anywhere on the East London Line and very much a degradation of the current service.
Those living near Norwood Junction have already lodged a petition with the London Assembly.
My Reply From OvergroundInfo On The 19th February
On the 19th February, I got this reply.
Thank you for contacting London Overground.
I am sorry however I am unable to help with the issue you raise. They will be best addressed by Thameslink.
As a result I have passed your comments to them. I am sure that you will hear from them soon, however if you want to contact them their details are:
You certainly can’t complain about the promptness of the replies but I’m back to square one.
All I want to know, is how the millions of us in East London will get to Gatwick Airport, as conveniently as we do now!
The Anonymous Widower 
[…] seems to echo what I documented in Searching For What Is Going To Happen On The East London Line After The Thameslink Programme Opens, where I was trying to find out how Thameslink will improve my journeys from Dalston Junction using […]
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[…] It had been hoped that the improved Thameslink would have laid down a simple rule for getting from the East London Line to Gatwick, but when I asked Thameslink about this, they referred me to Transport for London, who unsurprisingly referred me back to Thameslink. I wrote about it in detail in Searching For What Is Going To Happen On The East London Line After The Thameslink Programme Opens. […]
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