London Bridge reconstruction works

[swt_passenger]

This may have been previously mentioned, but once finished I hope the walk between the mainline station and the underground station becomes less maze-like, because atm the route through the arches and tunnels certainly seems like a long winding maze!

It will definitely be an obvious straight E/W route eventually, connecting about halfway along the west (unpaid) side of the main concourse.

I posted a planning drawing extract back in post #722, there's a big gap in the relevant position in the main concourse.

 

[ijmad]

not sure if this has been posted before:

Throughly confusing 'peak hours' description on the current route through the Western Arcade maze, which seems to be open most of the day now from 8am to 10pm...

 

[QueensCurve]

Looks like the final set of bridge decks went up last weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF2vn5voxLc

Also: some other exciting news: Leon is now open.

Who or what, pray, is Leon?

 

[Bromley boy]

Who or what, pray, is Leon?

Somewhere that sells expensive falafel salads and is currently offering a mince pie made with wheat free pastry and "infused with earl grey".

You get the picture.

 

[HowardGWR]

Somewhere that sells expensive falafel salads and is currently offering a mince pie made with wheat free pastry and "infused with earl grey".

You get the picture.

Clearly chuffed with how your football team did on BT Sport yesterday (rightly). All you need now is a Bakerloo extension to make happiness complete.

 

[ijmad]

Somewhere that sells expensive falafel salads and is currently offering a mince pie made with wheat free pastry and "infused with earl grey".

You get the picture.

Their fish finger wrap is quite nice.

 

[Bromley boy]

Clearly chuffed with how your football team did on BT Sport yesterday (rightly). All you need now is a Bakerloo extension to make happiness complete.

I'm far too sad to know anything about football, let alone follow a team, I'm afraid!

 

[glbotu]

Somewhere that sells expensive falafel salads and is currently offering a mince pie made with wheat free pastry and "infused with earl grey".

You get the picture.

Actually, for London foot outlets, it's surprisingly cheap, for London, just to add emphasis, and their Garlic sauce is delicious.

 

[Bromley boy]

Actually, for London foot outlets, it's surprisingly cheap, for London, just to add emphasis, and their Garlic sauce is delicious.

I suppose I shouldn't knock it.

At least it's an alternative to the usual Pret/Eat/Nero or the dreadfully overpriced Pumpkin Cafe.

 

[physics34]

Somewhere that sells expensive falafel salads and is currently offering a mince pie made with wheat free pastry and "infused with earl grey".

You get the picture.

not having a mcdonalds and a burger king there is silly. Losing so much money!

 

[tsr]

I suppose I shouldn't knock it.

At least it's an alternative to the usual Pret/Eat/Nero or the dreadfully overpriced Pumpkin Cafe.

Although Pret think nothing of opening stores virtually side-by-side if they will attract customers, it has to be said that they are very much in evidence in the area - there's one over the road in Tooley Street, one opposite Borough Market, and several more if you look a little further afield.

Can't remember where the nearest Eat is but they're not quite as prevalent at many of the NR-managed stations around London anyway.

Caffe Nero have a very small but very busy outlet at London Bridge on the upper concourse. Luckily for them, their staff are very quick so it's quite popular. Upper Crust, West Cornwall, Delice de France and Breadbox (as well as WH Smith and M&S if you want to dispense with the hot beverage options) are all next door but I tend to find them less appealing, unless it's one of those rare days when I want to get a breakfast heart attack in a bun from the pasty shop...

not having a mcdonalds and a burger king there is silly. Losing so much money!

I'm very surprised neither are present, especially since the one in the hospital premises closed down recently, which I think we've discussed before. Yes, they must be losing a shed load of money. Perhaps it didn't quite go with the image that the station management wanted - who knows!?

 

[Jimini]

Can't remember where the nearest Eat is but they're not quite as prevalent at many of the NR-managed stations around London anyway.

The nearest Eat is in More London, just off Tooley Street.

Would also recommend 'Absolutely Starving' if you're after a nice hot or cold sandwich, pasta etc. That's on Tooley Street too.

http://www.abstarv.com/

 

[swt_passenger]

I'm very surprised neither are present, especially since the one in the hospital premises closed down recently, which I think we've discussed before. Yes, they must be losing a shed load of money. Perhaps it didn't quite go with the image that the station management wanted - who knows!?

