London Bridge station

London Bridge

Location	London Bridge
Local authority	Southwark
Managed by	Network Rail
Station code	LBG
Platforms in use	15
Travelcard zone	1
NR 2004/5 usage	37.020 million[1]
NR 2005/6 usage	37.416 million[1]
NR 2006/7 usage	47.577 million[1]
14 December 1836	Opened
List of stations	Underground • National Rail
External links	Departures • Facilities
UK Railways Portal

London Bridge station is a National Rail and London Underground (tube) station in the London Borough of Southwark, which occupies a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles (2.6 km) east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the world and is the fourth busiest rail terminal in London.

The main-line station is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail and is a major transport terminus and interchange for central London. It serves over 42 million people a year.

The tube station serves the Jubilee Line and the Bank branch of the Northern Line. It consists of a ticket hall and entrance area with its main frontage on Tooley Street, along with entrances and exits on Borough High Street.

The station is in Travelcard Zone 1. London Bridge is one of two rail termini in London located south of the river Thames, the other being Waterloo. For this reason they are also the only two London termini which neither have a direct connection to, nor are within easy walking distance of, the Circle Line; Marylebone being a short walk to Baker Street Station.

History

London Bridge (with Deptford ) are the oldest railway stations in London and opened in 1836. The current station originated as two separate stations, which is why it has both through and terminal platforms.

Chronology

• Opened in Tooley Street by the London and Greenwich Railway on 14 December 1836.
• The London and Croydon Railway joined it on 5 June 1839.
• The joint station opened in July 1844 and was demolished in 1850.
• Due to the high tolls charged by the London and Greenwich, the South Eastern Railway station along with that of the London and Croydon was demolished, but rebuilt in 1853, and extended in 1866.
• The Terminus hotel opened in 1861, was turned into offices for the LBSCR in 1892, and destroyed in 1941.
• The original London and Greenwich platforms were demolished and new high-level through platforms opened 11 January 1864.
• The station was unified by the Southern Railway in 1925.
• British Rail undertook large-scale rebuilding, and the new station officially opened on 15 September 1978.

Station design

• The 1839 London and Croydon Railway station had a wooden trussed pitched roof, 56 ft by 212 ft (17 m by 65 m).
• The 1866 LBSCR station had a single-span trussed-arch roof measuring 88 ft by 655 ft (27 m by 200 m)and was designed by J. Hawkshaw and F. D. Banister.
• The 1978 redevelopment was undertaken by N. D. T. Wikeley, regional architect for British Rail Southern.

National Rail

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the approaches to London Bridge.

The through platforms, 1-6, are on the north side of the station. Platforms 1-3 are served by trains starting and ending at Cannon Street. Services to and from Charing Cross use platforms 4-6 and a through line (no platform) to the south of platform 6. Platforms 5 & 6 are also served by First Capital Connect with its Thameslink Bedford to Brighton services via Luton, St Albans, St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars and Gatwick Airport

The terminal platforms, 8-16, are on the south side of the station and are mostly served by Southern services to south London and the south coast. Platforms 10-12 also have some Southeastern services to Tunbridge Wells via Redhill.

The typical off-peak service from the station is:

First Capital Connect

• 4tph (trains per hour) to Bedford
• 4pth to Brighton (2tph semi-fast services, 2tph stopping services)

Southeastern

• 14tph to London Charing Cross
• 11tph to London Cannon Street
• 2tph to Gillingham via Greenwich
• 2tph to Dartford via Bexleyheath
• 2tph to Gravesend via Lewisham and Sidcup
• 2tph to Orpington, of which 1tph is extended to Sevenoaks
• 2tph to Hastings (1tph semi-fast service, 1tph stopping service)
• 2tph to Ashford International via Orpington (1tph semi-fast service, 1tph stopping service)
• 4tph to Hayes (2tph via Lewisham, 2tph fast to Ladywell)
• 2tph to Dartford via Greenwich
• 2tph to Plumstead via Lewisham and Woolwich Arsenal
• 2tph to London Cannon Street via Greenwich, Sidcup and Lewisham
• 2tph to London Cannon Street via Lewisham, Sidcup and Greenwich
• 1tph to Ashford International via Maidstone East
• 1tph to Tunbridge Wells via Redhill

Southern

• 2tph to London Charing Cross
• 2tph to London Victoria via Peckham Rye
• 2tph to London Victoria via Crystal Palace
• 2tph to West Croydon via Streatham
• 2tph to Sutton via New Cross Gate
• 2tph to Caterham via New Cross Gate
• 2tph to Smitham via Crystal Palace
• 2tph to Tattenham Corner
• 2tph to Beckenham Junction via Crystal Palace
• 1tph to Horsham via Redhill
• 1tph to Uckfield

Future expansion

London Bridge is due to receive a major revamp as part of the Thameslink Programme, increasing its through platforms from six to nine. Current space restrictions mean that many options have been investigated including a two-level concourse. The number of terminating platforms will be reduced from nine to six. Work is not expected to be complete until 2015 with the bulk of the work taking place after the 2012 Olympic Games.

During the 4 years from December 2011 to December 2015 Thameslink trains will not stop at London Bridge. Passengers will need to travel to Tulse Hill before resuming their journey. It is not yet known what impact this will have on the journey time[1]. The affect on Southern Railways is not known.

Shard London Bridge, which may be the tallest skyscraper in Western Europe, is planned to be constructed by the southwest corner of the station, near the bus station. As of January 2008, demolition is underway on site and the tower's core and steelwork are due to rise in 2009.

