Plans for a major redevelopment of Norwood Junction station in south London have been put on hold as it’s no longer considered a priority project.
Proposed station layout (c) Network Rail
Plans to redevelop the station were tied in with a wider project to clean up the tracks around East Croydon to improve the capacity of the lines through the area, but the station upgrade was also a stand-alone project.
The plans for Norwood Junction station were expected to see the tracks and platforms realigned to allow more trains to stop at the station and also to create more space for more non-stopping trains to get through the station. It’s all about making the station better for passengers who use it while also fixing congestion problems on the tracks around the north of Croydon.
Although there wasn’t a commitment to funding the upgrade itself, initial planning work for the station upgrade started just before the pandemic, with the intent to then submit the scheme for funding once the costs were fully understood.
In a statement on the project website, Network Rail says: “Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the changes that we have seen to travelling patterns, particularly for commuters, government has re-evaluated its rail enhancement portfolio.”
“The Network North Command Paper published by the Department for Transport in October 2023 sets out the government’s national investment priorities for the railway. This document does not include a commitment to progress (or indeed any reference to) this scheme. The project’s omission from the Command Paper means that as a matter of national policy it is not currently a priority scheme for government.”
As a consequence, “no funding has been allocated to progress development of the proposals.”
Although the proposals have been put on hold, as it was a combined project to offer step-free access to all platforms while also sorting out the tracks, it’s always possible that the step-free access could be enabled at a later date through the DfT’s Access for All scheme.
The station is predominantly served by London Overground and Southern services, with some Thameslink as well.
This isn’t exactly news. It’s been on hold for at least 4 years
Hardly – the project was put on hold in 2022, and the decision to remove funding was only taken in late 2023, and announced this morning.
Well that is good news, what an awful scheme that would destroy a rather nice station.
How? You do realise a station isn’t a museum?
The footbridges are awful they are the same style as East Croydon which is dangerous in the wet. We would loose the canopies that provide shelter for awful new ones that do not.
A second Subway with lifts and stairs would be a better solution, Also moving the Down Fast to down Slow crossing further North East and having two down slows from the Crystal Palace line bridge would solve capacity problems. Platform 7 could then be brought back into use.
As the design of the footbridges hasn’t been decided, I have no idea how you made that claim.
Network Rail the anti rail DFT’s agents. COVID my arse. That doesn’t help the people with prams and luggage struggling between platforms or the scarily narrow platform 3 past which Thameslinks rush at 60mph. Why can’t they just be honest and say they want cuts and the demographic using the station aren’t organised a lobby enough for them to care about. Maybe Norwood should rename itself “Brockley” if it wants any attention.
Oooo…Brockley.
NR thought that passenger usage which just keep going up and came up with gold plated schemes to future proof the railway so now need to get back to simpler fixes. Im glad the croydon scheme has been stopped it would have necessitated 5 years of disruption for limited benefit. Norwood could easily be sorted by making use of the space they have on the South side to move the platforms further apart without having to change the track layout other than do away with the redundant platform 7.
As Norwood Junction is now an important interchange between stopping services in the Sydenham corridor and East Croydon and all destinations on from there, provision of step free interchange at NJ should have been a requisite for this significant timetable change.
Unfortunately none of the track remodelling and station rebuilding solutions were particularly cheap.
The realignments and resultant capacity increases are desperately needed to reduce network-impacting congestion. The step-free platform changes are nice-to-haves but very expensive and shouldn’t be given the same priority.
Some works are necessary at the station. There is no step-free access at the station. I have helped young mothers carry prams down the stairs when I am there but they need a lift. The area is growing in population and we will require greater provision as well as services.
The platform/track on the eastern side of the station is unused and could be utilized. The platforms need realignment to make better use of the land available.