Or perhaps because only about half of the concourse is built so far, their future home isn't available yet?

 

[ijmad]

Or perhaps because only about half of the concourse is built so far, their future home isn't available yet?

Something in the virtual tour video makes me think they might be keen to get Burger King World in...

 

[telstarbox]

Are there any major works at London Bridge over this Christmas?

 

[palmersears]

Can anybody shed any light as to whether it would be worth me calling in at London Bridge in February to do a bit of spotting (I'm on a quest to spot every unit on the UK mainland!), particularly for SouthEastern units? I know platforms 7-9 are open for services to/from Charing Cross, and Cannon Street services pass through, but is there a decent enough vantage point to gather sightings from one of the open platforms, or is it still too much of a building site?

I have pencilled in a few hours during a morning peak, but will switch attention elsewhere if the views are restricted somewhat.

 

[swt_passenger]

Can anybody shed any light as to whether it would be worth me calling in at London Bridge in February to do a bit of spotting (I'm on a quest to spot every unit on the UK mainland!), particularly for SouthEastern units? I know platforms 7-9 are open for services to/from Charing Cross, and Cannon Street services pass through, but is there a decent enough vantage point to gather sightings from one of the open platforms, or is it still too much of a building site?

I have pencilled in a few hours during a morning peak, but will switch attention elsewhere if the views are restricted somewhat.

Platform 6, the future down Charing Cross loop platform, is currently used by up trains to Cannon St and as far as I recall from my last visit although you cannot get right to that side of the island you can see what is going on perfectly adequately. There's always a risk that down trains from Cannon St will be hidden by up trains.

The in-use face of the same island is P7 and that is in normal public use by down trains from Charing Cross. To all intents it is complete, and like P8 and P9 is not really much of a building site at all.

 

[theageofthetra]

Platform 6, the future down Charing Cross loop platform, is currently used by up trains to Cannon St and as far as I recall from my last visit although you cannot get right to that side of the island you can see what is going on perfectly adequately. There's always a risk that down trains from Cannon St will be hidden by up trains.

The in-use face of the same island is P7 and that is in normal public use by down trains from Charing Cross. To all intents it is complete, and like P8 and P9 is not really much of a building site at all.

IMHO I thought that during its closure period P6 should have been barriered off from P7 with some sort of crash barriers such as used to control crowds at large events. They could then easily be opened by trained staff should an emergency evacuation of a train be required at P6.

 

[Ianno87]

IMHO I thought that during its closure period P6 should have been barriered off from P7 with some sort of crash barriers such as used to control crowds at large events. They could then easily be opened by trained staff should an emergency evacuation of a train be required at P6.

You'd have to reduce the passenger circulation space on P7 quite considerably to do that (you wouldn't want the crash barriers right on the edge of P6 to alow it to have some emergency use) so people would risk falling onto P7 road instead.

 

[theageofthetra]

You'd have to reduce the passenger circulation space on P7 quite considerably to do that (you wouldn't want the crash barriers right on the edge of P6 to alow it to have some emergency use) so people would risk falling onto P7 road instead.

Right on the yellow line would be fine.

 

[palmersears]

Platform 6, the future down Charing Cross loop platform, is currently used by up trains to Cannon St and as far as I recall from my last visit although you cannot get right to that side of the island you can see what is going on perfectly adequately. There's always a risk that down trains from Cannon St will be hidden by up trains.

The in-use face of the same island is P7 and that is in normal public use by down trains from Charing Cross. To all intents it is complete, and like P8 and P9 is not really much of a building site at all.

Excellent, I shall pay a visit then. I was going to ask whether there was a good spot for both SE and Southern, but the latter will be on strike I'd imagine so there's no point!

 

[ijmad]

Excellent, I shall pay a visit then. I was going to ask whether there was a good spot for both SE and Southern, but the latter will be on strike I'd imagine so there's no point!

The easternmost end of Platform 10 might be a good bet on that front, I'd imagine you can look at both the Southern and SouthEastern approaches from there.

