Press release -
GTR hosts St Pancras station tours for passengers with accessibility needs
Govia Thameslink Railway has staged tours of St Pancras International station for people with accessibility needs ahead of a change in the timetable this month.
Great Northern customers were able to familiarise themselves with the station before their services begin moving from King’s Cross on 20 May.
From next month half of Peterborough services will run as Thameslink trains via St Pancras instead of King’s Cross, and many Cambridge services will similarly switch to St Pancras.
They will give thousands of passengers at stations along the route direct access to St Pancras and other fully-accessible central London stations such as City Thameslink, Farringdon, Blackfriars – which has exits on to the South Bank for the National Theatre, Globe and Tate Modern – and London Bridge.
Farringdon will, from December, connect with Crossrail’s Elizabeth Line to Heathrow and Canary Wharf. GTR's Thameslink trains will also run direct to Gatwick.
The tours were held on two days and some 11,500 passengers who live on the Great Northern route and hold a Disabled Persons Railcard were invited.
Passengers were shown facilities such as access to the London Underground, accessible toilets and ticketing among a range of other accessible facilities at the station.
They also tested platform 'humps' which have been installed at all of Thameslink's central London stations to give passengers level access to the wheelchair-friendly areas of their new trains.
Antony Merlyn, accessibility manager for Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “We are grateful to our customers for taking the time to familiarise themselves with St Pancras ahead of the timetable changes. St Pancras International offers all the facilities and amenities that can be found at King’s Cross and we wanted to help our passengers ahead of the switch.”
New timetables are part of the GTR modernisation programme, RailPlan20/20. Passengers are urged to check the new timetables at www.railplan2020.com and www.nationalrail.co.uk.
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Govia Thameslink Railway
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services as follows:
- Thameslink – services between Bedford and Brighton, Luton/St Albans and Sutton, Wimbledon and Sevenoaks
- Great Northern – services between London and Welwyn, Hertford, Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn
- Southern – services between London and the Sussex coast (Brighton, Worthing, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Hastings) and parts of Surrey, Kent and Hampshire (Ashford International, Southampton, Portsmouth)
- Gatwick Express – fast, non-stop direct services between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria
www.southernrailway.com, www.thameslinkrailway.com, www.gatwickexpress.com, www.greatnorthernrail.com
