London Bridge Station Official Opening

Showcasing what the Thameslink Programme has delivered for passengers and the surrounding community

The official opening of London Bridge station by the Duke of Cambridge on 9 May 2018 showcased what the Thameslink Programme has delivered to date and will continue to deliver for passengers, the South East route, locals and the surrounding community.

The event could have been a quick ribbon cutting followed by a cup of tea and a slice of cake for the guests. Instead, the team produced a professional, slick and truly inspired week of events that encompassed not just the royal party and some Network Rail guests but also honoured:

  • Every partner in the programme
  • All Network Rail staff who had worked on the project
  • Local schools, stakeholders and businesses

Two weeks of celebratory and awareness-raising events around the station included:

  • Invitations to local rail user groups
  • Treasure hunt for local schoolchildren
  • Information hand-outs to passengers
  • Live music in the station.

Speakers at the plaque unveiling (Network Rail Chief Executive Mark Carne, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling and David Brown of Go Ahead Group) reiterated the key messages that there is now:

  • Capacity for 96 million users of the station per year
  • More trains able to call at the station
  • Better facilities for passengers
  • Easy interchange between services and with London Underground
  • Full accessibility from street to platform, with a lift to each one
  • Covering over the full length of each platform
  • Public access north to south through the station, helping to regenerate Bermondsey

Achievements

Most of the key messages were picked up by local and national press, during extensive media coverage following the event. Matthew Lodge, Department for Transport Director of Rail Major Projects, wrote to the Thameslink Programme Communications Team thanking them for the hard work that went into the official opening. He added that he thought the event went like clockwork and showcased the new station at its best.

Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, called the event: “…a fitting tribute to all the hard work carried out across the industry to deliver the new station at London Bridge and the other improvements delivered as part of the Thameslink Programme.”

Mark Carne called the event “a proud day for the railway”, adding that the arrangements “went flawlessly” and seemed “to strike a good balance between formality and informality.”

Further information

For more information on this Learning Legacy case study please email contact@thameslinkprogramme.co.uk