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London Bridge Station | Southwark

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#1 ·
The new London Bridge station!




This station is considered to be the world's oldest terminus in existance: its been operating since 1836 and is now 170 years old. It could also be considered the first elevated station in the world: the entire station is built above street level of several million bricks. Currently the commuter section of the station is split between 15 platforms: 1-6 are through platforms (to the other London termini of London Cannon Street and London Charing Cross) and 8-16 are terminal platforms. The station is served by South Eastern, Thameslink and Southern train services.

Although one of the less used of the London termini (there are 13), the commuter rail section of the station is used by some 48mn people, while the Northern and Jubilee London Underground lines are used by some 44mn it is used by some 47,685,000 48mn commuters, meaning each year 92mn people use the station or roughly 300,000 each weekday.

The 300m+ London Bridge Tower will partially go over this station while the office block shown in the pictures is still being re-designed to accomodate the current historical aspects of the terminal and the office market. The station is currently not heavily congested, but with the vast Thames Gateway project, London Bridge Station is set to get busier.




Client: Network Rail
Location: London SE1
Size: 750,000sq ft


This 12 acre scheme for London Bridge Station was developed following a masterplanning study prepared by tp bennett architects. The study was based on a thorough appraisal of urban design, town planning, rights to light and commercial viability, and provided Network Rail (then Railtrack) with clear, concise recommendations for the redevelopment of the station.

The design scheme fundamentally reconfigures and enlarges the existing station, providing for 50% uplift in passenger numbers. It also incorporates a major new retail concourse and a landmark air rights office building above the station. bennett urban planning provided town planning advice and coordinated an extraordinarily large consultation exercise necessary to accommodate the views of the many local interest groups and interested national bodies. The scheme gained detailed planning and listed building consent in December 2000.



















 
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#194 ·
I've no idea what you're on about.

There will obviously be services calling at Finsbury Park from London Bridge, as Thameslink will serve both route via the (currently trackless) tunnels between the ECML at Maiden Lane and St. Pancras Thameslink.

One of the early Thameslink 2000 options was to dig a new tunnel from Kings Cross/Finsbury Park to Bermondsey, and whilst I think this would have been a far better option than shovelling everything down the Thameslink core, it would have also been far, far, far more expensive. It'll probably happen one day, as over time the MML will probably need 24tph at to itself all the way out to St. Albans to cope with demand.
 
#198 ·
AFAIK, the current work will extend only as far as the ticket barrier line. I can't find a detailed floor plan (anyone have one?) but I think the ticket office and food stalls will remain as they are. All this stuff will be removed in the major station rebuild, so there's little point in rebuilding it now.

If you're actually talking about the major rebuild, then yes there will be major structural changes. 3 terminating platforms will be raised and turned into through platforms. A new concourse will be built under the platforms. The existing concourse, footbridge and tunnel will all be removed/replaced. Very little of the current station will remain.
 
#199 ·
To be honest, there's little point in doing this roof either as I believe that the roof of the new station will not tie in with this new concourse roof being built by the Shard. So it will probably only exist for 4 years...unless the London Bridge Redevelopment designers and Network Rail can connect them in some way that doesn't look out of place
 
#206 ·
Afraid I've been finding it a little difficult to grab a snap without getting asked all sorts of questions, even with my phone.

This was about three weeks ago.



Not a huge amount of visible change since - mostly finishing work to the roof already constructed. The red truss on the left has gone now and they've been erecting a platform over the top of the escalators down to the underground.

The extra light is certainly making a difference to my daily commute though.
 
#205 ·
Nope.

There's a lot more detail elsewhere, but basically, they're widening the through station over the two terminating platforms (one disused, I think) that sit just alongside it at a lower level, but just outside the present retaining wall.

The complete through station will be a bit too wide for the old roof and its retaining wall at this end of the station—the platforms need to be straight and quite wide to allow for the large passenger flows—which is why the old roof is going to be dismantled and replaced by smaller individual roofs for each platform. (That roof will be kept in storage; it's not going to be thrown away. That said, it'll need a hell of a lot of work to restore it to good condition as it's been filthy and leaking like a sieve for years.)

I can't think of any reasons for raising the terminating platforms to the same level as the through station as it would require expensive modifications the approach roads, subway accesses, etc., without providing any useful benefits.

Some of the CGI renders are a little misleading in this regard as they tend to be shown from the side of the new through platforms. There'll be nine of these when the rebuild is completed, with just six terminating platforms.
 
#214 ·
http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5658

London Bridge and Waterloo Stations will be "very busy" during Olympics
Tuesday 15 November 2011

Olympic officials revealed more details about how London Bridge and Waterloo railway stations will be affected by next summer's games when they appeared before City Hall's transport committee on Tuesday morning.

"We want to encourage people to have a great time in the summer of 2012," said Hugh Sumner, director of transport at the Olympic Delivery Authority.

"Will there be areas of stress on the transport system? Yes there will.

"For example on day 3 when there is an equestrian event down in Greenwich, London Bridge will be very, very busy indeed as people try to get there in advance of the midday session when the cross-country event starts.

"We are trying to give people a very clear idea of when and where those hotspots are, so people can plan around them."

Last month we reported the advice of Transport for London commissioner Peter Hendy who told London Bridge commuters to "have a beer before you go home" because the station will be so packed with spectators returning from the equestrian events in Greenwich Park.

Deputy Mayor Isabel Dedring told the committee that Transport for London will be releasing more detailed information later this month.

Conservative assembly member Roger Evans asked which other stations would be particularly affected by large crowds during the Olympics.

"Waterloo will be challenging because a lot of people will be coming in on the south west main line and then moving on to events either in the centre of town or the east of town," said Mr Sumner.

He added: "At London Bridge the challenge will be counter-flow traffic: you've got commuters coming into town but people trying to leave to see the equestrian events in Greenwich Park."

London Bridge Station will also be used by spectators coming to London Park (the temporary new name for Potters Fields Park) to watch the Olympic events on big screens.

Labour's Val Shawcross AM picked up the question of London Bridge which she described as "an extreme hotspot".

"You need more than a 30 per cent decrease in the usual demand for that to cope," she said, asking what contingency plans had been put in place.

Ben Plowden, Transport for London's director of better routes and places, added: "The phasing of who you communicate with is also important.

"For those people who will be travelling as regular Londoners next summer, if you start telling them now what London Bridge might be like on day 3 it simply won't have much resonance because it's a long way away.

"In the last six or eight months we've been talking in detail to businesses about how they need to enable their staff, visitors and contractors to change their travel behaviour during the games time."

"So for example if people are potentially working from home on the busier days of the games, does the company have adequate bandwidth for people to log on remotely to the company's IT system? Do they have the HR policies that allow them to provide flexible working from home as part of their standard practice?"

Val Shawcross asked about coordination between London Underground and national rail operators at the mainline stations.

She asked: "For example, is there an overarching Tannoy system in London Bridge? Are they practicising control and management of passenger flows in London Bridge?

"It is very busy at the moment and they don't seem to have much active management of passenger movements."

Mr Sumner replied: "The answer to your question is yes."

• Find out about transport during the Olympics at www.tfl.gov.uk/2012
 
#222 ·
I love the swooshing roof, and there are no office blocks plonked on top to pay for it all visible here.
That plaza is surprisingly good, but I'm not sure how many will want to use that entrance, it doesn't really go anywhere.

Anyone know what will happen to the current temporary-looking bridge over all the platforms? I've had many an evening running down its length to get from a Thameslink service to a Southern metro one.
 
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