Back in 2010 we lost our direct connection to Charing Cross, admittedly only at evenings and weekends. These days many people change trains at London Bridge to continue on to Waterloo and Charing Cross.

In 2015/6, as part of the 'improvement works' at London Bridge station, Network Rail plan to have all trains to/from Waterloo East and Charing Cross running through London Bridge without stopping.

Southern trains will continue to terminate at London Bridge with the interchange option for the Northern and Jubilee Line and Canon Street trains, but not Waterloo or Charing X.

My job is currently based in Waterloo, so the easy change at London Bridge is excellent for me and significantly cheaper than using the underground to get to work (even though it would be quicker). I suspect that many people like me will need to switch from Southern trains to East London Line to get to work.

I'm interested to find out how this will impact other people who currently travel on the London Bridge to Charing Cross service. Will there be another big shift from Southern to ELL, and can the four carriage trains handle the extra demand?

Oh dear... this is really bad news

It was such a shame to lose the Charing X direct service..and now losing the opportunity to change at L.Bridge is a disaster if you want to get into town. London Bridge is perhaps one of the worst connected London Termini which you consider its onward tube connections to the centre of town eg. Tottenham Court Road/Picadilly Circus/Soho - you have to get the Jubilee to Waterloo and then change..or Jubilee to Bond St and then walk..

Not impressed

its a shame but if its only for the duration of the redevelopment its not too bad allthough it might be more than a year. I work at Trafalgar Square so will just walk from London Bridge to work as I do sometimes know rather pay extra to use the Overground since I only purchase a train ticket only.

It seems to me that of the trains I get off in the morning, about half the people change trains at London Bridge and half go the the underground or out of the station.

For me it would mean I don't get a nice walk up St. Martin's Lane in the morning but would be forced to get the tube. Not only more expensive but less pleasant too.

Note to self - change jobs for a more suitable location before 2015.

"Will there be another big shift from Southern to ELL, and can the four carriage trains handle the extra demand?"

I travelled up to town one Friday recently and the four carriages were all full. the answer is no.

would be great if the train companies could offer a deal where you can use your train only ticket to all terminals within Zone 3 rahter than Forest Hill only so we would have the opetion to go back to lower sydenham or Catford.

Lower Sydenham is in Zone 4 I think.

This post was last modified: 03-04-2012 04:54 PM by Joffe.

thats that option gone then

Would be nice to know if they plan to at least have ELL trains running a bit later in the eve then. My main worry is returning late from the West End - the old Charing X connection used to be perfect for that. I now tend to still use Charing X and then change at LB if it gets to after 11.45pm, but with that option gone I'll either have to take the train to Lewisham and then cab it from there, or change twice on the tube to then go to LB, which isn't ideal as it takes longer. (and might be tight to then make the last train from LB to FH) Let's hope the LB to CX connection won't be out for too long.

Well this is just daft frankly. When the improvement works are finished and there is a smaller terminus section, no doubt the argument will be that hardly anyone uses the London Bridge - Forest Hill service so that can go too.

I do find that if travelling to most places apart from London Bridge itself, it is quicker to go Overground and change at Canada Water. It is more expensive though.

However, the loss of the ability to change at London Bridge when travelling to or returning from CX is plain irritating and I agree with Tinkerbell this makes a late night return a hassle. This will also cause massive disruption at CX in the evening peak. If anything goes wrong that station soon fills up and you can't even get in it, and that is *with* the ability to change at London Bridge.

I think that the root issue here is that Southern use the terminus at London Bridge and South Eastern seem to have monopolised Charing Cross. This is like a return to LBSC and SECR operations a century ago!

If half our London Bridge trains went to Charing Cross instead, now that would be an interesting compromise... yes, some other services might have to do likewise but there may be some interest now with this proposal.

I'd presume that without the ability to change at London Bridge, the station would be a lot less busy.

So let me get this right. Southern will still run to London Bridge and terminate there. Where has Southeastern gone, are they terminating at London Bridge also? They are closing the line in between LB - WE & CX totally? What about Cannon Street trains?
Will there be a service between CS & CX?

No.

People would go directly to Charing Cross to catch a train.

So Southeastern will either go directly to CX or terminate at LB?

Joffe, re CX station in evening peak:

Most people who use that station get on the train that takes them to their destination. The ability to change at London Bridge helps when that isn't possible. Only those without a direct train plan on changing at London Bridge at this time - and yes Forest Hill residents fall into this category and may well use alternative routes - this was Michael's question.

I don't think that the claim that CX would be (noticeably) less busy for this is valid as there are many more routes served from that station - many of these only have alternatives from Cannon Street, so when things go wrong, my point still stands.

I would use Charing Cross to return to Catford Bridge.

If something goes wrong at Charing Cross, it's irrelevant whether or not you can change at London Bridge. London Bridge being closed for changes just means Charing Cross will be a bit less busy when something goes wrong as less people will be using the station (I for example, who use it every day wouldn't be anywhere near it - I'd be on the Jubilee Line heading for Canada Water).

I'm not saying you're wrong, but not really sure I follow what you mean.

If you're heading for Ashford in Kent, say, the ability to use the Overground will have limited appeal. This particular point is to do with how busy CX wil get and that there will be many destinations affected by this.

Didn't I read somewhere on this forum that the ELL trains will have extra carriages some time in the near(ish) future (not this year, but sometime at least?
That would be good.
Also, as this problem will be no fault of our own, surely those of us with season tickets from, say, HOP to CX should be able to use these on the ELL during the works?

I work near Charing Cross once a week and normally use London Bridge as an interchange after experimenting with the ELL/Jubilee/Northern and found it too packed/stressful etc.

However I'll have no choice but to use the tube if Network Rail don't offer an alternative route to CX at no extra cost.

However all my other work related jobs in town I end up using Canada Water and the Jubilee.