Media centre

Wednesday 23 Jul 2014

Thameslink route rail passengers urged to plan alternative routes this August as massive rebuild of London Bridge rail station affects journeys into the capital

Region & Route:

| Southern

From 23 to 31 August, passengers on the First Capital Connect Thameslink rail route between Bedford and London will need to find another route to and from London Bridge as Network Rail’s plan to completely rebuild the rail station continues.

For nine days, a period which covers the Bank Holiday and four working days, services will continue to run between Bedford and Brighton but on a different route between Blackfriars and East Croydon which takes 8 to 15 minutes longer.

There may be re-timings and some cancellations. Passengers travelling to London Bridge will need to change at Blackfriars station and take the underground from nearby Southwark tube station.

Network Rail says that passengers from St Albans will also be affected by improvement work to the West Coast main line, which will result in there being no trains from St Albans Abbey to Watford every Saturday, Sunday and Monday between 9 and 26 August. This is due to the complete replacement of unreliable track, signalling and power supply equipment dating from the 1960s.

Every day over 50,000 passengers use Southern and First Capital Connect services to get to London Bridge station. As these commuters move onto other routes, transport planners predict that certain routes across the south east are likely to be much busier, including:

• First Capital Connect and Southern services south of Blackfriars will be very busy
• Stations like East Croydon and Gatwick are expected to be busier than usual and passengers might not get on the first train
• The southern end of London Underground’s northern line is expected to be busier for this time of the year, as are sections of the District and Circle Line
• Certain sections of London Overground will be busier than usual and London Overground services will not be able to operate to and from New Cross from 26 to 29 August. These services will be diverted to Crystal Palace to double the number of London Overground trains serving stations between Sydenham and Brockley, which will temporarily not be served by Southern. A replacement bus service will run every 15 minutes between New Cross and Canada Water and some additional supplementary bus routes serving some other stations
• Southeastern services will run as normal but are likely to be busier

The team that planned London's Olympics travel is working with the rail industry to manage and communicate the part closure of London Bridge because of the knock-on impact it will have across the rail, London Underground and London Overground networks.

A new, mobile-friendly Thameslink website has been launched providing details of the changes (ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk). Rail, London Underground and London Overground passengers are also being targeted with information on their alternatives via social media, leaflets, posters, announcements on trains and at stations as well as advertising across London and the south east.

Keith Jipps, First Capital Connect Customer Service Director said: “If you’re travelling to London Bridge then there are alternative routes and we urge passengers to check these at ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk.

“Otherwise our services will continue to run between Bedford and Brighton but on a different route between Blackfriars and East Croydon which takes 8 to 15 minutes longer than normal. There may also be re-timings and some cancellations. Please allow longer for your journey.”

Nicky Hughes, Network Rail’s head of communications for London and the south east, said: “London Bridge is one of the country’s busiest stations and we’re rebuilding it piece by piece to transform north-south travel through London while keeping it open for passengers. This is a huge challenge.

“We are doing as much of the construction work as we can behind the scenes, but there will be times, such as this August, when we have to temporarily divert services around the track we’re replacing”.

London Bridge is one of Britain’s busiest stations and is being completely rebuilt as part of the government’s multi-billion pound investment to transform rail services across London and the south east. When finished the Thameslink Programme will give passengers from Brighton new spacious Thameslink trains, and new robust tracks and signalling will mean more reliable journeys. A new link to the north of St Pancras will connect the Thameslink route to the East Coast Main Line meaning for the very first time passengers will be able to travel from Brighton to the counties north of London, straight through central London without changing.

To minimise the impact on the millions of passengers who use the route every year, Network Rail is carrying out the hugely complex construction work at London Bridge in phases. In August a vast amount of track and signalling work will take place as platforms 12 and 13 are brought back into use and platforms 10 and 11 are closed for demolition and rebuilding. While the station is closed we will replace a three-track bridge on the approach to London Bridge and we will continue to build a new concourse beneath passengers’ feet that will be bigger than the pitch at Wembley.

Passengers are being advised to sign-up for alerts and to keep checking ahead as more changes are planned for December 2014 and between January 2015 and 2018

For more information and to keep up-to-date

• Visit ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk
• Follow @TLProgramme
• Text TLP 12 and your home station to 60777