Media centre

Tuesday 31 May 2016

Spring bank holiday rail investment programme delivers better, more reliable railway for passengers in the South East

Region & Route:

| Southern

Commuters returned to work today on a better, more reliable railway thanks to the efforts of Network Rail’s orange army, who worked round-the-clock to improve the network over the bank holiday weekend.

Across the country, more than 11,000 engineers worked through the long weekend, delivering another slice of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan, which will provide a bigger, better, and more reliable railway for passengers and businesses.

The weekend marked the completion of another stage in the Thameslink Programme which, when completed, will transform north-south travel through London.

This stage of the project saw new track installed on the railway near Bermondsey and signalling, which controls the safe movement of trains, replaced at London Bridge.  This work is in preparation for the next set of changes in August when services to Cannon Street will stop calling at London Bridge, most services to Charing Cross will resume calling and the first half of the brand new street-level concourse will open.

Network Rail’s route managing director Alasdair Coates said: “Our engineers did a fantastic job this weekend and I would like to thank passengers for their patience. This work is a significant step forward in the Thameslink Programme which will enable longer and more frequent trains to run through London to destinations across the South East.”

Richard Dean, train services director at Southeastern said: “A huge ‘thank you’ to all of our passengers for bearing with us while this major engineering project happens on our network. We really are grateful for your continued understanding and while we know this work comes with challenges, the end result will be a much more reliable railway for you and for future generations for many years to come."

Elsewhere on the route, work was successfully completed to strengthen the Arun River bridge in Sussex, ensuring the bridge is fit for purpose for decades to come.

ENDS

Thameslink Programme 
Network Rail is delivering the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme to transform north-south travel through London. When complete in 2018 it will give passengers:

• New 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
• Robust tracks and signalling offering more reliable journeys
• A completely rebuilt London Bridge station with more space and great facilities

 London Bridge facts

• 54 million passengers start or end their at London Bridge 
• The new concourse at London Bridge will be bigger than the pitch at Wembley, increasing passenger capacity by 65%
• London Bridge will be longer than the Shard is tall From 2018, more frequent services:
• Between Blackfriars and St Pancras - up to 24 trains per hour in each direction during the peak
• Between London Bridge and St Pancras - up to 18 Thameslink trains an hour in each direction, during the peak 
• 179 years old – London Bridge is London’s oldest surviving rail terminus, first opened in Dec 1836