were replaced by Class 483, which were also rebuilt from former London Underground stock. South West Main Line The first phase of South West Main Line (beyond the London suburbs) was electrified in 1967 and included the services from London Waterloo station to Southampton and Bournemouth. Electrification was extended all the way to Weymouth in 1988. Hastings Existing electric stock could not be used on the line between Tonbridge and Hastings because of restricted clearances in four tunnels along the route. In 1986, the Hastings Line was electrified with single tracks through tunnels, enabling the use of generic rolling stock. Oxted and East Grinstead The former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the South Eastern Railway joint line between Croydon and Oxted, and the LB&SCR line to East Grinstead was electrified in 1987. But the branch line to Uckfield remains operated by diesel multiple units. Franchising The Southern Region was abolished in 1992 because British Rail had decided to move from regional management to business sectors. The Region was divided between two of the new passenger businesses: Network SouthEast and InterCity. When the British Rail passenger services were privatised in the 1990s the lines of the former region were divided between South West Trains, Thameslink, Island Line, Thames Trains, Gatwick Express, Connex South Central and Connex South Eastern. In 2002 the South Central franchise was awarded to Govia and rebranded it "Southern". Next, the government took back control of the Connex South Eastern franchise and operated it as South Eastern Trains until it was franchised to Govia again as Southeastern in 2006. As part of a general reorganisation of franchises, Island Line (on the Isle of Wight) was merged with South West Trains in 2005 to form the South Western franchise. Thameslink became part of First Capital Connect in 2006, and Gatwick Express was merged with Southern in 2007. The North Downs Line was taken over by First Great Western, which in 2014 was renamed Great Western Railway. In the early years of its franchise, South West Trains reinstated 'West of England line' services beyond Exeter to Plymouth and Paignton, but these were cut back again (after only two years of operation) in order to strengthen its core service to Exeter. Also in 2014, Govia had been selected to operate the new Thameslink Southern & Great Northern franchise (TSGN), including the South Central franchise Govia were already operating. On