Lewisham station to see upgrade and entrance changes for capacity improvement
Lewisham station will see changes to its entrance next year according to Southeastern with the station’s gate line set to change.
In a response given to Lewisham Council included in a document before a transport meeting next week the railway company state “work is continuing on a capacity-relief scheme that will see the gate line to platform 1 moved, to create more space in the station.”
However this is very much a limited scheme and someway short of previously mentioned plans for full new station entrances given thousands of new homes have been built around the station.
In terms of opening a new entrance to Platform 4 to the north – where thousands more homes are proposed – there is no firm commitment.
An entrance existed here until a decade ago. It’s now permanently closed. Any new entrance wouldn’t be here but a short distance away – if funds are found. More on that in a bit.
Joint working
With nationalisation in the news its important to remember Southeastern have already been nationalised and government controlled for four years now.
Earlier this year they became a single joint organisation with Network Rail under integrated management known as the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first to do so.
Replies to question make a big play of that change and resultant benefits but there’s scant evidence of much new that wasn’t already years in the planning before it happened.
Any money that is being saved doesn’t appear to ensure a firm commitment for a new Lewisham station entrance as the railway company shift attention to the council in one reply:
“Lewisham Council has some funding available through S106 for station improvements at Lewisham, and we have been discussing potential uses for this around the station with Council officers.
“One option includes further development work for the case for an additional station exit on Platform 4. Further discussions are planned on the best use of available resources, to support upgrades and investment at Lewisham station in the short term as well as in the long term.”
So very much non-committal there and it’s feared any savings made from the joint Southeastern-Network Rail company and resultant “vertical alignment” may simply head straight back to government rather than reinvested.
New entrances
Southeastern also appear to show some misunderstandings of Lewisham station in their responses. When talking about possible upgrades to enable a new entrance to the north beside platform 4 they follow on with “long term upgrades and investment has a strong interface with planning for the potential Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham.”
Yet the proposed Bakerloo line station – if it ever happens – is the complete other side of the station beside Platform 1. Passive provision for a new Lewisham station entrance already exists within a recently built tower beside platform 1.
Many more homes are also on the way that side of the station at Lewisham retail park.
An entrance at the other side on Platform 4 to assist thousands of new homes to the north – including more proposed at the Tesco superstore – shouldn’t really be impacted to any great degree or be held up due to Bakerloo line plans beside Platform 1.
It’s a bit odd to mention the Bakerloo plan at all when referencing Platform 4 access. Even if it happens and Lewisham station has a major rebuild across the board that won’t really factor into platform 4 access.
That’s because newly built housing ensures there’s nowhere else to really place an entrance on platform 4 except where an existing staircase, lift and subway are located offering access from street level to platforms built as part of station changes when the DLR extension was built.
There’s sufficient land beside that area for new ticket gates, shelters and a small entrance structure.
So essentially building an entrance on platform 4 could be achieved without any real long term impact on any other station building work 20 years down the line. Could it be the Bakerloo is being mentioned as an excuse to do nothing the other side of the station?
Trains
In another response when it comes to improvements Southeastern list refurbishment work on Class 375 trains serving long distance route which is of little relevance to Lewisham. Those trains don’t stop in Lewisham.
They also mention potential new trains on Metro route which do stop in Lewisham but we’re now at almost three years since it was announced with no confirmation of any order. Back when the tender notice was issued in 2022 a deadline of 2027 was given for trains to be in services.
This is not going to be met even if an order is placed imminently – and there’s no sign of it.
It’s another sign of lethargy and being second best that lingers around the entire Southeastern Metro network.
Staffing
Another clear issue is very low levels of staffing at many stations even in high growth areas.
Deptford to give one example is a busy inner London station with thousands of homes built or planned in the near vicinity, yet the station is often completely unstaffed.
There’s no mention at all that will improve in responses given. Thousands more homes and yet stations see almost no staffing changes since 1990s levels when but a fraction of people travelled from certain stations.
The areas change. The stations don’t.
It’s far different to TfL and even many other National Rail operators.
Benefits?
Given it’s some months since the formal integration of Southeastern and Network Rail under single management anyone expecting exciting news to emerge showcasing the benefits of such a link up and new investment would be disappointed. Pretty much everything listed as an improvement is many years in the making and long planned.
