Network Rail apologises to passengers and tackles reliability problem at London Bridge: First trains arrive at new London Bridge platforms

Thursday 15 Jan 2015

Network Rail apologises to passengers and tackles reliability problem at London Bridge

Region & Route:
National

Network Rail has apologised to passengers after equipment on the railway near London Bridge has proved unreliable and caused delays this week.

The equipment, which includes a set of points at a junction east of London Bridge station near New Cross Gate, has not provided the reliability expected and engineers are tackling the problem.

Thameslink programme director Simon Blanchflower said: "Passengers and operators expect equipment to work reliably and so do we. We realise the quality of the service we have offered around London Bridge has not been good enough this week and we are doing everything we can to get to the root of the problems.

"We have already undertaken a great deal of work on site and we have identified the key equipment that needs to be tackled.

"The Thameslink Programme is a huge undertaking that will bring a big improvement to travel through London Bridge, but in the meantime we are working hard to improve the services people are relying on today."

Notes to editors

Temporary timetable changes are planned for this evening and tomorrow evening.

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 - National
020 3356 8700
mediarelations@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.

Follow us on Twitter: @networkrail
Visit our online newsroom: www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk