A new station for London Bridge

London Bridge station will be completely redeveloped from 2013 to 2018. This unlocks a major bottleneck in our rail system and is a key part of the final stage of the Thameslink Programme.

Southwark Council has approved Network Rail's planning application for the new station. The information from a recent exhibition can be viewed using the links below.

These are the key features of the new station:

Better connected

The new station will have nine through-platforms instead of today’s six, and six terminating platforms instead of today’s nine. Two of the new through-platforms will be dedicated to the Thameslink route.

The Thameslink route platforms will be served by up to 18 trains an hour in each direction serving many more destinations north and south of London (today there are at most just four trains an hour between only Bedford and Brighton).

Changes to the track layout and signalling will unravel the spaghetti of train paths outside London Bridge, creating a clear path for the new Thameslink route services, which will also have a dedicated route across Borough thanks to a new, widened viaduct.

Less crowded

Nearly 50 million passengers use London Bridge station a year. The new station will have space for two-thirds more. There will be a new concourse at street level bigger than Wembley’s football pitch with entrances on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street and lifts and escalators to the platforms above.

Brighter

The concourse will be filled with natural light that will come through the canopies covering the platforms above, creating a more pleasant environment.

Service alterations

Network Rail, train operators, TfL and others are working together to understand in more detail what the building work will mean for passengers and more information will be made public as soon as it is available.

In general terms it is likely that at times, fewer trains will stop at London Bridge during construction and more use will be made of alternative London stations.

First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect services are likely to be diverted away from London Bridge, via Elephant & Castle. This is expected to happen around 2015. This could mean an increase in journey times of around 8-15 minutes, but should not mean a reduction in service levels.

Southern
Southern is working with Network Rail to ensure it minimises any disruption to passengers when work begins in 2013. Currently Southern operates around 30 trains at peak times into its 9 platforms at London Bridge; when work starts the train company will be restricted to 6 platforms but still expect to run 24 trains an hour. The plan is to lengthen these trains wherever possible to provide the maximum capacity into London Bridge.

The shortfall in services will be reduced by the withdrawal of the half-hourly services between London Bridge and Victoria via Denmark Hill in December 2012 as a result of the second phase of the East London Line Overground services being introduced.

Southeastern
Regular Southeastern services will not be significantly affected in the early stages of the programme. Full details of changes to services are being worked on with any alterations being communicated well in advance of the changes with alternative travel options explained. At the completion of the Thameslink Programme there will be additional services for many routes through London Bridge.

More information

You can view information panels here (1MB file size) and here (0.75MB) as well as the leaflet (0.5MB).

Tooley Street entrance from above (a building in the foreground is shown as transparent)

View of the new St Thomas' Street entrance, from the west