Bermondsey dive-under project reaches key milestone
THE first track through Bermondsey dive-under is on schedule to open for passenger use from December 27, as work continues to gradeseparate the tracks on the eastern approach into London Bridge as part of the £6.5 billion Thameslink programme.
When fully complete in 2018, the dive-under will allow Southeastern trains travelling from Kent to Charing Cross to pass beneath the Sussex lines used by Southern and Thameslink services.
Built by Network Rail and Skanska, it replaces the point on Bermondsey viaduct where they currently must cross over on the level, causing delays and congestion into the capital.
Eliminating this bottleneck is therefore a key element of the package of works that will enable the frequency of Thameslink services running through London Bridge to increase to 16 trains per hour from December 2018, and to 24tph on the core route through Blackfriars.
The dive-under consists of two ramps of 1-in-29 gradients with room for four tracks to dip into a concrete box 155 metres in length.
The first two tracks through the dive-under were laid in October using Balfour Beatty’s New Track Construction (NTC) machine, which had returned during RAIL’s visit on November 28 to lay the remaining two. Balfour Beatty owns two NTCs that can lay up to 175 metres of track per hour.
Mark Somers, Thameslink Programme Project Director of Railway Systems, said: “This Christmas will be fairly quiet for us compared with the last one, and also next year’s when we will connect the flyover to Thameslink services.
“We will be commissioning the signalling on the Down Surrey Slow from late on Christmas Eve before a test train can run over it at midnight on December 27, ready for the first service train at approximately 0400.”