LONDON BRIDGE STATION

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what notification he received from Network Rail or Southern Rail of potential problems with the re-opening of London Bridge station after Christmas 2014. 

Claire Perry, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport: Officials from the Department were in touch with the team at Network Rail managing the London Bridge blockade throughout the 16 day closure, including during the weekend of 3 and 4 January. Testing of the new infrastructure commenced on 3 January. This testing identified some issues but these were resolved during 4 January. The blockade of the terminating platforms at London Bridge ended as planned on the evening of 4 January. The issues seen during the week of 5 January only emerged after the station had reopened on Monday 5 January.

During 5 January – and especially in the evening peak - it became clear that the new timetable was not as robust as the operators had expected, which lead to delays in the train service and crowding on the concourse as passengers waited for trains. Delays were increased by a number of infrastructure failures on the network.
 
In response to these issues Network Rail and Southern have taken the following actions including:
 
Providing additional information screens to reduce crowding
 
Increasing the staff presence at the station
 
 
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