Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere (I had a look but couldn't see anything).

I overheard a conversation on Saturday between 2 people discussing the temporary (3 months) closure of HOP train station. Apparently it's part of the ELL upgrade and will see the station gain some new ticket barriers, while losing the paper / coffee stand.

Has anyone else heard this?

Cannot believe they will close the station to trains maybe just the part upstairs.

There is a pathway on the downside of the station perhaps they could contruct one on the up side.

Oh no! I hope that's not true - Andy at Coffee Bean really cheers me up on the journey to work.

It always makes me laught to see the massive queues on monday mornings at the ticket machine. I always get mine from the shop next to the old bar equal one minute down the road. No queues and no problem.

ps. the train service is rubbish. last week they cancelled the 8.30am and people had to wait till 8.50 for a train. God knows what monday morning will be like...

This would be terrible. Andy is an institution. another local business bites the dust.

There's some truth in this I'm afraid. I don't think the station will close but Coffee Bean will close (temporarily) while they underpin the ticket office floor and install the ticket barriers.

But the really bad news is that Andy is going to work at a new shop in Ladywell station and is planning to employ someone else to run Coffee Bean at HOP station when they can re-open it.

I've just heard (from a man on site) that the works currently being undertaken adjacent to the Up platform are to provide an alternative access to the platform. This will take about a month. Presumably this is to enable the booking hall to be closed for strengthening works. It shouldn't be a long term arrangement because TfL have said that when they are responsible for the station, the station will always be manned when trains are stopping at the station. I believe TfL take over the station in September in preparation for the arrival of the East London Railway trains from ?May next year.

Does anyone know whether final improvements to HOP station are to include a lift to go with the all singing all dancing Overground?

Department for Transport have included Honor Oak Park in the 2012-2015 round of 'Access for All' funding. This should mean that at some point during this period lifts or slopes will connect the booking hall to each platform.

Thanks Michael, that is good news.

Good Morning,

i have recently stumbled across your forum after noticing that one of my colleagues in the streatham hill area posts on a similar forum

i am a duty station manager for the london bridge area and stations such as honor oak park, forest hill, sydenham, penge west and anerley come under my control.

Southerns motto is to think like a passenger and to me and my team that means providing proactive positive customer service (although i accept this isnt always the case - but we are getting better) as part of providing improved customer service i have decided to sign up to this forum with the aim of providing you with additional information as well as answering questions about your stations. i am not here to be abused but will endeavour to answer as many questions as possible. this will be done in my own time so you may have to bare with me at times.

Hope this helps and i look forward to hearing from some of you soon.

DSMDUNCAN

Hi DSMDUNCAN
You are a brave man! I hope everyone on this site treats you with respect though - I know we've had our gripes, as you'll see from the various threads.

It would be good to be given some firmer date on access to Honor Oak Station. My partially disabled mother, for instance, can't use the station due to the lack of lift or slopes, and my partner feels too nervous of carrying the pram up and down the steps. There must be many people in our area with similar problems.

There's also the perplexing issue of train carriage shortages. Why do services often become less carriages than usual at seemingly random times? The 8.56am from HOP for example is sometimes 8 carriages but sometimes 6 (at which point it's almost impossible to get on). In general at peak times 6 carriages is just too few, and we'd have to ask why this isn't taken into account.

Another question is what will happen once the ELL arrives. As I'm sure many people will still find it easier to continue on the main line to London Bridge, are there any firm figures on how many peak-time trains there will be continuing on this route, and how many carriages they will be? Plus is there any news on when the ELL could realistically be up and running.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Hello DSMDUNCAN and welcome.

When and where will it be possible to see the new design for Honor Oak Park station?

Also in terms of the refurbishment, when will it take place and what will the temporary arrangements during the main station closure be?

Hi Jon,

i have tried to catch up as much as i can on the issues that people are having and can sympathise with the majority of them.

in answer to your questions:

Access to Honor Oak Park station - Southern will not be implementing any works on the station to make it DDA compliant - mainly because the station goes over to LOROL and he east london line in september. LOROL and TFL will then be responsible for implementing these changes. The Only station im aware of on my patch (London Bridge to Anerley) that has access works planned is Forest Hill which is in the early stages of planning for lifts - again no dates though and i stress this is the early stages.

Train carriage shortages - this is a major issue on the whole line and one that at the moment is not easily solvable. We have recently struggled with our general train running performance and during incidents such as the fatalities at Balham, Thornton Heath and Whyteleafe train stock has become displaced and therefore, unfortunatly, been unavailable the following morning. i can only apologise for this. Under new franchise agreements i am lead to believe the majority of platforms in the london area will have to be extended to 12 coaches long but we will have to wait and see if this means additional coaches or not. The other factor is that Southern is using all the available stock it has which currently isnt quite enough. as i have mentioned this problem is known about at every level of the company but we are still waiting on a solution.

LOROL take over the east london line in september and that is when the tickets offices and platform staff at New Cross Gate down to West Croydon and Crystal Palace no longer work for Southern. For the first year Southern will continue to run services at all of these stations under the summer timetable which will be released later this year. The East London Line itself will be strange up until late 2010 as in fact they dont actually have any stock to run on it. im sure more information will be made available in the coming months but at the moment i am in the same position as you - just waiting for the consultation meetings.

Hope this helps,

Duncan,

Hi Ghis

i havent yet seen the plans for Honor Oak Park myself but am lead to believe that any works that are due to take place will be completed by May.

when i know more i will post more.

Thanks,

Duncan

Thanks for the prompt reply!
Jon

Yes, thanks for the prompt replies!

Hi, notice at HO station that it looks like ticket barriers about to be unveiled - these are set at right angles to the entrance and given the lack of space in the station it will be "interesting" to see how they cope with rush hour volumes - already it is quite a queue going up the stairs at peak time in the evening. Still - presumably will be Oyster prepaid friendly at some future time?

Does anyone know what work is happening on the track around HOP?

Have they cut all the trees down to widen the track?

Why did track workers sit around in the woods behind HOP station for a week in a portacabin and then leave?

Anything else we should know?

I think the tree cutting is to reduce leaves on the line. They've left a lot of the trunks and branches around to encourage beetles and things.