I hear that 5 companies want to run the new Thameslink rail franchise, which is due to begin in April. They are National Express, FirstGroup and Stagecoach and two consortia, one between John Laing and MTR of Hong Kong and the other involving Danish Railways and EWS. Thameslink run the airports railway station and operate the majority of rail services to the capital from the airport.
The company recently cut back off peak services from the airport to London from 8 to 6 trains per hour