London Bridge station reopened today after ten days of major engineering work, marking the countdown to the completion of the £1bn redevelopment after more than five years of work.
The final section of the new concourse and the final five platforms opened for the first time, allowing Cannon Street trains to resume calling at the redeveloped station.
Work started in 2013, and it hasn’t been an easy one for passengers, beset not just with a massive building site, but also huge problems with the train network operator out of London Bridge.
Your correspondent gave up using the station for a while when commuting to South London and found alternative routes so bad was the disruption.
Now that the main works are complete, the vast new concourse, larger than the pitch at Wembley, unites all fifteen platforms for the first time. There are two new entrances on Tooley Street, which will connect the north and south sides of the station, while the completion of the five new platforms will allow Cannon Street services to once again stop at London Bridge.
The tracks through and around the station have also been entirely remodelled to modernise the infrastructure and to allow more trains to travel through central London.
Work is expected to continue on the station concourse until the spring and throughout 2018 as new shops and services are opened.
Thanks for the update. The process has been painful but the results magnificent. I hope everything goes smoothly.
The rebuild of London Bridge has not just been about the station but also the lines either side with an area near Bermondsey seeing a merger between Road and rail construction with lines built that use under and over passes thus separating flows of trains criss crissing each other and setting an example for future schemes around the network?.
While the rebuilt London Bridge Station sets an example that Euston Station will need to at least match once it has been rebuilt as part of HS2 project in 2020s .
While this rebuilding will benefit Thameslink services the reduction in platform numbers for Southern services will I reckon need to be addressed one day and one solution would be a ” Southern Crossrail ” with a new approach and tunnels to a new sub surface Crossrail style station beneath London Bridge Station who’s tunnel would continue to Waterloo where another new ” Crossrail station ” would be built then continuing on towards joining South West Railways in Clapham Junction area thus creating new Cross London route !
The new concourse could be compared to a very large fridge. No thought given to waiting passengers.
Interchanging between Cannon Street and Charing Cross trains will take much longer than the old station.
‘Interchanging between Cannon Street and Charing Cross trains will take much longer than the old station.’
Indeed, many a train will be missed now that the slopes have gone in the extensive remodelling. I’m just pleased that Tooley Street will finally be re-opened and the long diversion of the number 47 bus will end.
Yes, unimpressed with the lack of a heated waiting room. That’s a basic station amenity.
And why is the giant cold dungeon so deep? It takes an age to go up and down. The old bridge over the back was much more practical. Obviously all the untangling of the lines had to happen, but the new station is a massive missed opportunity.
“The vast new concourse, larger than the pitch at Wembley”. This phrase has been used in all their publicity: you do realise that football pitches are standard sizes (not more than 130m long), so “at Wembley” is an irrelevant bit of puff on their part.
The specification for the size of Football Pitches is rather more flexible than you might expect. It is therefore reasonable to make comparison with a particular pitch, and one that many people will have experience of. Goal, penalty area and centre circle sizes are much more tightly controlled.
It does look very nice. Very nice indeed. Another achievement from Network Rail.
Also Thameslink trains will start to use London Bridge when the new timetable is introduced from May with services to Bedford, Brighton, Wimbledon, Sevenoaks, Sutton and to Cambridge, Peterborough, Cambridge North and Kings Linn soon to follow.
And Maidstone? December 2019 is TWO YEARS to wait! Why is Maidstone always last to the party?
Never knew that Thameslink would be heading towards Maidstone (either Maidstone East or Maidstone West or both). Could also extend to Canterbury (Canterbury East or Canterbury West or both), Ashford International, Dover Priory, Folkestone Central and possibly to Gravesend, Gillingham, Rochester, Faversham, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells. That could take over some of the Southeastern routes. Could Thameslink also operate to Hayes? Possibly.
It looks tremendous. Here’s hoping it doesn’t become cluttered with retail outfits, expanding coffee-shops and ugly advertising… (like almost every other large British railway station).