Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has leased an additional fleet of thirty modern trains to improve services on Great Northern and Thameslink.
GTR expects the trains to make journeys quicker, improve connections and provide more space for passengers.
The operator has leased the Electrostar trains from owners Porterbrook.
The Class 379 trains were originally built in 2011 for Stansted Express, and Porterbrook acquired the fleet from Akiem in March 2024
The first two units entered service yesterday evening (Monday, 10 February) at 17:42 from King’s Cross to Letchworth Garden City service.
The two four-carriage units (numbers 379002 and 022) joined together to form an eight-carriage train.
This morning (Tuesday 11 February), they operated the 07:45 from Letchworth Garden City to King’s Cross. The units will continue to operate these two services each weekday. More 379 units will enter service in future.
GTR expects the trains to bring significant benefits for its Great Northern and Thameslink passengers travelling to and from stations between King’s Lynn, Cambridge and London.
This will also include passengers travelling to and from stations on the Hertford Loop via Hertford North.
As the new fleet of Class 379s enters service, this will free up a number of existing Class 387 Great Northern trains, which GTR plans to use to support and strengthen passenger services south of London on Southern and across the South East on Southeastern.
The full benefits will come into force when the Thameslink and Great Northern timetables change in December 2025. Thec hanges will be more significant than those last year.
The new timetable will take advantage of the upgrading of the route to introduce new long-distance services to London from the North of England. The upgrades have taken a decade and cost four billion pounds.
“These extra trains we have started to bring into service are a real demonstration of GTR working with partners across the rail industry to give passengers extra services and better journeys right across the South East. They’re supporting our steady recovery from the effects of the pandemic.”
Steve Lammin, GTR Engineering Director
Responses
I’m hoping that Great Northern will also introduce the Class 379s to Cambridge, Peterborough, King’s Lynn and Ely throughout this year. And to keep some of the Class 387s with some cascaded down to Southern.