Thames Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Go-Ahead Group, which operated the Thames Trains franchise from October 1996 until March 2004.
Overview | |
---|---|
Franchise(s) | Thames Trains 13 October 1996 – 31 March 2004 |
Main region(s) | Greater London, Southeast England |
Other region(s) | East Midlands, Southwest England, West Midlands |
Fleet size | 57 (March 2004) |
Stations called at | 95 |
Parent company | Go-Ahead Group |
Reporting mark | TT |
Successor | First Great Western Link |
Other | |
Website | www.thamestrains.co.uk |
The Thames Trains franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to Victory Rail Holdings,[1] a company owned by Go-Ahead (65%) and some ex-British Rail managers (35%), with operations commencing on 13 October 1996.[2] Go-Ahead bought the remaining shares it did not own in June 1998.[3][4]
The Ladbroke Grove rail crash of 5 October 1999 involved a Thames Trains Class 165, which had failed to stop at a red signal. Thames Trains was fined £2 million for violations of health and safety law in connection with the incident, and was also ordered to pay £75,000 in costs.[5]
Thames Trains ran services along the Great Western Main Line from London Paddington to Didcot with services continuing north to Oxford, Bicester Town, Hereford and Stratford-upon-Avon. It also operated services on the Greenford, Windsor & Eton Central, Marlow, Henley and Bedwyn lines and on the Reading to Basingstoke and North Downs lines.[6]
In 1998 a service from Oxford to Bristol was introduced in partnership with First Great Western.[7][8] This was withdrawn in 2003 to relieve congestion, at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority.
Thames Trains inherited a fleet of near-new Class 165 and Class 166 diesel multiple units from British Rail. Because the paintwork was still under warranty, the existing Network SouthEast livery was retained with only a Thames Trains logo added.[9][10] Upon the warranty expiring, a new livery of white, blue and green was introduced in 2000.[11]
Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Built | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mph | km/h | |||||
Class 165 Networker Turbo | DMU | 90 | 145 | 36 | 1990–1992 | |
Class 166 Networker Turbo | 21 | 1992–1993 |
Thames Trains' fleet was maintained at Reading TMD.
In April 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority invited FirstGroup and Go-Ahead to bid for a two-year franchise that would coincide with the end date of the First Great Western franchise, after which both would become part of the Greater Western franchise.[12][13] In November 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the new franchise to First with the services operated by Thames Trains transferring to First Great Western Link on 1 April 2004.[14][15]