Regeneration of London Bridge to cause five years of disruption
COMMUTERS through London Bridge were yesterday warned to brace themselves for five years of daily disruption as Network Rail unveiled its plans for the regeneration of the City’s oldest station.
The biggest redevelopment in the capital in a generation begins next May, and will give London Bridge the biggest concourse in the country as well as new platforms, lifts, escalators and entrances on Tooley Street and St Thomas Street.
However, the work will affect Southern, Thameslink and Southeastern services until 2018, Network Rail said.
The rail firm said it would carry out the work in distinct phases in a bid to minimise passenger disruption.
Southern’s south London line services between Victoria and London Bridge via Denmark Hill will be withdrawn from 9 December, but Network Rail said people in Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye could instead use the London Overground extension connecting Clapham Junction to Surrey Quays. And From May next year three platforms – 14, 15 and 16 – will be closed to the public.
The station, built in 1836, will remain open during the work, which is part of the £6bn project to upgrade Thameslink.
“Train passengers will be the biggest winners from this investment as London Bridge is transformed from one of the capital’s most congested stations into one of the most modern,” said Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin.