London Bridge Rebuilding: Changes to Sevenoaks trains 2015-2016
Trains to and from Charing Cross will not be able to stop at London Bridge during the first phase of the rebuilding of the Southeastern side of London Bridge – from January 2015 to August 2016. Southeastern are consulting on changes to the timetable, and other arrangements, during this period. This affects trains from and to Sevenoaks and Dunton Green. We want to hear your views.
Update January 2015: Final timetables have now been published and we have written a Survival Guide to the London Bridge Rebuilding which includes details. You can read it here.
The following is mainly for historical and comparative purposes
The main changes suggested so far which affect Sevenoaks and Dunton Green are that some Charing Cross trains will be diverted to Cannon Street, and some Cannon Street trains will be diverted to Charing Cross. There are some change still to be worked out by Southeastern. The detail is quite complicated.
Weekday, early morning
No changes are proposed so far to fast trains from Sevenoaks, but Southeastern say that they are still looking at early morning services. Before 0653 only the 0611 currently goes to Cannon Street. All the other trains go to Charing Cross, and all currently stop at London Bridge which will become impossible during the rebuilding work. Without changes this will mean there is no connection to the City before 0611 or between 0611 and 0653.
Weekday, morning peak (changes in bold)
Train time from Sevenoaks |
Destinations |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 0703 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0711 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Fast to Waterloo East as usual |
| 0717 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | Slow service – No change |
| 0723 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | Destination changed – will continue to stop at London Bridge |
| 0726 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | No change |
| 0731 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Fast to Waterloo East as usual |
| 0737 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | Slow service – No change |
| 0743 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0746 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Destination changed – not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0750 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Fast to Waterloo East as usual |
| 0757 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Slow service. Destination changed – not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0803 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0808 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | No change |
| 0812 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Fast to Waterloo East as usual |
| 0817 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | Slow service – No change |
| 0823 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | Destination changed – will continue to stop at London Bridge |
| 0826 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Destination changed – not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0837 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Slow service. Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0845 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0848 | Waterloo East, Charing Cross | Not stopping at London Bridge |
| 0855 | London Bridge, Cannon Street | No change |
The SRTA Trains Group considers that this pattern needs change:
- People using the 0703, 0743 and 0803 from Sevenoaks to travel to London Bridge via Chelsfield will need to switch to the fast services – which are already in excess of capacity.
- The service pattern is uneven, with batches of trains to Cannon Street followed by batches of trains to Charing Cross. This means the first of the trains will be very heavily loaded. It would be better if the 0723 continued to go to Charing Cross and the 0743 was diverted to Cannon Street instead.
- For Dunton Green commuters, there will be no good connection from the 0720 or the 0820 service at Chelsfield or Orpington to Waterloo East and Charing Cross – both connections at Chelsfield are diverted to Cannon Street and the connection at Orpington at 0742 is diverted to Blackfriars. Similarly the 0800 from Dunton Green will go to Waterloo East and Charing Cross, and there is no good connection at Chelsfield or Orpington to reach London Bridge or Cannon Street. A table showing the Dunton Green direct and Chelsfield change options is here.
- While it is possible to access the Jubilee Line at Waterloo East via Southwark station, the stairway down from Platform D is narrow and unsuitable for the extra traffic from people who would previously have accessed the Jubilee Line at London Bridge.
Weekday, daytime service
The fast trains running between London and Tunbridge Wells (xx14 and xx19 from Sevenoaks, xx00 and xx30 from London) will operate to and from Cannon Street calling at London Bridge.
The other fast trains (xx19, xx29, xx49 and xx59 from Sevenoaks, xx10, xx15, xx40 and xx45 from London) will continue to operate to Waterloo East and Charing Cross, but will not stop at London Bridge
The SRTA Trains Group considers that this change is largely unavoidable, and the fact that the xx10 and xx40 do not stop at Orpington will help even out the loading between the two trains leaving 5 minutes apart.
Weekday, evening peak
No changes are currently proposed to Sevenoaks services in the evening peak. The SRTA Trains Group considers that this will mean that most people who normally catch the Tunbridge Wells services at Platform 5 at London Bridge will catch services from Cannon Street from Platform 2 – adding to the existing overcrowding on these trains.
Weekday, evening post-peak
The current proposal is that Tunbridge Wells services (xx14 and xx44 from Sevenoaks, xx00 and xx30 from London) are diverted to Cannon Street, calling at London Bridge. Other trains would continue to go to Charing Cross but would not stop at London Bridge. Because there are gaps in services from 2100 the SRTA Trains Group considers that departures from Charing Cross at xx10, xx40 and xx45 do not provide sufficient capacity, and we are pressing for a xx15 service in line with the daytime timetable.
Southeastern are still working on last trains. We are pressing for last trains from Charing Cross/Waterloo East to be preserved no earlier than now, and for new last trains from Cannon Street and London Bridge at about the same time.
Saturdays
The Saturday service will be similar to the weekday off-peak services. Our point about the evening service after 2100 applies even more strongly on Saturday.
Sundays
There will inevitably be additional disruption on Sunday due to engineering work at London Bridge – in addition to the usual Sunday disruptions. SRTA are considering whether it might be simpler and more consistent simply to divert all the fast trains to Victoria for the duration – giving a consistent 15-minute service. Different arrangements each weekend and services which sometimes go to Charing Cross, sometimes to Cannon Street and sometimes to Victoria are inherently confusing – and 30 minute gaps between services from each terminal are unattractive.
What do you think?
We would be very interested to hear views from our members on these proposals and on what you would do to get to and from London – would you change your destination, change the train you travel on, switch to Centaur Coaches, or something else? How could the proposals be improved?
We need to respond initially to Southeastern by 7 February, so it would be good to hear some views before then. However there is clearly some scope for further discussion, and some necessary changes have not yet been proposed, so we expect this to be a subject of on-going discussions.
Update: Our initial response to meet Southeastern’s deadline is here. However this is just the start of the discussion, so please keep your comments and suggestions coming.
Hello, I am concerned that there is not sufficient provision for Cannon Street commuters earlier than the 06.53 departure. Many CS commuters currently catch the Sevenoaks to CX 06.30 departure and change at LB. I fear during the works schedule the 06.53 will become severely overcrowded and would like Southeastern to look at running a Cannon St departure between the 06.11 and 06.53am services.
Will Southeastern also ensure train tickets are valid on the underground lines between CX, Waterloo and CS so as to help alleviate train overcrowding by offering some more alternatives?
With thanks,
Nick Robinson.
We will certain ask for train tickets to be valid on London Underground. More generally an overall agreement with TFL does not seem to have been reached yet, including the opening of Cannon Street Underground station on Sundays. The consultation document simply says “We will also look to open Cannon Street station seven days a week, working in partnership with London Underground and TfL to keep underground and bus operations aligned with the extended opening of the station.”
It is worth adding that we will be pressing for additional early services and are grateful for the supporting evidence.
It’s a shame that none of the peak hour ‘fasts’ stop at Dunton Green. Even if there was one train each way during the peak would be useful and fair for fares sake…
Agree that it is madness the 7.43 won’t got to Cannon Street via London Bridge. The 8.08 which is already a busy train is going to have a hell of a lot of pressure on it.
When you say no changes to the Sevenoaks services in the Evening peak doe sthis mean Chelsfield services from platform 5 will continue to stop at London Bridge or just fast services?
In the longer term the services currently non-stop to High Brooms should stop at Sevenoaks and Tonbridge as overcrowding seems to be worse in the evenings from London Bridge.
We have included a detailed paragraph on the problems with the service from DG in the AM peak and will discuss SER’s plans when we have the meeting we have requested.
@Will: Sorry the post was unclear. In the evening peak there are no changes in times or in starting stations. However NO trains from Charing Cross/Waterloo East will stop at London Bridge between January 2015 and August 2016 – Network Rail will be rebuilding the platforms.