Crossrail progress: Abbey Wood station finally integrated

Crossrail have finally announced that Abbey Wood station is officially integrated into the system.

It’s one of the last stations on the Paddington to Abbey Wood stretch to complete. Canary Wharf and Bond Street remain to be handed over.

For those of us who regularly use the station this news may seem bizarre.

While the station building has seemingly been complete for three years and test trains have been running into the station for along time, technical issues and final integration needed resolving.

The station was rebuilt in recent years with a fantastic new concourse.

Large blank facades are presented to shopping parades on Wilton Road and Felixstowe Road.

TfL have been operating the station since 2017.

Upon doing so they staffed barriers from first to last train for the first time – in contrast to all other stations on the line still managed by Southeastern.

The number of passengers counted rose sharply almost immediately as ticketless travel became more difficult. After one year 600k more journeys were being counted, despite thousands of nearby homes being demolished for Thamesmead estate rebuilding.

Now there’s calls for TfL to takeover the rest of SE Metro with current operator Govia ending operation next month.

Yesterday I went to take a look as the first replacement homes complete in Thamesmead.

New residents will be able to walk to the station in 10 minutes (much of Thamesmead was never as cut off as claimed) and will hopefully get to use Elizabeth Line services before June 2022.

Running a site alone takes time and a fair bit of money. Adverts are far from enough to cover it and my living costs as a private renter.