Rebuilding capital’s oldest terminus station
Despite the diggers shifting soil and the absence of trains sweeping overhead, it is easy to picture what the huge concourse at London Bridge station will look like when it opens in three years’ time.
At peak times, more than 16,000 passengers an hour will travel down escalators from the platforms to this vast open area, the size of the pitch at Wembley, connecting to new destinations like Peterborough and Cambridge.
Alongside the rows of shops will stand the original Victorian archways, with a walkway connecting the riverbank to the Shard and Borough Market.
Until January 2018, when the station fully reopens, the area will be a mix of building site and partially reopened platforms. Services from Kent to Charing Cross will continue to go straight through the station until next summer. Some peak time Canon Street trains are still stopping, but are due to be disrupted next year.
“You have to understand we’re rebuilding a station used by 56 million people a year and we’re rebuilding it while it’s open,” said Network Rail spokesman Chris Denham.
“When this massive concourse is completely open in 2018, we will have a much better station and a more reliable railway.”
The key to the reliability lies down the line where the 40-yearold tracks are being replaced.
The point of the redevelopment, known as the Thameslink project, is to increase connectivity between the north and south of the city but also to make it easier for trains to stay on time.
The redevelopment will use the latest signalling technology to get 16 trains an hour into London’s core network from London Bridge.
Meanwhile, for Southeastern commuters, the work has simplified the layout of the track so trains do not cross over the lines of different networks, increasing capacity in the system.
“One of the biggest difficulties before was we had a load of trains coming in higgledy piggledy like spaghetti crossing each other,” added Mr Denham.
“That causes delays, reliability problems and our passengers a great deal of stress.
“From Kent, you will suddenly have a large number of options.”
As the warning buzzer signals a crane operating overhead against the shadow of the Shard, London’s tallest building, the scale of the project becomes more apparent.
“We may never work on a project as large as this again,” said project director Laurence Whitbourn.
“It is a real privilege to work on something of this scale and complexity. Hopefully it will be an iconic landmark for London.”