Thameslink rail services to Luton and Gatwick are to be shaken up as part of the award of a franchise to First Group, which was announced yesterday.

First Group’s franchise, covering the combined networks of Thameslink services between Bedford and Brighton and WAGN services between Kings Lynn and Kings Cross, will start on April 1, 2006. The Thameslink franchise is currently operated by the Go-Ahead Group and the WAGN franchise by National Express.

The franchise has a performance-related break clause after four years, and is extendable, at the Department for Transport’s discretion, for up to a total of nine years. The Thameslink and WAGN names will disappear as part of the new franchise deal, to be replaced by First Capital Connect.

In announcing the award of the franchise, First Group said it planned to “develop 24-hour airport services to Gatwick and Luton”. Round-the-clock Thameslink services already operate to both stations, although at intervals of up to two hours overnight.

However, the company has ruled out extra services or non-stop services to the two airports. A spokeman for the company said: “There are no plans to run extra trains at night or direct trains.” The development of airport services will focus instead on marketing the round-the-clock services to a wider audience.

There will, however, be extra capacity on peak hour trains, which will be welcomed by travellers who share the early morning and evening trains with commuters. The firm says an extra 10,000 seats a day will be added, mostly to the north of London.

In the medium term, the company said it hoped to introduce a “clock-face” timetable, in which regular travellers would know that trains serving the airports would depart at the same minutes past each hour so that they did not have to refer to the timetable.