THAMES TRAINS

'Thames Trains' was a British railway company franchised (from September 1996, following the privatisation of British Rail, until 31 March 2004) to run regional and suburban trains from London Paddington station to destinations in the home counties west of London, to Worcester, Hereford and Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Reading to Gatwick Airport service.
With effect from 1 April 2004, the now-defunct Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) transferred the franchise for these services to First Group, which also held the Great Western franchise (branding it as First Great Western) running long-distance services from Paddington station. First rebranded the franchise as First Great Western Link, which ran for two years. Both franchises were merged into the Greater Western franchise on 1 April 2006, in accordance with the SRA policy of having only one company running train services into any one London terminus. The new franchise, which also incorporates the former Wessex Trains franchise running regional services in the South-West of England, was also awarded to First Group, which runs it as First Great Western.
Thames Trains operated the train which was involved in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in October 1999.

Contents

Fleet

See also

External links

Fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 165/1 ''Network Turbo''		diesel multiple unit	90	145	36	1990 - 1992
Class 166 ''Network Express Turbo''		diesel multiple unit	90	145	21	1992 - 1993

See also

★ First Great Western Link

★ Rail transport in the United Kingdom

External links

★ First Great Western Link