 

[telstarbox]

Excellent, I shall pay a visit then. I was going to ask whether there was a good spot for both SE and Southern, but the latter will be on strike I'd imagine so there's no point!

Go to St John's instead - you'll see everything SE that goes through London Bridge and easier to get good sights/shots.

 

[Barn]

Go to St John's instead - you'll see everything SE that goes through London Bridge and easier to get good sights/shots.

You'd miss "via Greenwich" services at New Cross.

 

[telstarbox]

You'd miss "via Greenwich" services at New Cross.

Sorry, that is of course correct (although these loop round and come back via St Johns and New Cross).

 

[FOH]

Here's a trivial question, at the new London Bridge station there is a single coloured in dot on the tactile strips every 7 feet. Any idea why?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I noticed the Platform 15 hoarding came down in the last week or so though the cattle pen is still in situ. Crowd control also remains in use on Platform 10. I wonder if we'll ever see the back of these measures...

 

[ijmad]

I noticed the Platform 15 hoarding came down in the last week or so though the cattle pen is still in situ. Crowd control also remains in use on Platform 10. I wonder if we'll ever see the back of these measures...

Finally!

Is the cattle pen still being used regularly? I haven't seen it locked up recently. I figured they were just waiting for people to adjust their habits and perhaps the tube route to be finished and open for the whole day before they dismantled it. I recall on the terminal platforms, the tube is currently signposted as being out through the upper gateline and down the old Kent line escalators that have switched to public side. I assume for the 2/3rds of the terminal platforms east of the concourse stairs that will eventually change to going downstairs immediately. At that point they will also remove the extra gates currently off to the side from the upper gateline, right?

What I have seen is downstairs for the terminal platforms, is that there often seem to be a pair stopping people going up until the train is in situ in the platform - at least during the peak! So maybe there is some overcrowding already.

 

[GW43125]

I've looked at the new layout, and although a lot of it does seem to ease congestion, one thing I can't help but notice is that TL are once again only allocated one platform in each direction-now 4&5.

Surely this must be a right spanner in the works when it all goes Pete Tong, and being sandwiched between opposite-direction lines, do we know if there are any plans to make 3&6 BiDi to allow TL to have some measure of flexibility? If not, it'd seem rather short-sighted to me if they want to run their 20-something trains per hour.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[traji00]

I've looked at the new layout, and although a lot of it does seem to ease congestion, one thing I can't help but notice is that TL are once again only allocated one platform in each direction-now 4&5.

Surely this must be a right spanner in the works when it all goes Pete Tong, and being sandwiched between opposite-direction lines, do we know if there are any plans to make 3&6 BiDi to allow TL to have some measure of flexibility? If not, it'd seem rather short-sighted to me if they want to run their 20-something trains per hour.

Anyone got any ideas?

Bear in mind some TL services (up to 8tph?) are going via Elephant and Castle (Sevenoaks & Sutton loop). That said I very much agree with your concerns.

 

[IrishDave]

I've looked at the new layout, and although a lot of it does seem to ease congestion, one thing I can't help but notice is that TL are once again only allocated one platform in each direction-now 4&5.

Surely this must be a right spanner in the works when it all goes Pete Tong, and being sandwiched between opposite-direction lines, do we know if there are any plans to make 3&6 BiDi to allow TL to have some measure of flexibility? If not, it'd seem rather short-sighted to me if they want to run their 20-something trains per hour.

Anyone got any ideas?

Firstly, there has never been any plan to run 20-something trains per hour through London Bridge. The initial plan for 24tph through the Thameslink core amounted to 18tph through London Bridge and 6tph through Elephant and Castle, though that's since been changed to 16 and 8 respectively. So they should be able to manage on one pair of platforms.

Secondly, my understanding is that, while platforms 3 and 6 will indeed have bi-di signalling to permit their use by Thameslink trains, this kind of use will be relatively rare, and will necessitate communication between different signallers. Until recently the whole of the "Eastern" (or "Kent") side at London Bridge was controlled by one signaller, but I understand that it is now to be split into three, with the Charing Cross signaller controlling platforms 6-9, the Cannon Street signaller controlling platforms 1-3, and the Thameslink signaller controlling platforms 4-5. Perhaps someone who knows more can say more on the exact boundaries?