Commuters in St Albans have been promised a smooth handover as a new rail operator takes over.

First Capital Connect (FCC) finished operating the Bedford to Brighton/Wimbledon and Sutton Thameslink route at 2am on Sunday and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) took over the contract - with the trains being run under the name of Thameslink.

More than 2,600 FCC employees have been transferred across to work for Govia, to also help the transition and ensure continuity.

David Statham, managing director of FCC, said FCC began removing its name from its stock about a fortnight ago.

He continued: “We are committed to helping our passengers through this change. This is why our website will still be open until at least October 19 for queries about travel made before the transition to the new franchise, including any questions and information about delay-repay travel compensation and other refunds.

“There has been a huge amount of change during our franchise which has delivered a lot of improvements and I would to thank our passengers for their patience and custom throughout.

“It’s been an exciting time – not without its challenges for ourselves and our passengers but with massive capacity improvement schemes on both routes and a raft of other improvements.”

Baroness Susan Kramer, Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Transport, visited St Albans last week and said the franchise was done ‘totally blind’ with companies using fake names so that their identity was invisible to the department.

More than £4 million has been spent on improving stations. Harpenden station now has a lift and Harpenden, St Albans and Radlett all have new shelters and waiting rooms.

There has also been an increase from 396 to 1092 cycling spaces at St Albans and from 182 to 548 in Harpenden.

FCC has also resurfaced Harpenden station’s car park and installed solar panels on the roof of St Albans station.

Passengers have been told tickets, including season tickets, bought before the changeover will remain valid. First Capital Connect took over the Great Northern and Thameslink routes in April 2006. More than 95,000 people have travelled with FCC on the Thameslink route every weekday.