Passengers using London Bridge station will experience changes from later this month due to the first major stage of redevelopment work.
Southern services that use platforms 8 to 16 will be affected by platform closure from the latter part of the May bank holiday, as work starts on platforms 14 to 16. No Southern train services will call at the station between Saturday May 25 and Monday May 27, while some will be diverted to Victoria.
Three platforms at the station – 14, 15 and 16 – will be taken out of use from May 28 until spring of 2014 due to the redevelopment. This will also involve the narrowing of platform 13, from where there will be no access to the footbridge.
The redevelopment work is ultimately intended to increase the station’s capacity by altering the platform arrangement. By 2018, the current six through and nine terminating platforms will have been changed to nine through and six terminating platforms. The change is also intended to reduce trains’ waiting time for available platforms.
From today until Wednesday May 29, an exhibit located on the concourse opposite the entrance to platforms 12 to 14 will be open to commuters at the station between the hours of 7am and 7pm. Station staff will be available there to answer queries regarding the project.
Three train operators that use London Bridge station, First Capital Connect, Southeastern and Southern, issued a joint statement, saying, ‘We are working together, and with Network Rail, so passengers are kept informed of the work at London Bridge station. We will ensure our customers are aware of the changes that affect them and what the various journey options are.
‘Our station exhibition is just one example of how we are talking with our customers. We’ve created a programme website, ThameslinkProgramme.co.uk where customers can keep up to date with the Thameslink programme and sign up for email alerts about changes that matter to them.’
Over the coming months, there are likely to be frequent changes to services using the station as the work progresses.