Crawley resident frustrated as Thameslink trains will not be fitted with WIFI

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) trains serve the four stations in Crawley – Crawley, Three Bridges, Gatwick, Ifield - and have run without WIFI or plug sockets in the regular carriages of the class 700 trains since they began operating six years ago.

However, GTR have begun work to upgrade its Southern fleet of class 377 trains which was announced in September 2020.

This project will see the addition of at-seat power points and new real-time information screens.

However, there’s no programme currently planned to add power points or WIFI to Thameslink units where they do not already exist.

Crawley resident Richard Nixon said: “If you are going to retrofit the Southern, why don’t you just carry on and finish retrofitting the Thameslink trains as well.

“You want to get passengers back on the rail network, one of the ways is to provide what is standard on most trains and most buses. Which is WIFI and charging points.”

Thameslink is a 24-hour, 115-station (32 managed) main-line route in the British railway system, running from Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Peterborough and Cambridge via central London to Sutton, Orpington, Sevenoaks, Rainham, Horsham and Brighton.

Southern operates the majority of commuter services from its Central London terminals at London Bridge and London Victoria to South London, East and West Sussex, as well as regional services in parts of Hampshire, Kent and Surrey.

In 2016, new Class 700 trains started operating on the Thameslink route and replaced the Class 319, Class 377 and Class 387 trains which were withdrawn and transferred elsewhere.

Henry Smith, MP for the Crawley constituency, spoke to GTR on behalf of Mr Nixon regarding this issue.

In response, GTR said: “we are currently working through an upgrade to our Southern fleet of class 377 trains which was announced in September 2020. This project will see the addition of at-seat power points and new real-time information screens. However, there’s no programme currently planned to add power points or Wifi to Thameslink units where they do not already exist.”