Sadly the entire London Bridge programme was a massive missed opportunity; particularly when you consider the future needs of rail passengers. I personally would have opted for the following:
- London Bridge 'High Level' would have had 10 platforms. 4 for Cannon Street, 3 for 'Thameslink' and 3 for Charing Cross. The reason for the 3rd platform on Thameslink and Charing Cross is for peak-direction loading and unloading.
- The Cannon Street lines would be four track from North Kent East / New Cross to Cannon Street in entirety in an Up, Down, Up, Down capacity. Cannon Street, with 8 platforms, would therefore support 32tph with 16tph in each four-platform 'half' aka a 3/4 minute frequency on each pair of lines, creating good resilience. Of the 16tph on the 'North pair', these would operate as 12tph to the Greenwich line at all times creating a high-frequency Metro service and this concession could have been let independently by the Crossrail company with the same rolling stock, a depot at Plumstead and drivers at Abbey Wood operating both Greenwich line and Crossrail services. The other 4tph on this pair would operate towards New Cross and St Johns. The 16tph on the 'South Pair' would operate to a variety of destinations via Lewisham. This would likely be 12tph towards Bexleyheath and 8tph towards Sidcup. This would concentrate drivers to depots at Cannon Street and Dartford / Slade Green on the Metro.
- Crossrail would operate east of Abbey Wood with services from London via Greenwich terminating at Abbey Wood (8tph at peak) but also 4tph operating through.
- The Thameslink services would operate to Kent. This would have meant no need for a Flyover and that all 24tph would have been formed of 12 coaches. These trains would have operated to the likes of Hastings, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford and Grove Park stoppers and such at peak hours.
- The overall service therefore to the Kent area from London Bridge combined would be 56tph.
- Services via New Cross Gate would operate to/from Charing Cross. This would be workable with the new 'Hungerford Bridge' station serving Charing Cross and Waterloo to replace both Charing Cross and Waterloo East. The 24tph on this route at peak times would easily operate into/out of a new 6 platform station with suitable turn-round times for peak resilience. Some Victoria trains would divert including the Gatwick Express; but Metro services would terminate in the 'Low Level' due to the interchange with the Bakerloo extension at New Cross Gate for the West End. Other terminating services at London Bridge would include services via South Bermondsey.
- Services via Elephant & Castle would start/terminate at Blackfriars. This would be up to 8tph; but would be a Metro-only service to Orpington via both Catford and Herne Hill. These trains could be formed of 700s or similar and therefore the Orpington driver depot would operate one traction and not only operate to the Thameslink route via Grove Park but also therefore also diversionary routes to Blackfriars via Catford and Beckenham as part of regular passenger work.
- Slight re-modelling at Herne Hill would enable parallel moves in both directions (currently down trains cannot undertake parallel moves). Services on the Wimbledon Loop etc. would operate either towards London Bridge via Peckham Rye or to Victoria via Herne Hill and Brixton. Cross-platform interchange in both directions would be a sensible option.
- Services to Sevenoaks via Swanley, to Gillingham (etc) via Bromley South, to Dover and Ramsgate via Chatham, to Ashford via Maidstone East and such would work into and out of Victoria and could either operate via Penge East or Catford.
- 4tph from Victoria via Lewisham would continue to be provided with interchange options at Brockley and a new 'combined' station at Brixton. Loughborough Junction would close in favour of a new station at Camberwell and passengers also using the enlarged Brixton.
- In addition, the Bexleyheath line would not 'feed into' the North Kent line at Crayford Creek and instead 4 lines would be provided from Dartford Junction to Crayford Creek enabling extra capacity and 'Loop' services from the Bexleyheath to Sidcup line (and vice versa) not affecting services from the North Kent including Crossrail to Dartford. Dartford station would require a 5th platform to enable increased services.
Overall peak service frequency something along the lines of:
CROSSRAIL
- 2tph from Core to Rainham (Kent)
- 2tph from Core to Maidstone West (semi-fast from Strood to Maidstone)
- 4tph from Core to Gravesend (all stations)
- 4tph from Core to Dartford (terminating)
- 8tph from Cannon Street to Abbey Wood (all stations via Greenwich)
- 2tph from Cannon Street to Strood (via Greenwich)
- 2tph from Cannon Street to Rainham (via Greenwich)
SOUTHEASTERN METRO
- 4tph from Cannon Street to Dartford via Bexleyheath
- 4tph from Cannon Street to Crayford via Bexleyheath
- 4tph from Cannon Street to Barnehurst via Bexleyheath
- 4tph from Cannon Street to Barnehurst via Sidcup
- 4tph from Cannon Street to Dartford via Sidcup
- 4tph from Blackfriars to Orpington via Catford
- 4tph from Blackfriars to Orpington via Penge East
SOUTHEASTERN MAIN LINE
- 2tph from Victoria to Sevenoaks via Swanley
- 4tph from Victoria to Ramsgate / Dover via Chatham
- 2tph from Victoria to Ashford via Maidstone East
- 2tph from Victoria to Maidstone East
- 2tph from Victoria to Gillingham via Longfield
THAMESLINK
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to Hastings
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to Tunbridge Wells
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to Ashford and suitable extensions
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to Sevenoaks via Grove Park
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to Orpington via Grove Park
- 4tph from Thameslink Core to other destinations as required
SOUTHERN / GATWICK EXPRESS MAIN LINE
- 4tph from Charing Cross to Brighton (Gatwick Express)
- 4tph from Charing Cross to Brighton (additional)
- 4tph from Charing Cross to Tattenham Corner (fast)
- 2tph from Charing Cross to Epsom via Norwood Junction
- 2tph from Charing Cross to Reigate / Tonbridge splitting
- 4tph from Charing Cross to Three Bridges / Horsham via Redhill
- 2tph from Charing Cross to Bognor via Horsham
- 2tph from Charing Cross to Eastbourne
(Other services from Victoria)
SOUTHERN METRO
- 2tph from London Bridge to Epsom via Peckham Rye
- 2tph from London Bridge to Wimbledon via Peckham Rye
- 2tph from London Bridge to Beckenham Junction via Peckham Rye
- 2tph from London Bridge to West Croydon via Peckham Rye
- 4tph from London Bridge to Caterham via Sydenham (all stations)
(Other services from Victoria)