On 14 March 2017 Network Rail finally published its draft Kent Area Route Study Report. On the same day, quite deliberately, the DfT published its consultation document for the requirements of the next South East rail franchise entitled South Eastern Rail Franchise Public Consultation. Here we take a look at the Route Study report in general and more specifically at the suburban services through London Bridge operated as part of the South East rail franchise. Not a Route Utilisation Study This ...

It will probably not have escaped most readers attention that the main portion of the new London Bridge station concourse opened on August Bank Holiday Monday. Impressions are invariably subjective and so London Reconnections breaks its rule about being objective to give you a report on the development. Space, Minimalism and Integration Much has been said about how spacious the new station looks. On arriving from the Southern platforms it does look open and impressive, but at first it appears ...

We really had been trying to not keep writing about London Bridge. Then, at the beginning of the year, a lot of problems emerged rendering it an apt topic for discussion again. The trouble was that whilst pictures, headlines and hyperbole were easy to find, verified facts were far harder to come by. With a recent GLA Transport Committee Meeting having concentrated solely on London Bridge, however, a steady trickle of information from other sources finally beginning to surface and enough original ...

In part 4 of our Study in Sussex we looked at the restrictions on capacity at Victoria Station and came only to the rather vague conclusion that there was probably more capacity available in future. Other possible ultimate destinations for non-Thameslink trains from Sussex are somewhere on the West Coast Main Line via Clapham Junction and the Blackfriars bay platforms. In both cases the track layout means these are really more suited to local metro services. In principle Thameslink could ...

This August Bank Holiday sees the first major Thameslink Blockade at London Bridge. The low level platforms and the route in from the Southern lines (via New Cross Gate or South Bermondsey) will be blocked from Saturday August 23rd to Sunday August 31st. These nine days have been chosen because they include an August Bank Holiday which not only means fewer working days closure but also it is taking place during a week when rail traffic is unusually quiet. Parts of The Railway Shut Down Map ...

Its been almost exactly a year since we last gave an update on the Thameslink work at London Bridge. Since then a lot of work has gone on. Some of this is visible at the front of the station but most of it has been behind hoardings or underneath the main station so isn’t entirely obvious. With the first two new platforms of the replacement station having just opened, now seems an appropriate time for a bit of an update. Work prior and up to the opening of the first new platforms This ...

Rail devolution is something that remains high on both the Assembly and TfL radars, and so it was no surprise when it reared its head at the April Transport Committee meeting. Joanne McCartney opened this topic by asking Sir Peter for an update on the South Eastern / Greater Anglia rail devolution discussions with the DfT. Sir Peter said the DfT had announced a significant reprogramming of the franchise programme. TfL does not believe that this new programme, with several franchise extensions, ...

Late last year we reported on the opening of stage II of the East London Line and also said farewell to the South London Line (SLL). Nowadays it is not often that we see a the discontinuation of a service on National Rail in the London area. The next planned discontinuation is the replacement of through trains to Greenford on Great Western by a West Ealing – Greenford shuttle because of Crossrail. This is not due until 2018 at the earliest and even then it only inconveniences the limited ...

The intention was to hold off from writing another article about Thameslink until the routes involved were finally decided. Our article in 2011 was rather speculative due to lack of decision making and definite information on decisions that have been made. It was felt at the time we would steer clear of an update until details were finalised which we thought would be fairly soon. We are nearly two years further on and to some extent the situation is unchanged. A lot of this is undoubtedly due to ...

If you use Hayes station in the peak period, you will notice that the trains stop about two carriages short of the buffer stops. This means that you, and everyone else, have to walk two carriages further down the platform than necessary. If you are clued up, you will realise the reason for this – it is because the ten car train needs to stop short so that the rear of the train is lined up correctly for the platform monitors at the London end of the station. A five car train stops short ...

The original intention with this article was to write a short piece on what is to happen at London Bridge in the next seven years. Unfortunately, for reasons that will become apparent later, this has proven difficult. Details have been released, as is customary, on the Thameslink Programme website but at time of writing there is nothing yet on Network Rail’s website. The release of this information is thus in anticipation of an exhibition about the proposals at London Bridge station next ...

Last weekend saw a major act of engineering undertaken south of the river – the moving into place of the bridge over Borough High Street which forms part of the track improvements taking place outside London Bridge. This took three days to complete and ultimately required some completion works this weekend as well. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the three-day move attracted the presence of most of the major LR contributors at one point or another and the resulting photos (along with some ...

Building Magazine reported this week that the government is considering cuts to Crossrail totalling £5 billion — almost a third of the project’s total £15.9 billion budget — in a worst-case scenario. Possible cuts include the Crossrail stations at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road, cutting the number of carriages per train from 12 to 10, or abandoning extensions to Maidenhead and Abbey Wood. Whilst Crossrail refused to comment on the specific cutbacks, supporters have been out in ...