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Medieval floors, 16th century tobacco pipes and thousand-year-old timbers are just a few of the hundreds of artefacts that have been unearthed and preserved by Network Rail as the £6.5billion Thameslink Programme to transform travel to and through London continues with the rebuild of London’s oldest railway station, London Bridge.

Hassocks station’s new lifts have been formally opened, marking the culmination of a two-year project to improve facilities for the travelling public.

Children and young people in Maidenhead are learning to stay safe on the railway by representatives from Network Rail, British Transport Police, First Great Western and Furze Platt Secondary School.

A crucial part of Rochester’s new station will be slid almost 40 metres on a bed of air this Easter as part of a £147m scheme to improve the railway through the Medway Towns.

Passengers in Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and south west London can look forward to more trains, more seats and improved stations as five years of massive investment in the rail network connecting London Waterloo and the South West begins tomorrow (Tuesday).

Passengers in Kent, Sussex and south London can look forward to more trains, more seats and improved stations as five years of massive investment in the county’s railways begins this week.

After weeks of round-the-clock work, Network Rail engineers are on track to re-open the full length of the Hastings to Tonbridge railway line to passengers next week.

The first phase of the dramatic rebuild of London Bridge railway station is set to finish on schedule next Monday (31 March) when the first two new platforms will be brought into use and the next two are closed for redevelopment.