South east London’s rail future: Network Rail launch study into future changes

How rail services will evolve across South east London and parts of Kent in coming decades are set to be looked at as part of a new strategy being drawn up on the future of rail services.

A meeting this week being held by Bexley council sees Network Rail offering details of the project which aims to report back by the middle of 2026.

The snappily named “London Bridge Kent Metro Strategic Study” will cover a long timespan with a presentation stating: “This is an opportunity to review long-term demand and requirements up to 2055 for metro services from Charing Cross, Cannon Street and Blackfriars, in a more stable post-covid context.”

That last bit is curious as are we in a stable environment? Recovery remains very strong and it still doesn’t appear a baseline has been reached in terms of a return to the office. Southeastern were stating last month that ten per cent annual growth was being seen at central London terminals while recent station usage up to March 2025 also showed strong growth at many stations well above ten per cent.

It’s also difficult to split returning passengers and new users moving into many new homes surrounding a large number of Metro stations. The presentation continues “The purpose of the study is to achieve a joint view across SER, TfL, Freight and wider stakeholders on how Kent metro services could best meet demand and connectivity”.

Thameslink is also mentioned in the presentation. Thameslink services to Rainham via the Woolwich line replaced trains to Gillingham along the Woolwich line.

Contentious issues around central London terminals will also be looked into alongside poor links from north Kent and other Dartford lines to Abbey Wood for Elizabeth line interchange: “Connections to and from the Elizabeth Line have been identified as an opportunity area for Kent metro services.

“There may also be other connectivity gaps highlighted through a review, including the split between Charing Cross and Cannon Street termini.”

Thamesmead

Thamesmead gains a few mentions in regards to its proposed DLR connection. It’s hard to see that having almost any impact on Southeastern metro in terms of abstracting revenue or passengers given the extension’s one solitary stop is planned for north of Thamesmead.

Nobody is getting off at Abbey Wood to head to the DLR in north Thamesmead. Every single journey that would offer is quicker via the Elizabeth line to Custom House from Abbey Wood then changing to the Beckton DLR branch – and cheaper.

In addition, most existing Thamesmead residents will remain as close to Abbey Wood station if not closer as they will to any future north Thamesmead DLR station when using buses to reach each respective station (the DLR won’t be walkable to many existing Thamesmead residents such is the scale of the town and the one station’s location in the north) and given journeys will be quicker via the Elizabeth line, the impact on rail at Abbey Wood will be next to nothing. It’s the same with Southeastern and Thameslink.

Very, very few existing residents in Thamesmead will be taking a DLR to, say, Greenwich or Lewisham at a far slower journey time than a train from Abbey Wood. Nor will they to Bank. Why would most existing residents when the Elizabeth line is more frequent and much faster? Or Southeastern to Cannon Street.

So when the presentation says “the DLR extension could change the requirements for metro services” the question is how? Simply put, it won’t to any real degree. That can’t and shouldn’t be used as an excuse not to improve services.

The only thing that’ll impact Southeastern to a measurable degree is homebuilding in south Thamesmead which is located far closer to Abbey Wood station than the proposed north Thamesmead DLR station. In fact, it’s certainly possible and even probable many moving to north Thamesmead would still head to Abbey Wood or Woolwich (bus journey time – 5 minutes) then change onto the Liz line rather than use a DLR.

The Abbey Wood or Woolwich option is quicker.

Housing

The report’s scope will also covers and recognises ever growing housing targets and “developing effective whole transport system options will be essential to realise revised local authority housing targets”.

Numbers at places like Kidbrooke are being bumped up regularly and 7,000 homes are now likely. Charlton Riverside’s masterplan is now up to a potential 8,000. Greenwich peninsula continues to rise with some parts as close to Westcombe Park and Maze Hill as the Jubilee line.

Greenwich peninsula total housing is now set to reach around 25,000 homes. Woolwich is around 5,000+. North Kent is seeing mass housing around almost every station between Dartford and Medway. All exceed south Thamesmead’s housing totals by some distance.

To give an example of how things continue to evolve, last month’s Greenwich released their draft Local Plan and a large estate in Woolwich Dockyard is listed for potential redevelopment bringing a net increase of around 1,000 homes. That’s commonly seen and things have changed somewhat since the 2018 Kent Strategy.

A timeline is given with a draft report scheduled for 5th June 2026 and a final report on 31st July 2026. TfL will also feed into research and findings.

As often stated on this site Southeastern Metro is ripe for improvements given the vast potential it clearly has as it threads through many busy and growing towns. It’s great to see a new study looking into how it can improve given it serves some areas projected to see the highest housebuilding in the country.

In coming weeks and months expect to see more publicity on this as more councils and public bodies begin to feed into the pr0cess.