The History and Background Info on FCC

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  First Capital Connect (FCC) is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006. It is owned by First Group and combines the service on the cross-London Thameslink railway line between Brighton and Bedford with services along the East Coast Main Line from King's Cross and Moorgate to Peterborough, Cambridge, and King's Lynn formerly operated by WAGN, often referred to as Great Northern.

First Group is in the process of overhauling the trains with new liveries and refreshed interiors as well as an £8 million programme of upgrades for several major stations. The full term of the franchise is for nine years until 2015, but this depends on meeting performance targets at the end of the fourth year, which will give an automatic two-year extension, and an extension for up to three years after the sixth year at the discretion of the DfT.

The Thameslink and WAGN franchises were amalgamated in preparation for the Thameslink Programme (formerly Thameslink 2000), which will increase capacity on the Thameslink route and allow trains from King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough to run via Thameslink. On 24 July 2007 the Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly, formally announced that the Government was fully committed to funding the Thameslink Programme. Since the planning permission and legal powers associated with the project have already been granted, the project is now clear to proceed.



News

January 2009: First Capital Connect have recently announced additional Car Park price increases. This is the second price rise in just 9 months and follows hikes in excess of 20% in May 2008. For example, parking at Luton Airport Parkway has risen from £4.60 per day in April 2008 to £6.00 from 2nd February 2009, a jump of over 30%. They have also declined to pass on the VAT rate cut to customers paying for car parking, effectively implementing a 2.5% rise without consultation. First Capital Connect base their pricing policy on a comparison with charges for shoppers and town centre users, a policy which has attracted criticism from customers.

In the early part of 2007 FCC conducted a study and undertook consultation on options for increasing the capacity of services to Peterborough and Cambridge. The final recommendations involve lengthening four peak services from 8 to 12 carriages from May 2009, and adding or removing a small number of stops to balance loads between trains. 1,779 more seats will be provided during the morning peak and 2,490 during the evening peak.

On 19 June 2008 FCC started testing a Class 377 Electrostar train in anticipation of the introduction of 23 x 4-car units on the Bedford to Brighton route in March next year. The Electrostar train has started non-passenger operation for driver training, signal testing, gauge clearance, platform staff training and validating on-board passenger information. Other technical on-board and track tests are also taking place. The trains are part of the £5.5 billion Thameslink improvement programme.

In 2008, First Capital Connect opened two new training facilities. In Kentish Town, a derelict station building was converted into new training rooms to deliver induction, customer service and revenue protection training to new recruits. It will also offer management development programmes and safety specific training to First Capital Connect’s 2,150 staff. The centre will be able to run in-house BTEC & NVQ programmes. In Hornsey, Sir Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive of FirstGroup officially opened the Performance and Training Academy, and Simulator Centre. First Capital Connect invested £1.2m in the Academy that will be used to teach the new drivers required for the Thameslink Programme and help support the company's existing team of approximately 700 drivers. The Simulator Centre includes a 319 train simulator replicating the train on the Bedford to Brighton route, and the second, a 365 train simulator as seen on the Great Northern route.

Class 365 Networker Express

Performance

The latest performance figures for FCC covering the four week period from 17 August to 13 September 2008 were the best performance figures in the franchise history. Public Performance Measurement (PPM) reached 93.94% which is the highest level achieved in the two-and-a-half years of the First Capital Connect franchise and for the previous eight years of operating. Only 1.39% of services were cancelled in the period, beating the previous low of 1.72% that was reached in March 2008.

The Moving Annual Average (MAA) now stands at 91.4% above the national average of 90.4%. PPM is often measured in this way as the year progresses to account for seasonality when reviewing trends. The FCC PPM for 20 out of the last 21 periods have been over 90%. GN Route - four out of the last five periods have had a PPM >96%. TL Route - six out of the last nine periods have had a PPM over 90%.

Official figures released by the ORR (Office for Rail Regulation) for the first quarter of the financial year 2008-9 were 92.7% PPM and 91.0% MAA (of PPM). Both of these figures are up on last year.



