PRINCESS A ‘TEA PARTY’ BY COMPARISON

A HIGH-LEVEL working group is on the cards following claims by senior industry players that the enhanced Thameslink timetable planned for 2018 is unworkable in its present form. 20 trains per hour in the peaks are envisaged through the Thameslink central core in May 2018, ramping up to 24tph in December 2018. ‘In its current form, it is set to make Operation Princess look like a tea party’ commented one source, referring to the 2002 reorganisation of cross-country services that resulted in a number of problems.