Bedford Depot Debut

December 1st 2004

Charged with alleviating the effects of the nine month King’s Cross - St. Pancras construction works, the new train maintenance depot at Bedford has opened on time and on budget.

The new depot represents a long-term investment in the intensively-used Thameslink route. No cross-London Thameslink trains are operating. The new facility maintains 44 Thameslink trains that operate between London St. Pancras and Bedford and will create 70 new jobs.

Thameslink’s sister company, Southern, manages the depot as part of its long-standing arrangement to maintain all the Thameslink fleet, with work on the other 43 trains carried out at Selhurst train maintenance depot in south London.

The Bedford depot project was instigated by the SRA and built at a cost of £15 million on five acres of derelict land. The depot was financed by HSBC Rail Limited, and constructed by Fitzpatrick Contractors Limited in under a year. The Minister for Transport, Tony McNulty MP, officiated at the opening of the depot.

Keith Ludeman, Chief Executive of GOVIA - the holding company for both Thameslink and Southern - said, ‘This is a fantastic new facility which brings real benefits for our passengers, and of which our staff can be proud.’

---

Subscribe or spread the word:

• More SRA news articles