And as we’ve seen from timetable changes planned from this December many cuts on metro routes made in 2022 are set to remain.
All in all the merger of Network Rail and Southeastern doesn’t really yield anything of much substance in all the replies. A great shame given the vast potential of Southeastern Metro across south and south east London and north Kent – and the many new homes it will serve.
Given this is the first example of what a future Great British Railways could look like they’ve not exactly gone for a major PR blitz of improvements to show what can be achieved.
A modest change to gate lines at Lewisham is about it and that cannot and should not be a substitute at Lewisham for new station entrances amidst new towers.
Ultimately this year we’ve seen no firm word on new station entrances in an area of rapid housing growth, many service cuts retained, no confirmed train order and no word on improving staffing to the levels seen across TfL modes of rail.
Will the vast potential of Southeastern in London ever be realised?
They’re also closing the Costa in Lewisham station in a week or two. This is despite it being a very successful small outlet, and because Southeastern/NR are putting the rent up by a crazy amount. I’m not sure they have any sense whatsoever that they should provide a good experience for their customers. So no, I don’t think there is any chance of them improving the station substantially in the near or mid term… 🙁
New website is SO much smoother. Good move.
I read on BBC News yesterday a new station is being built in the West to serve 900 homes. I’m sure it’ll have a wider catchment but it does show how behind South Eastern suburban routes are when 5-10,000 new homes around a station can be built yet the railway can’t even garner some solid investment. You covered Kidbrooke recently which is quite similar in terms of a small new building being the extent of investment but it’s often closed with no staff to be seen. Entrance is then by the side gate for London-bound trains and Kent-bound is another small gate on the other side. See also Catford Bridge, Lower Sydenham, Brixton, Westcombe Park, Greenwich, Charlton, Plumstead, Crayford, Belvedere, Deptford as noted and many more with few if any staff a lot of the time and completely open whilst the local areas witness substantial residential construction. I cannot see anyone taking the suburban routes seriously until TfL takes it over and whilst Labour talked about it for years in opposition are now suddenly silent when in power. If they cannot even support areas they won votes they have no chance in the future.
Labour were also crowing about Greater Anglia being nationalised on the news today but as a Southeastern passenger I’m thinking ok, but what next? Southeastern is ALREADY nationalised ( which incidentally I do support on principle) but if it then just sees cuts and/or financial benefits sucked away with no improvements on the ground what good is that really? Is that what Labour want from a public transport network? Seriously as a party they must understand why they shed votes when they do this sort of stuff? Show us improvements! TFL did it quickly with the Overground as staff started appearing at stations and a list of future improvements given with a solid plan of action. Then passenger numbers went sky high. It’s not rocket science. Make a network that is safe, user friendly, affordable and frequent and it will see growth.
You could also list 90 per cent of Southeastern stations within the m25 and it’s a similar story with staff and stations and nothing has improved under 4 years of public ownership nor 15 months of Labour government. Even the few stations that have regular staff such as Lewisham, Woolwich Arsenal and Eltham seem to see many leave by 8 if not earlier. As for the rest…
Yep. It’s not a government that appears to want to 1) Give control to TfL or 2) Bother to invest .
Stagnation then?
One simple move they could have made last year was place southeastern metro fare on the tfl fare scale. Instead they pushed above inflation increases. But what of the lost revenue? Well increases in ridership could cover it. Ensure that it is an appealing system. Lord knows there’s loads of new homes all over the place to attract custom from. Instead its the same as the last government with fares up and a lack of investment. A few new gates at Lewisham in the same general area is piss poor ambition
With the former entrance on platform 4 that is now closed to passengers and only used for emergency. I think it could one day reopen as another access.
With plans to extend the Bakerloo Line to Bromley and Hayes via New Cross and Lewisham and the new Bakerloop bus BL1 route which is in service.
@ Anomynous: there are no ‘plans to extend the Bakerloo Line’. It has been talk since 1913 and nobody has been able to make it happen.
I only been to Lewisham few times on the DLR and when the DLR was extended to Lewisham. But still I do think that Lewisham station needs more improvements with more new development being built near to the station. Would the former entrance be used again as another access or is it only used just in case for emergency.