A somewhat shabby, and yet quite busy station in South London could get a major makeover if plans by Network Rail are approved.
The proposals are part of the wider plan to clean up the mess of tracks around Croydon to boost the capacity of the lines through the area, but it is also a stand-alone project.
If for some rather bizarre reason the Croydon tracks project is blocked, then the Norwood Junction upgrade could still go ahead anyway.
The plans for Norwood Junction station would see the tracks and platforms realigned to allow more trains to stop at the station, and for more non-stopping trains to get past them.
Trains would no longer stop at the existing platform 1, and this area will be used to help improve passenger circulation within the station. The proposed island platforms would be accessed via the new footbridges. The new platforms will be wider, and also longer so that trains no longer have to have some doors remain shut when calling at the station.
The realignment also moves the non-stopping train tracks away from the platforms so there’s less risk of harm to people waiting for a slower stopping train.
The downside is that people used to going into the station and waiting on Platform 1 for the London bound trains will now have to use the footbridge.
The current underpass linking the platforms would be closed, and replaced with two new footbridges — one with lifts. The public subway that runs under the station would not be affected by the plans.
However, at the moment, the proposals for Norwood Junction station are currently unfunded, as are the wider proposals to upgrade the Brighton Main Line. Over the months and years ahead Network Rail said that it will continue to make the case for investment in the Brighton Main Line railway 2020.
A consultation is currently running on the proposals until the end of July.
This looks to be more than a simple station upgrade!
Will it provide cross platform access between stopping services and Thameslink?
It would make my journeys between Dalston Junction and Gatwick Airport easier, if four Thameslink trains per hour stopped at Norwood Junction for a cross-platform interchange with the Dalston Junction and West Croydon service.
It could also create a quick route between East Croydon and Crossrail at Whitechapel.
The Dalston Junction and West Croydon service could probably run every ten minutes, so why not stop Thameslink at Norwood Junction in the same interval.
But the most exciting possibility, is that the station could be upgraded using two of the new bridges, that were the winner of the Network Rail/RIBA Footbridge Design Competition. This would probably mean little disruption to passengers at the station, during the installation of the bridges.
Using the factory-built bridges would probably reduce the cost.
This is the second station, that has been brought forward for step-free access that is not in Network Rail’s major seventy-three station program. Are this installation and that at Syon Lane station, two test installations to prove the concept? We shall know more about Syon Lane station soon, as the footbridge has been promised for late summer.
I was born and brought up in South Norwood, living there for the first 18 years of my life before going to Uni. and then settling in Southend-on-Sea.
I used this station many times then, and also occasionally since.
I have fond memories of going on family holidays to the south & south east coast (e.g. Bognor, Littlehampton, Broadstairs). I was one of 4 children, so my parents would pack a trunk and send it by Passenger Luggage in Advance (PLA) and, when my younger sister was still a baby, fully load the pram as well. On getting to the station, it had to be taken over the barrow crossing to platform 4/5/6!
I also remember being able to get off a train from Croydon on platform 3 and, if you were quick, go through a train stopped on platforms 1/2 to avoid having to use the subway!
I used to go to Junior School through the public subway.
Apart from colour changes and a new booking hall, the station still looks the same as it did in the 60s, so it badly needs an upgrade.
Sorry to rain on the parade, but as with London Bridge, where it now takes three times as long as before to change trains, it seems to me that the new station will be less convenient for most passengers than the old more homely layout. Most people leaving the station now use platform 1, which is directly accessible from the entrance. In the new station, they will have to go over the footbridge. These days, for reasons unknown to me, footbridges are made twice as high as necessary to clear the trains, and so entail a lot of stair-climbing. In theory, one bridge will have lifts and so be wheel-chair friendly, but experience elsewhere suggests that it would be unwise to rely on the two lifts needed both being in working order. I predict that the bridges will have twice as many steps as the shallow subway in use today.
All in all, a station which is currently easy to use and still retains much of its Victorian character will be replaced by a bleak modern monstrosity which will be much more difficult to use.
The present station would be still more convenient when changing trains if the doors on the platform 2 side of trains were available, as was the case in the past. I have requested this several times, but was turned down on health and safety grounds, I believe spuriously, as elsewhere doors are released on both sides (see, eg, the Central Line platforms at Stratford).