London Bridge passengers face more rail disruption

Passengers using London Bridge station will face further disruption for more than a year because of rebuilding work, rail authorities have warned.

Commuters travelling to London Bridge on Southeastern's Charing Cross services must take different routes.

The disruption results from work on north side platforms starting later on Monday.

The rebuilding work is part of the government-sponsored £6.5bn Thameslink Programme.

The £6.5bn Thameslink Programme is intended to transform north-south travel through London

Services to Charing Cross station calling at London Bridge are due to resume in August 2016.

Simon Blanchflower, Network Rail's Thameslink programme director, said: "We realise this will mean big changes to some people's journeys and we have worked with operators across the industry, including Transport for London, to make sure people can plan their new journeys and get to their destinations without extra cost."

Network Rail apologised to passengers for major disruption last week when a new timetable was introduced for Southern and Thameslink trains at London Bridge.

The company said it was reviewing services and had made changes to ease crowding on the station concourse, including new customer information screens and more staff.

Other service changes

• Charing Cross services to and from New Cross, St Johns, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill and Westcombe Park will be diverted to and from Cannon Street

• Charing Cross services to Plumstead, Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere and Erith will a be diverted to run to Cannon Street

• Some trains will be diverted to or from an alternative London terminal

• There will be longer opening hours for Cannon Street station (05:00-01:00 GMT), including all day opening on Sundays

• Some trains from Rochester, Broadstairs, Ashford, Dover and Orpington will be diverted into London Blackfriars

• Catford Loop services will no longer be part of the Southeastern timetable

Source: Network Rail

Network Rail said the new concourse at London Bridge will increasing passenger capacity by 65% when complete.

At 178 years old, London Bridge is the city's oldest surviving rail terminus.

Network Rail is set to publish an internal report later into Christmas engineering work which overran, leading to the closures of King's Cross and Finsbury Park stations on 27 December, and the partial closure of Paddington station on the same day.