Gallery

London Underground

London Bridge

Location	The Borough
Local authority	Southwark
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	4
Travelcard zone	1
LUL 2004 usage	44.362 million[2]
LUL 2007 usage	56.954 million[2]
1900 7 October 1999	Opened by C&SLR Jubilee Line started
List of stations	Underground • National Rail

The Underground station is between Borough and Bank on the Northern Line, and between Southwark and Bermondsey on the Jubilee Line. The station is the sixth busiest on the Underground network.

Originally Northern Line trains ran to a terminus at King William Street bypassing London Bridge, but the construction of a new station at Bank to provide greater capacity and allow northward extension required a new tunnel alignment, and provided the opportunity for a station at London Bridge. The station entrance was originally at Three Castles House on the corner of London Bridge Street and Station Approach, but has since been moved to Borough High Street and Tooley Street. The Northern Line platforms were rebuilt during the late 1990s to increase the platform and circulation areas in preparation for the opening of the Jubilee Line.

Jubilee Line platforms

The Northern Line station opened on 25 February 1900 as part of the City & South London Railway's (C&SLR's) revised route from Borough to Bank and Moorgate. The Jubilee Line station opened on 7 October 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension, although trains had been running through non-stop from the previous month. To enable the Jubilee Line to be constructed, months of major engineering works to relocate buried services in the surrounding streets had to be undertaken. A new ticket hall was created in the arches under the main-line station, providing improved interchange. During excavations a variety of Roman remains were found, including pottery and fragments of mosaics; some of these are now on display in the station.

There are two platforms on each line and two main sets of escalators to and from the Tooley Street ticket hall. All four platforms are directly accessible from the Borough High Street entrance/exit.

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Southwark towards Stanmore		Jubilee line		Bermondsey towards Stratford
Borough towards Morden		Northern line		Bank towards Edgware, Mill Hill East or High Barnet

River Service/London Bridge City Pier

London River Services London Bridge City Pier on the River Thames is slightly north of the station. It is served by Thames Clipper river boat services to Canary Wharf , Greenwich and the O₂ in the east, and Embankment to the west.

Preceding station		London River Services		Following station
Bankside Pier toward Embankment Pier		Commuter Service		Tower Millennium Pier toward Woolwich Arsenal Pier

Accidents

• On 1 February 1884, the 12:05pm London Bridge to Victoria hauled by LBSC Terrier No.71 Wapping collided with a D1 tank which was fouling the exit from the platform. Two carriages derailed.^[3]

• On 27 November 1895, a local train hauled by LB&SCR Terrier No. 70 Poplar collided with the buffer stops.^[3]

• At 09:30 on 23 January 1948, a train formed of a 6PAN and a 6PUL unit, which had formed that days 08:05 from Seaford and 07:30 from Ore, was allowed to draw up to the inner home signal, where it should have stopped. Instead it overran the signal and collided at a speed of between 15 and 20 mph (24 to 32 km/h) with the empty stock which had formed the 08:20 from Brighton. This train was formed of two 6PAN units. The train that was struck was forced through the buffers and demolished a bookstall. Three people were killed and 34 were injured.^[4]

• On 8 January 1999, the Spa Road Junction rail crash occurred a short distance outside the station.

Other nearby stations

Railway

• Cannon Street
• Blackfriars
• Waterloo
• Waterloo East
• Elephant & Castle

London Underground

• Borough
• Monument
• Southwark
• Elephant & Castle
• Bermondsey

References

• Ransom, P. J. G. (1990). The Victorian Railway and How It Evolved. Heinemann. 
• Simmons, J. (1995). The Victorian Railways. Thames and Hudson. 

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Underground Station in 1915
  • Underground Station in 1929
• Station information on London Bridge station from Network Rail

Northern line Stations High Barnet branch Archway  • East Finchley  • Finchley Central  • High Barnet  • Highgate  • Kentish Town  • Mill Hill East  • Totteridge and Whetstone  • Tufnell Park  • West Finchley  • Woodside Park Edgware branch Belsize Park  • Brent Cross  • Burnt Oak  • Camden Town  • Chalk Farm  • Colindale  • Edgware  • Golders Green  • Hampstead  • Hendon Central Charing Cross branch Charing Cross  • Embankment  • Euston  • Goodge Street  • Leicester Square  • Mornington Crescent  • Tottenham Court Road  • Warren Street  • Waterloo Bank branch Angel  • Bank  • Borough  • Elephant and Castle  • Euston  • King's Cross St. Pancras  • London Bridge  • Moorgate  • Old Street Morden line Balham  • Clapham Common  • Clapham North  • Clapham South  • Colliers Wood  • Kennington  • Morden  • Oval  • South Wimbledon  • Stockwell  • Tooting Bec  • Tooting Broadway Rolling stock Present stock 1995 Stock History Former companies City and South London Railway • Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway • Edgware, Highgate and London Railway • Underground Electric Railways Company Former lines Northern City Line Former stations City Road  • King William Street  • South Kentish Town Former rolling stock 1906 Stock  • 1938 Stock  • 1949 Stock  • 1956 Stock  • 1959 Stock  • 1962 Stock  • 1972 Stock  • Standard Stock Abandoned plans Northern Heights plan Alexandra Palace • Brockley Hill • Bushey Heath • Cranley Gardens • Crouch End • Elstree South • Mill Hill • Muswell Hill • North End • Stroud Green London Underground • Transport for London