London Bridge reconstruction works

[swt_passenger]

What's going on in tooley street? Semi permanent one way system with cycle contraflow...

In August they open the south part of the new concourse to bring P7/8/9 into use.

As a result of that, the remaining work site under the northern side of the station (and the yet to be closed Cannon St platforms), has to be accessed and serviced from the Tooley St direction.

 

[Bald Rick]

What's going on in tooley street? Semi permanent one way system with cycle contraflow...

The old Southern Railway building starts being demolished in the next month or so. Then the north side of the viaduct that the station sits on from early September. More detail here, and opening paragraph of description:

http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/tooleystreet

Work on the new London Bridge station entrances on Tooley Street starts on 30 April 2016. From August 2016 we begin to rebuild platforms 1 to 3. As our work moves across to the other side of the station we need to access our work site from Tooley Street. To do this, we need to make changes to the road. These changes have been agreed with the London Borough of Southwark and Transport for London.

 

[ijmad]

St Thomas Street is still set to reopen in August I assume, which should make the diversionary route a bit more sensible.

 

[Emblematic]

The local notices, stopping up order and updates to local businesses all say St. Thomas' closed until 2018. It may reopen earlier, but bear in mind there was a plan to part-pedestrianise St. Thomas' St. before the London Bridge plans kicked off. There's more than a slight possibility that the road will be permanently closed to vehicles. All we know for certain is that there will be pedestrian access to the south of the new concourse from August.
The South Eastern Railway Offices building is still in use, in fact I was in there just last week. They've arranged the hoardings so there is access without having to pass the cordon, that will have to change and the hoarding extended into Shipwright Yard before works start. As I'm based in Tooley Street I'll update as soon as I spot any changes. Hoardings going up in the beer garden are hard to miss

 

[ijmad]

Thanks for clarifying. Didn't realise it was just pedestrian access resuming!

 

[jopsuk]

close to vehicles or close to motor vehicles? Makes a very big difference!

 

[Emblematic]

close to vehicles or close to motor vehicles? Makes a very big difference!

Could be either.
Now that Stainer and Weston Streets are obliterated, traffic going east along St. Thomas' St. can't escape left or right, as the turns into Snowsfields or Bermondsey St. are too acute (fine for cycles though.) So you would have reverse Crucifix Lane to be eastbound, as the arches are not wide enough for two lanes. There's probably no need for an additional through route eastbound once Tooley St. reopens eastbound, so the option might be to keep it a cul-de-sac, with a turning area near Vinegar Yard where the block of Portacabins currently sits.

 

[Bald Rick]

Pedestrian only at first. Rather risky to have a station's worth of people using a new entrance on to an essentially street layout at the same time as a load of vehicles on a new road for the first time.

 

[theageofthetra]

Will the opening of the new entrance mean that the old underground passageway where the platform ramps are will finally go? And presumably the bridge to the Cottons centre?

 

[N/100]

Will the opening of the new entrance mean that the old underground passageway where the platform ramps are will finally go? And presumably the bridge to the Cottons centre?

I think there was an answer to this a while back; the passageway remains, though with only fire exit connections to the South Eastern platforms, and unticketed. The bridge too (though presumably it will be shut for a long period while old platforms 1-3 are rebuilt.

 

[Bald Rick]

Will the opening of the new entrance mean that the old underground passageway where the platform ramps are will finally go? And presumably the bridge to the Cottons centre?

It all stays, unpaid. Stays open during the reconstruction too IIRC.

 

[swt_passenger]

I think there was an answer to this a while back; the passageway remains, though with only fire exit connections to the South Eastern platforms, and unticketed...

I put up a drawing of the London end in post #729.

As can be seen the end stairs are emergency exits only and lead to various independent passageways within the vaults. (I highlighted the stairs for P1, the other four are obvious.) They won't provide practical interchange routes between platforms This is also the case with the country ends of both the through and bay platforms.

 

[ijmad]

I put up a drawing of the London end in post #729.

As can be seen the end stairs are emergency exits only and lead to various independent passageways within the vaults. (I highlighted the stairs for P1, the other four are obvious.) They won't provide practical interchange routes between platforms This is also the case with the country ends of both the through and bay platforms.

Yeah, I can't see many people heading to the bridge from the Cannon St platforms any more. You'd have to go down escalators/stairs to the lower concourse, come up again by escalators/stairs between platform 9 and 10, and walk out of the Shard concourse and down past the busses and turn right. Surely much easier to exit the lower concourse in to Tooley Street and make your way from there at street level.

Might be a desirable path if you come off the Southern platforms and want to go that way still, if you stay at the upper level it's actually faster as there'll be no ticket gates to contend with!

