Media centre

Wednesday 30 Aug 2017

PICTURE GALLERY: Passengers thanked for their patience as London Bridge railway rebuild continues

Region & Route:

Passengers in Kent and South East London are being thanked for their patience this week while their journeys change as Network Rail continues to rebuild London Bridge station and the surrounding railway, as part of the Thameslink Programme.

Up to and including Saturday 2 September, Southeastern trains that would usually run into London Bridge, Charing Cross and Waterloo East will run into Cannon Street, Blackfriars, Victoria and Waterloo to a wholly revised timetable. Yesterday (Tuesday, 29 August) was the first working day that passengers’ journeys changed and although Victoria and Cannon Street were busy, there was no need to use a queuing system that will be in operation when needed at Cannon Street until Friday 1 September.

Great progress has already been made over the weekend out on the tracks that travel through London Bridge to Cannon Street. Network Rail installed new track and signalling equipment which allowed the lines to reopen in the early hours of Monday morning as planned.

The focus has now shifted to the Charing Cross lines, where engineers have completely replaced three tracks into London Bridge and reorganised the layout so that from Sunday, Charing Cross trains will be able to run through the brand-new Bermondsey Dive Under railway junction. This will make journeys more reliable for passengers. Work will continue at London Bridge and near New Cross until very early on Sunday morning when Network Rail will open the new platform 6 at London Bridge, allowing more Charing Cross trains to stop at the station.

Simon Blanchflower, Thameslink Programme director, Network Rail, said: “I understand that these changes to services have been inconvenient for passengers and I would like to personally thank them for their patience while we carry out this next stage of our Railway Upgrade Plan. Our engineers have been working tirelessly and are on track to complete this improvement work in time to reopen the lines and the new platform 6 on Sunday, as planned.”

Ellie Burrows, train services director, Southeastern, said: “We are grateful to passengers who have changed their journeys over the past few days as vital improvement work takes place. We continue to encourage passengers to travel outside peak times, and also work from home if at all possible. This will help us to reduce the need for queues at stations and make journeys easier. An amended timetable will continue to be in place until next week and passengers should always check before they travel.”

Southeastern trains will not run into Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East until Sunday 3 September and there will also be no Southeastern trains at Blackfriars on Saturday 2 September or at Victoria on Sunday 3 September. Passengers are advised to check before they travel and visit www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/2017 for detailed travel advice.