Press release -
Santa serves up treat for children at Thameslink and Great Northern stations
Santa will be swapping his sleigh for the train this December to greet children at railway stations on Govia Thameslink Railway’s Thameslink and Great Northern routes.
Four stations will be hosting visits by Santa Claus when children can meet Santa in the concourse and hand him their presents list in person. Santa will bring activity packs and stocks of sweets to hand out.
The Meet Santa sessions are at Bedford (Thursday 7 December at 4.00pm to 7.00pm), Stevenage (Saturday 9 December at 8.30am to 11.00am), Potters Bar (Thursday 14 December at 4.00pm to 7.00pm) and St Albans (Friday 15 December at 4.00pm to 7.00pm).
Schoolchildren invited to design Christmas posters
Meanwhile, Passenger Services Director Stuart Cheshire has written to schools along the Great Northern and Thameslink routes inviting pupils to enter a Christmas drawing competition. First prize for each route is a £30 shopping voucher, with second prizes of art materials and £10 vouchers for third prize. Every entry will be displayed as posters at a station for passengers to enjoy.
Passenger Services Director Stuart Cheshire said: “I ho-ho-hope that Santa’s special visits and our Christmas poster competition will bring festive cheer to our many passengers!”
Entries need to be handed in at a Great Northern or Thameslink station by Monday 4 December so that the winners can be sent their prize before Christmas.
ends
Notes to editors
For more information email press.office@gtrailway.com or call
Thameslink and Great Northern press office: 0203 750 2031
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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
GTR is the largest rail franchise in the UK in terms of passenger numbers, trains, revenue and staff. The operator carries about 326 million passenger journeys per year, and employs around 6,500 people. Its aim is to improve services across all four networks.
Southern has the fastest passenger growth in the UK with numbers into London having doubled in 12 years - compared with the industry as a whole doubling over the past 20 years. To meet this growth and to future-proof the network, GTR is modernising the rail service for passengers.
GTR has introduced more new trains in the past year than all other franchises put together, with 500 new carriages so far.
The transformative £7bn Thameslink Programme will bring hundreds more daily services from 2018, increasing the number of trains though the central London core from up to 15 to 24 trains per hour. Network Rail has also launched a £300m programme to improve resilience across the GTR network.
GTR is modernising how it works, with new technology in use at our stations and on our trains, smartcard ticketing and a new, flexible on-board role on many Southern services. This ensures fewer cancellations, and with more staff on board our trains now than ever before, passengers are enjoying a much better level of on-board customer service.
The GTR investment programme for stations includes funding for more CCTV, toilet refurbishments, new retail facilities, help points and car park improvements – as well as plans for increased motorcycle storage and improved transport integration.
www.southernrailway.com, www.gatwickexpress.com, www.thameslinkrailway.com,www.greatnorthernrail.com