I'm sure they've done endless studies of predicted passenger volumes via the various routes as part of the planning...

 

[Cletus]

Picture tweeted by Network Rail from 1970

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailLBG

 

[neilm]

The escalators are/were closed at peak time today/yesterday is this a test run as they will be closing soon?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I mean southern concourse to tube FYI

 

[Cletus]

The escalators are/were closed at peak time today/yesterday is this a test run as they will be closing soon?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I mean southern concourse to tube FYI

This?

 

[neilm]

Yep but they are not doing any work so I assume it is a crowd test?

 

[hwl]

Yep but they are not doing any work so I assume it is a crowd test?

After previous experiences testing ped flow at LBG is always a good idea...

The Tooley Street pavement is going to be very busy over the summer.

You can't say it is a test though as that will just annoy commuters who have to walk more so it has to be suitable dressed!

The current plan is that the bank of 4 escalators and the mini shopping arcade close at the end of June for the removal of the escalators and replacement with more new concrete quadripartite arches to form the passageway to the new concourse.

 

[FOH]

Does that mean the lift too?

 

[neilm]

Does that mean the lift too?

I assume so, there is a lift by the shard anyway so step free access can remain anyway.

 

[jopsuk]

I hope they deploy some orange clad, hard hatted people to "look busy" on the escalators

 

[FOH]

Noticed something else too today, when arriving this morning there was a train adjacently about to leave. There were a few announcements warning that the train would not leave until all passengers were behind the yellow line. Perhaps management have finally got the same point of view as me that the very narrow platforms can be dangerous during busy arrivals.

 

[FOH]

Does anyone know why all lines are closed on July 9th/10th between London Bridge and New Cross Gate? The Southern site says track work however we were told that all the work done last year meant no more disruption from the rebuilding for Southern.

 

[swt_passenger]

They probably meant the six terminal platforms were finished. The track layout between London Bridge and New Cross Gate is incomplete, specifically the down Sussex slow is completely missing because it will go through the Bermondsey dive under.

It won't ever be 'maintenance free' even if it was all there.

 

[ijmad]

I looked through the hoarding window on P13/14 today and was most surprised to see what I assume is a temporary staircase (a scaffold-constructed squared spiral type thing) and a security guard sitting in a chair. Is some of the concourse open for staff now? Is this staircase actually temporary or some part of the design I failed to notice before like a staircase for drivers/guards to get to somewhere - I think it would likely goes down in to the new ticket office, although I can't be sure.

 

[Bald Rick]

Yes, parts of the concourse are 'open' to staff only; the main offices and train crew / station staff mess rooms etc were relocated a couple of weekends ago from their previous location on Tooley Street. That building is about to be demolished.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Does anyone know why all lines are closed on July 9th/10th between London Bridge and New Cross Gate? The Southern site says track work however we were told that all the work done last year meant no more disruption from the rebuilding for Southern.

There still a lot of work to do on that side, albeit most of it will be done without disruption. What is currently the line 8 'loop' needs to be reconfigured to become an Up line to Charing Cross, the flyover needs to be hooked in and commissioned, and a few more connections need installing.

 

[FOH]

There still a lot of work to do on that side, albeit most of it will be done without disruption. What is currently the line 8 'loop' needs to be reconfigured to become an Up line to Charing Cross, the flyover needs to be hooked in and commissioned, and a few more connections need installing.

Fair enough though all that sounds like they could keep the southern two tracks open. I guess we have to just trust that they aren't closing a major terminus because it's easier than running a service around the works. (Can you tell I'm still sore?)

 

[neilm]

Yes, parts of the concourse are 'open' to staff only; the main offices and train crew / station staff mess rooms etc were relocated a couple of weekends ago from their previous location on Tooley Street. That building is about to be demolished.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


There still a lot of work to do on that side, albeit most of it will be done without disruption. What is currently the line 8 'loop' needs to be reconfigured to become an Up line to Charing Cross, the flyover needs to be hooked in and commissioned, and a few more connections need installing.

Does that mean southern will loose that when they start stopping at Charing cross? If so will that affect the current southern timetable?

 

[sarahj]

Well our mess room has now moved from above the temp ticket office to down, down, down below. 55 stairs down. And it includes a disabled toilet. But only 1 of each others, so not enough toilets. Anyway, here is an image from down below.

 

[swt_passenger]

Fair enough though all that sounds like they could keep the southern two tracks open.

They might need the 'open tracks' for shunting works trains about, or there might be cranes rotating that obstruct adjacent tracks. It is never as simple as it looks.