All stations in one day

On 25th September 2008 a team of four set out to visit all 105 First Capital Connect railway stations in less than 24 hours for charity. Ben Huxley, Lucy Dawson, Steve Everett, and Matt Streeton started their journey at Letchworth Garden City and took the 06:16 service via Cambridge to Kings Lynn before heading to London. On completing the 52 stations on the Great Northern route the team tackled the Thameslink (TL) route which connects Brighton to Bedford including services around the Wimbledon Loop in South London.The team arrived back at home some 16 hours later at 22:21 having completed the journey. They travelled through seven counties including Herts, Norfolk and Sussex and covered approximately 500 miles (as the crow flies) for charity.



Rolling stock

Current fleet


Class 319

FCC is the only FirstGroup TOC that uses only electric trains in passenger service.
Thameslink rolling stock consists of 82 Class 319 trains built by BREL between 1987 and 1990. These are electrically powered dual-voltage four-car units rated to hold 289, 308 or 319 passengers. They use 25 kV AC overhead power north of Farringdon and 750 V DC third rail to the south.

In addition to its EMU fleet FCC owns the sole surviving mainline-registered Class 03, 03179 Clive.




Future Fleet

An additional four Class 319 trains will be transferred from Southern in 2009 to expand capacity on the Thameslink route. Southern are also in the process of procuring 23 new dual voltage Class 377 units, 12 of which will be transferred to FCC on delivery to further enhance the Thameslink services.. FCC will also take on five Class 321 units (cascaded from London Midland) in May 2009, with the possibility of an additional five 321s coming over to FCC later on in 2009. These units will enhance the Peterborough - London King's Cross services, thus allowing more Class 365 units to be available for the King's Lynn - Cambridge - London King's Cross services. Some Class 313 units from London Overground will move to the Great Northern route for Inner Suburban services from London King's Cross/Moorgate - Welwyn Garden City/Hertford North/Letchworth Garden City.

Separate from the government's rolling stock plan is the procurement of new rolling stock for use on the expanded Thameslink route, which will replace the current Class 319 units. 1100 vehicles dual voltage EMUs likely to be delivered in units of four will be purchased, operating in trains of up to 12 cars. The new stock is due to enter service from 2012.

Class 377 Electrostar

Refurbishments

Under privatisation, Thameslink went about refurbishing its units. The Class 319/1s were rebuilt by Railcare Wolverton into the Class 319/3s, which included removing First Class accommodation. These units are used on Thameslink CityMetro services from Luton/St Albans to Wimbledon around the Sutton loop. These units are numbered 319361-319386.

The Class 319/0s it owned were rebuilt into Class 319/4s (with First Class accommodation added) for dedicated use on Thameslink Cityflier services from Bedford to Brighton, and were subsequently renumbered 319421-319460. Since then the fleet had undergone a minor refurbishment and Thameslink also initiated a programme of technical improvements. FCC has continued the refurbishment initiated by Thameslink, although it has altered the cosmestic features to its specifications.

WAGN and Thameslink trains are being repainted into FCC livery, a light-blue-to-dark blue shading with pink doors and a striped motif. New blue upholstery, linoleum and carpeting have been fitted, and the onboard lavatories have been repainted.

Unit 319425, the first unit to be refurbished

Management

The Managing Director is Elaine Holt. Other directors include Kieth Harding (Operations), Andy Cope (Engineering), Hugh Clancy (Commercial), Karen Boswell (Customer Services), Belén Martinez (Projects), Michelle Smart (Human Resources) and Chris Cornthwaite (Finance).

Contact Details

First Capital Connect Customer Relations
Tel: 0845 026 4700
Email: customer.relations.fcc@firstgroup.com or use our online form.
Fax: 0845 676 9904
Open 7 days a week, from 0700 to 2200, except Christmas Day.

Freepost
First Capital Connect
Customer Relations Department
PO Box 443
PLYMOUTH
PL4 6WP.