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Brighton to London Development

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Dudes

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I will soon be traveling from Burgess Hill/Haywards Heath/Wivelfield to London Bridge.

Someone on here has warned me that the london bridge developmenmt will prevent some trains from these locations stoping at London bridge. This would be a problem for me as I will move to the area so as I can travel direct to london bridge.

Does anyone know more?

Will some limited number of trains still stop at london bridge throught the development?
How long will the distruption last?
Will the trains continue to stop at london bridge after the development?

Thanks

Adam
 
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Barn

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I will soon be traveling from Burgess Hill/Haywards Heath/Wivelfield to London Bridge.

Someone on here has warned me that the london bridge developmenmt will prevent some trains from these locations stoping at London bridge. This would be a problem for me as I will move to the area so as I can travel direct to london bridge.

Does anyone know more?

Will some limited number of trains still stop at london bridge throught the development?
How long will the distruption last?
Will the trains continue to stop at london bridge after the development?

Thanks

Adam

It's the final stage of the Thameslink Programme. The details are not entirely clear yet, but London Bridge is being rebuilt between 2013 and 2018. During most of this time, no Thameslink trains will call there. Afterwards, there will be a significantly improved Thameslink service.

Depending on where exactly you work, you may find that you could use the new south bank exit of Blackfriars, or perhaps Elephant and Castle, to reach your offices.

 

ushawk

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Think its been posted around a lot that Thameslink wont serve London Bridge at all and i think Southern will be altered in some way too, although they havent said how yet.

You can change at East Croydon for service to LBG, or you could use the Northern Line from Elephant and Castle. The Inner South London Line (Victoria to LBG via Denmark Hill) will also be made a part of London Overground.

More info is here http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/cms/pages/view/64
 

swt_passenger

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It was me that mentioned it.

The most up to date info I've found, although still quite sketchy at this stage, was a schedule provided as part of the planning application for the station rebuild, attached below.
 

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  • London Bridge plans Jul 2011 - sequence.pdf
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Waddon

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As someone who uses London Bridge every day, I'm expecting it to be very very busy in peak hours during the rebuilding. I don't know too much about the schedule of works but I would expect there will be a minimum of two platforms at a time out of use, with maybe up to four platforms blocked during the construction of the new through lines, and as the design involves tunnelling a new pedestrian subway under the whole station and the removal of the whole roof it's going to be mayhem... I imagine the bridge linking the platforms will be removed early on too so that may mean all movements between platforms will be via the concourse... personally I'm going to find a way to avoid the whole area if I can... any one know any more?
 

Dudes

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It's the final stage of the Thameslink Programme. The details are not entirely clear yet, but London Bridge is being rebuilt between 2013 and 2018. During most of this time, no Thameslink trains will call there. Afterwards, there will be a significantly improved Thameslink service.

Depending on where exactly you work, you may find that you could use the new south bank exit of Blackfriars, or perhaps Elephant and Castle, to reach your offices.


My offices are in fenchurch street so blackfriars may be okay. A longer walk though. I don't like the tube.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Think its been posted around a lot that Thameslink wont serve London Bridge at all and i think Southern will be altered in some way too, although they havent said how yet.

You can change at East Croydon for service to LBG, or you could use the Northern Line from Elephant and Castle. The Inner South London Line (Victoria to LBG via Denmark Hill) will also be made a part of London Overground.

More info is here http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/cms/pages/view/64

am I correct that thameslink do not go to Burgess hill area so this at least will not effect me.
 
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ushawk

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The First Capital Connect Thameslink route runs between Brighton and Bedford and call at Burgess Hill so yes you will be affected.
 

swt_passenger

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As someone who uses London Bridge every day, I'm expecting it to be very very busy in peak hours during the rebuilding. I don't know too much about the schedule of works but I would expect there will be a minimum of two platforms at a time out of use, with maybe up to four platforms blocked during the construction of the new through lines...

The pdf I just posted as an attachment does actually explain exactly how many of the existing platforms will be closed in each phase...

I'd suggest the space vacated by the north most three of the terminating platforms will be used to build the southern most third of the new concourse, with the new lines into Charing Cross then being built at the same time as they start demolishing the southern part of the existing through platforms.

The Charing Cross lines will then be switched to their ultimate positions leaving a big gap in the middle of the station. Working in that gap they'll then probably build the middle of the new concourse. Then they'll temporarily move the Cannon St lines into the middle of the station and build the north third of the new concourse.

There ought to be no reason to have to 'tunnel' under the live railway IMHO.
 

hwl

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The pdf I just posted as an attachment does actually explain exactly how many of the existing platforms will be closed in each phase...

I'd suggest the space vacated by the north most three of the terminating platforms will be used to build the southern most third of the new concourse, with the new lines into Charing Cross then being built at the same time as they start demolishing the southern part of the existing through platforms.

