Thames Trains

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

Former train operating company

title: "Thames Trains" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["defunct-train-operating-companies-in-the-united-kingdom", "go-ahead-group-companies", "railway-companies-established-in-1996", "railway-companies-disestablished-in-2004", "railway-operators-in-london", "1996-establishments-in-england", "2004-disestablishments-in-england", "british-companies-established-in-1996", "british-companies-disestablished-in-2004"] description: "Former train operating company" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Trains" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Former train operating company ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rail company"]

Field	Value
logo	ThamesTrainsLogo.svg
name	Thames Trains
image	Evesham railway station - geograph.org.uk - 40286.jpg
image_size	300px
caption	Class 166 Networker Turbo at in 2003
franchise	Thames Trains
13 October 1996 – 31 March 2004
regions	Greater London, Southeast England
secregions	East Midlands, Southwest England, West Midlands
fleet	57 (March 2004)
stations	95
abbr	TT
parent_company	Go-Ahead Group
website	www.thamestrains.co.uk
successor	First Great Western Link
::

History

The Thames Trains franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to Victory Rail Holdings, a company owned by Go-Ahead (65%) and some ex-British Rail managers (35%), with operations commencing on 13 October 1996. Go-Ahead bought the remaining shares it did not own in June 1998.

The Ladbroke Grove rail crash of 5 October 1999 involved a Thames Trains Class 165, which had failed to stop at a red signal. Thames Trains was fined £2 million for violations of health and safety law in connection with the incident, and was also ordered to pay £75,000 in costs.

Services

Thames Trains ran services along the Great Western Main Line from London Paddington to Didcot with services continuing north to Oxford, Bicester Town, Hereford and Stratford-upon-Avon. It also operated services on the Greenford, Windsor & Eton Central, Marlow, Henley and Bedwyn lines and on the Reading to Basingstoke and North Downs lines.

In 1998 a service from Oxford to Bristol was introduced in partnership with First Great Western. This was withdrawn in 2003 to relieve congestion, at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority.

Rolling stock

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Oxford_Thames_Turbo_166_class_2000.png" caption="Oxford]]."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Thames_Turbo_Stratford_upon_Avon_2002.png" caption="Stratford-upon-Avon]] in 2002."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Thames-Turbo_interior_shots.jpg" caption="Class 165]] seats."] ::

Thames Trains inherited a fleet of near-new Class 165 and Class 166 diesel multiple units from British Rail. Because the paintwork was still under warranty, the existing Network SouthEast livery was retained with only a Thames Trains logo added. Upon the warranty expiring, a new livery of white, blue and green was introduced in 2000.

::data[format=table title="Fleet at end of franchise"]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed	Number	Built	mph	km/h
Class 165 Networker Turbo	[[File:Reading Thames Turbo 165 class 2002.png	100px]]	DMU	90	145	36	1990–1992
Class 166 Networker Turbo	[[File:Evesham railway station - geograph.org.uk - 40286.jpg	100px]]	21	1992–1993
::

Depot

Thames Trains' fleet was maintained at Reading TMD.

Demise

In April 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority invited FirstGroup and Go-Ahead to bid for a two-year franchise that would coincide with the end date of the First Great Western franchise, after which both would become part of the Greater Western franchise. In November 2003 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the new franchise to First with the services operated by Thames Trains transferring to First Great Western Link on 1 April 2004.

References

[http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/03147927 Companies House extract company no 3147927] Victory Rail Holdings Limited
[http://www.go-ahead.com/~/media/Files/G/Go-Ahead/ir/presentations/archive_pres/1997pres/ar1997.pdf Go-Ahead annual report 1997] {{Webarchive. link. (23 November 2012 Go-Ahead Group plc 28 June 1997)
(29 May 1998). "Go-Ahead Group buy out Thames Trains".
[http://www.go-ahead.com/~/media/Files/G/Go-Ahead/ir/presentations/archive_pres/1998pres/ar1998.pdf Go-Ahead annual report 1998] {{Webarchive. link. (23 November 2012 Go-Ahead Group plc 27 June 1998)
(2004-04-05). "Thames Trains fined £2m for Paddington crash". [[The Guardian]].
[https://web.archive.org/web/20031206025532/http://www.thamestrains.co.uk/route_information/route_information.shtml Route Information] Thames Trains
"New Oxford to Bristol service".
(15 July 1998). "First direct Oxford-Bristol service starts".
(5 November 1997). "New livery logo for Thames Trains revealed".
"New image for Thames Trains".
(23 August 2000). "Thames Trains unveils a new livery for its Turbos".
[https://web.archive.org/web/20180921225924/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/go-ahead-facing-thames-tussle-7280512.html Go-Ahead facing Thames tussle] ''[[Evening Standard]]'' 10 April 2003
(30 April 2003). "SRA invites First Group to bid for Thames extension".
(2 December 2003). "Preferred Bidder Announced for New Thames Trains Franchise". Sra.gov.uk.
(12 November 2003). "Go-Ahead loses Thames Trains as SRA hands franchise to First".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::