On Apr 7, 9:24*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
08:57:30 on Tue, 7 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:

The Thameslink services are going to be non-stop from London Bridge to
East Croydon, then non-stop again to Gatwick - so what makes them
pretty slow south of SPILL, the trudge through the 'Thameslink core'?
I'm kind of expecting that the core section will pick up some speed
after (at least some of) the works have been done.

Part of it's the core, and part is the generally low speed on the line
to Brighton. London Bridge to Gatwick is 24 miles, timetabled currently
at 29 minutes. 100mph it ain't.

No, but it's the same journey duration as the Gatwick Express (and
Thameslink trains manage to fit in a stop at Croydon too). But I see
now that essentially I think your looking at the Brighton main line in
the eyes of an ECML and/or MML passenger.

(The ride is terrible, too).

Is it really? Or is that just the 319s? I was on the Brighton main
line on an Electrostar very recently, it seemed fine to me. And I only
recall the GatEx being a bit rocky when negotiating points (yes, I
realise it doesn't traverse the fast lines from London Bridge to EC).