The Charing Cross lines will then be switched to their ultimate positions leaving a big gap in the middle of the station. Working in that gap they'll then probably build the middle of the new concourse. Then they'll temporarily move the Cannon St lines into the middle of the station and build the north third of the new concourse.

There ought to be no reason to have to 'tunnel' under the live railway IMHO.

Partially correct as I understand it, except they will start by rebuilding the terminating platforms from the southern side of the station (i.e. starting on p15/16 side) and working north an "island" at a time initially. The offices and signalling equipment on the what would effectively have been p17 at the moment will go so the new southern most island (new p14/15) will be further south than the current p15/16 today with the islands being wider for better people flow. Only when the 3 new terminating platform islands are operational (late 2014) will work start in earnest on the Charing Cross lines which will end up with 2 platform islands (from ~1.5 islands and a through track at the moment) almost certainly 1 island at a time to retain operation capability. The new borough market viaduct will be brought in to use at the same time as the southernmost "charing cross" island (new p 8-9) and allow works to the existing viaduct to begin. After the CX islands (new p 8-9 and 6-7) are done the Blackfriars Island (new p4-5) will be done and the Cannon Street services swap there temporarily while the 1 island and 1 edge platforms (new p2-3 and 1) are done for the cannon street services. When these are done Cannon street services will swap to their permanent platforms allowing the TL services to use the blackfriars platforms (2018).

Indeed very little tunnelling but plenty of reuse of the arches underneath the station.
 

swt_passenger

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Partially correct as I understand it, except they will start by rebuilding the terminating platforms from the southern side of the station (i.e. starting on p15/16 side) and working north an "island" at a time initially. The offices and signalling equipment on the what would effectively have been p17 at the moment will go so the new southern most island (new p14/15) will be further south than the current p15/16 today with the islands being wider for better people flow. Only when the 3 new terminating platform islands are operational (late 2014) will work start in earnest on the Charing Cross lines which will end up with 2 platform islands (from ~1.5 islands and a through track at the moment) almost certainly 1 island at a time to retain operation capability. The new borough market viaduct will be brought in to use at the same time as the southernmost "charing cross" island (new p 8-9) and allow works to the existing viaduct to begin. After the CX islands (new p 8-9 and 6-7) are done the Blackfriars Island (new p4-5) will be done and the Cannon Street services swap there temporarily while the 1 island and 1 edge platforms (new p2-3 and 1) are done for the cannon street services. When these are done Cannon street services will swap to their permanent platforms allowing the TL services to use the blackfriars platforms (2018).

Concur. I completely forgot to mention the rebuilding of the high numbered (southmost) terminating platforms, which would logically have to be done first.
 

hwl

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Concur. I completely forgot to mention the rebuilding of the high numbered (southmost) terminating platforms, which would logically have to be done first.

There is only one logical way to do it while keeping services going (will watch with bated breath for the signalling works though :lol:)
 

swt_passenger

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There is only one logical way to do it while keeping services going (will watch with bated breath for the signalling works though :lol:)

They'll hopefully have rehearsed all their procedures successfully by the time Reading is completed. In terms of track switches, additional through platforms, and all the new flyovers and stuff like that it is quite similar in scope.
 

Stats

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almost certainly 1 island at a time to retain operation capability. The new borough market viaduct will be brought in to use at the same time as the southernmost "charing cross" island (new p 8-9) and allow works to the existing viaduct to begin. After the CX islands (new p 8-9 and 6-7) are done the Blackfriars Island (new p4-5) will be done and the Cannon Street services swap there temporarily while the 1 island and 1 edge platforms (new p2-3 and 1) are done for the cannon street services. When these are done Cannon street services will swap to their permanent platforms allowing the TL services to use the blackfriars platforms (2018).

Sorry, I'm confused. You seem to be suggesting that one island will remain available to Charing Cross services during the construction of their new platforms, and that Cannon Street services will be switched to the new Thameslink platforms during the building of their new platforms. If that was the case then why would they need to non-stop all Charing Cross and Cannon Street services during the redevelopment of their respective platform groups?
 

hwl

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Sorry, I'm confused. You seem to be suggesting that one island will remain available to Charing Cross services during the construction of their new platforms, and that Cannon Street services will be switched to the new Thameslink platforms during the building of their new platforms. If that was the case then why would they need to non-stop all Charing Cross and Cannon Street services during the redevelopment of their respective platform groups?

:oops: Good point - a failure to engage brain on my part as there are the often unmentioned viaduct works too (to the CX / CS end) which complicate the situation. They can still only do 1 island at a time if they want to keep through train running to CX or CS, the issue is not being able to stop them due to reduced numbers of platforms (or the loss of the through track)
Therefore probably be non stop for ~6 months at a time (match timetable changes?)
 
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