Charing Cross, at the Trafalgar Square end of Strand, and the City Thameslink entrance at Ludgate Hill are the nearest mainline stations, whilst London Waterloo is a walk or bus across the River Thames.

Immediately to the west across Pancras Road is St Pancras International, the London terminus of the Midland Main Line, Eurostar and high-speed trains to Kent via High Speed 1, and a major interchange for Thameslink services between and.

The Thameslink Programme is a major £ 5. 5 billion scheme to extend the service to a further 100 stations and to greatly increase capacity on the central London section to accommodate more frequent and longer trains.

The route through central London is via St Pancras International for connections to Eurostar and the East Midlands ; Farringdon, for London Underground's Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines, and Crossrail from 2018 ; City Thameslink, which replaced the demolished Holborn Viaduct station and also has a southern entrance serving Ludgate Circus ; Blackfriars, for other rail services and the Underground District and Circle lines ; and London Bridge, for links to a number of other lines.

Thameslink rolling stock is mainly the 86 Class 319 trains built by BREL between 1987 and 1990.

The invitation to tender for the Thameslink franchise is expected to be issued in October 2012, with the contract commencing in September 2013.

Cricklewood Station is the nearest main-line station ( for Thameslink services ).

A new Brent Cross Thameslink station, for 12-car trains, is planned, and for that reason the planned lengthening of Cricklewood station platforms, from 8 to 12-cars, has been abandoned.

) The station is operated by First Capital Connect, located on the Midland Main Line as part of the Thameslink service.

The nearest National Rail station is station on the Thameslink route on the Midland Main Line.

Until that time, the only access to the Piccadilly Line was indirect, either via the Victoria Line station or via what was for many years called King's Cross Thameslink and is now the Pentonville Road entrance, and sometimes at peak hours was possible in one direction only.

The section between St Pancras and Bedford is electrified and forms the northern half of the Thameslink suburban service ( operated by First Capital Connect ), which provides a through service from Bedford to Brighton.

During these works it is expected that Thameslink trains will be diverted via and will not call at London Bridge.

The Elephant is also home to two linked London Underground stations ( Northern and Bakerloo lines ) as well as a National Rail station served both by South-East Trains ( Kentish Town to Sevenoaks via Catford ) and by First Capital Connect ( Thameslink suburban loop to Sutton and Wimbledon ).

King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, England, which served the Thameslink route.

On the west side of Borehamwood is a railway station, Elstree & Borehamwood railway station, served by trains operated by First Capital Connect on the Thameslink route.

Harpenden railway station is on a frequent and fast rail link to central London now served by First Capital Connect, having been served previously by Thameslink.

The Moorgate Thameslink branch closed permanently in December 2009 as part of the £ 6billion Thameslink programme, however as of late August 2012, there is still a sign over Platform 2 with ' Trains to Bedford ' and an arrow pointing to the now disused platforms.

It is 100m from West Hampstead station on the London Overground North London Line and 200m from West Hampstead Thameslink station.

It is currently one of the less important main-line central London stations but this will change significantly when it becomes an important interchange station between the two largest transport infrastructure programmes currently underway in London, the Thameslink Programme and Crossrail, both of which are scheduled for completion in 2018.

Crossrail is an entirely new east-west railway, scheduled to open in 2018 ; the Thameslink programme is a major upgrade to the existing north-south Thameslink route, enabling longer and more frequent trains, scheduled to be completed in 2018.

The replacement route under Ludgate Hill was opened on 29 May 1990 concurrently with station, which was initially called St Paul's Thameslink but was renamed in 1991 to avoid confusion with St. Paul's station on the London Underground ( Central Line ), about away.

The branding of most trains, stations, and signs has been changed to match the name of the new company, but City Thameslink and West Hampstead Thameslink stations keep the word Thameslink as it refers to the route.

After criticism of the loss of the apt name for this group of routes, First Capital Connect's publicity now calls this set of services its " Thameslink route " to distinguish it from the former WAGN services.

First Capital Connect acquired 23 new four-coach Class 377 sets during 2009, on sublease from Southern, to be used on the Thameslink route for additional capacity and also to allow some of the Class 319 trains to be released for use on the Catford Loop service to Sevenoaks, now jointly operated with Southeastern under Key Output 0 of the Thameslink Programme.

New energy-efficient trains will provide an additional 14, 500 seats on the Thameslink route and will be delivered from 2015 to 2018.

The Thameslink route runs north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton.

Three terminus platforms will be closed and three new through platforms created to allow additional services to continue either to Cannon Street or Charing Cross, or to Blackfriars and onwards via the Thameslink route.

First Capital Connect trains on the cross-London Thameslink route call at platforms beneath the main station, south to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and north to Luton Airport Parkway for Luton Airport and Bedford.

These are able to handle 12-car trains and will have sufficient capacity to serve the Thameslink Programme route ( upgraded from the original Thameslink network ).

Tracks were lifted in 1971 and the tunnel was abandoned for fifteen years until works began in 1986 to bring the north-south route back into operation as part of the Thameslink route.

The station is currently served by the Thameslink north-south rail route ; it is planned that this will be supplemented by a future east-west Crossrail service which will require the construction of additional station entrances.

A proposed upgrade of the Thameslink route would also have an impact on the local area, including the construction of further station entrances, the pedestrianisation of Cowcross Street and the demolition of several buildings.

Upon the privatisation of British Rail Thameslink services was franchised to Thameslink train operating company, a subsidiary of Govia.

Land at Brill Place, previously earmarked for later phases of the British Library development, became available when the library expansion was cancelled and was used as site offices for the HS1 terminal development and partly to allow for excavation of a tunnel for the new Thameslink station.

* 2 March – Further British train operating companies begin operation of their passenger service franchises in England as part of the privatisation of British Rail: Central Trains and North London Railways ( both National Express Group ); North Western Trains ( acquired by the Great Western Trains organisation ); Regional Railways North East ; and Thameslink ( Govia ).

** King's Cross Thameslink railway station a former railway station connecting with King's Cross station and King's Cross St Pancras tube station

# REDIRECT King's Cross Thameslink railway station

** King's Cross Thameslink, a disused railway station in London, England

# REDIRECT King's Cross Thameslink railway station

The nearest London Underground stations are Temple, Chancery Lane, and Blackfriars tube / mainline station, and the City Thameslink railway station.

# REDIRECT King's Cross Thameslink railway station

Snow Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the northern edge of the City of London between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations.

It was closed in 1923 and the railway bridge and viaduct between Holborn Viaduct and Blackfriars stations was demolished in 1990 to enable the construction of the City Thameslink railway station in a tunnel.

Nearby was Holborn Viaduct railway station, now replaced by the City Thameslink railway station at Ludgate Circus.

# REDIRECT City Thameslink railway station

# REDIRECT King's Cross Thameslink railway station

Elstree & Borehamwood railway station is on the Thameslink Line between London King's Cross and Bedford.

Also running through Staples Corner, between the two roundabouts, is the Midland Main Line and Thameslink railway line.

West Hampstead Thameslink railway station is the oldest but acquired that name when the Thameslink route was established in 1988.