London Bridge is open! Final section of massive new concourse and five new platforms open to the public as historic redevelopment begins countdown to completion: London Bridge - Jan 1, 2017

Tuesday 2 Jan 2018

London Bridge is open! Final section of massive new concourse and five new platforms open to the public as historic redevelopment begins countdown to completion

Region & Route:
| Southern
  • London Bridge’s huge new concourse and five new platforms open to the public
  • Cannon Street services will now resume stopping at London Bridge
  • New platform built at Redhill to increase capacity and reduce delays on the Brighton Main Line
  • All part of Network Rail’s £160m Christmas investment programme

London Bridge station reopened today after ten days of major engineering work, marking the countdown to completion of the £1bn redevelopment after more than five years of work. The final section of the huge, modern new concourse and the final five platforms opened for the first time, allowing Cannon Street trains to resume calling at the landmark new station.

 
Since work began in 2013, London Bridge has been transformed by Network Rail as part of the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme, while remaining open for the 50 million passengers that use London’s oldest station each year. The vast new concourse, larger than the pitch at Wembley, unites all fifteen platforms for the first time and modern facilities make the landmark station fully accessible for all.  There are two new entrances on Tooley Street, which will connect the north and south sides of the station, while the completion of the five new platforms will allow Cannon Street services to once again stop at London Bridge.

The tracks through and around the station have been entirely remodelled to modernise the infrastructure and to allow more trains to travel through London, reducing delays and bringing more reliable journeys to more destinations than ever before. Work is expected to continue on the station concourse until the spring and throughout 2018 new shops, cafes and leisure facilities will open, fuelling the reinvigoration of the area and improving the experiences of passengers every time they travel.

Mark Carne, Chief Executive of Network Rail, said: “The opening of our landmark station is a shining example of the investment we are making in the railway. I would like to thank passengers for their patience while we transformed London Bridge into the modern transport hub it is today, with more trains to more destinations, connecting north-south London and beyond.

David Statham, Managing Director, Southeastern, said: “Today marks a major milestone in the transformation of London Bridge and rail transport across London. I’d like to thank our passengers for bearing with us throughout the past few years while the engineering works have been underway. As result, they will see new routes and more reliable Southeastern services, including new destinations, connecting communities between London and across Kent.”

Charles Horton, Chief Executive Officer at Govia Thameslink Railway, said: “The work at London Bridge paves the way for the reintroduction of Thameslink services at the station and GTR’s modernisation of its train services. In May we’ll be introducing an exciting, new, expanded Thameslink network connecting new communities north and south of the capital with quicker journeys across central London and additional capacity.”

Elsewhere in the south east, Network Rail engineers undertook ten days of major engineering work at Redhill to build a new platform with new track and signalling. This will remove conflicts between North Downs and Brighton Main Line services, increase capacity at Redhill station and provide greater flexibility to train services through the area.

Notes to Editors

On Thameslink, from 2 January, to pave the way for the new expanded Thameslink service starting in May, there will be some minor changes to train times at the central London stations of St Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink and London Blackfriars. Passengers should check timetables and online journey planners for further information

Southeastern’s new timetable sees many trains at Cannon Street with altered arrival and departure times, to allow these services to once again stop at London Bridge. On the Hayes line services at off-peak times will be changing, with two trains each hour running to Cannon Street and two each hour to Charing Cross. Most other Southeastern routes, especially Metro services, will also have minor changes. Please check to see if your train is altered. https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/live-travel-information/timetables

 

About Thameslink Programme

The Government-sponsored Thameslink Programme is  transforming north-south travel through London. When complete in 2019 it will give passengers:

  • New longer and more spacious trains running every 2 to 3 minutes through central London in the peak
  • Improved connections and better options to more destinations on an expanded Thameslink network including Cambridge and Peterborough
  • More robust tracks and state-of-the art signalling and more reliable trains to make journeys more reliable.
  • Completely rebuilt stations at Blackfriars and London Bridge

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - Alexandra Swann
07734 650735
Alexandra.Swann@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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