South Bermondsey Station has reopened after it was closed over Christmas so repair work could be carried out to make the platforms less ‘bouncy’.
The concrete surface of the station’s platforms, which were rebuilt in the 1970s, had begun decaying over the years meaning they slightly ‘bounced’ in places and needed replacing.
The station reopened on Tuesday, 6 January, a day later than planned, after it was shut for two weeks from December 27.
The platforms have been fully rebuilt with new steel frames, a non-slip surface, improved drainage and lighting.
In addition to the repairs at South Bermondsey, Network Rail also completed refurbishments at busy switches and crossings points at Ashford, Gatwick, Three Bridges, Elephant and Castle, Wadhurst and Lee. Switches and crossings, or points, where trains switch paths, are some of the most complicated and heavily used sections of the railway.
Between Cannon Street and London Bridge, wooden sleepers were replaced and track was re-aligned on bridges and viaducts.
With hundreds of passenger and freight trains, weighing up to a thousand tonnes, travelling over them each day, regular maintenance and replacement of components is needed to ensure reliability for Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express passengers
Power supply upgrades were also completed at London Bridge and Cannon Street and in the Loughborough Junction area.
With longer and heavier trains running on the network today, Network Rail has invested heavily in upgrading power supplies.
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Over the next few years, some 150km of electric conductor rail will be replaced, as well as 92 km of high voltage cable. These upgrades will stop power drops that lead to stalled trains, failed signals and disrupted journeys.
Work has also progressed with the major signalling upgrades at Lewisham ahead of the final commissioning of a state-of-the-art signalling system due to be switched on in south-east London next Christmas.
David Davidson, Chief Operating Officer for the South Eastern Railway said: “Thank you to passengers for managing journey changes over the festive period, and thanks also to all colleagues who worked over the Christmas and the New Year period.
“We know there is never a good time to close the railway – with passenger numbers lowest at this time of year, fewer peoples’ journeys were disrupted.”
Waiting for a train from these inhospitable platforms is a soul destroying experience. South Bermondsey Station seems uniquely designed to be exposed to the weather on all four sides. There is little or next to no shelter against the rain or cold or anything else the elements wish to throw at the traveller. It specialises in gale force winds that in winter can cut you like a knife. A very unpleasant hideous and depressing place which you reach wending up a strange lonely path which makes you feel like the character in Munch’s famous picture “The Scream”. As Betjeman said of Slough… “Oh friendly bombs please drop on…”
I didn’t even notice the platform was “bouncy” but I have noticed the shelter has now been taken away! Why? It’s a high up and exposed platform so it really needs a shelter, especially for elderly or more vulnerable passengers. Some seating wouldn’t go amiss either. It was already a pretty awful station but since the recent “refurbishment” it’s now even worse.