Thameslink to go ahead in full
The government has confirmed today that the Thameslink project will be completed in full, although the complexity of the project (once named Thameslink 2000) means that it will not be finished until 2018.
The refurbishment work at London Bridge station is being restructured, as the original plan was "ambitious".
Work on the new London Bridge bus interchange has just begun, paid for by the developers of the Shard as part of their S106 agreement. The project will be completed in May 2012.
A Thameslink spokesperson said:
The Thameslink Programme is critical to addressing overcrowding on our Thameslink and Great Northern routes.
It has delivered new trains - almost 5,000 seats - and we will have the first 50% longer 12-carriage trains from December next year. A few months later we will open a fantastic new station at Blackfriars and new ticket hall at Farringdon.
The vital third and final stage of the programme will also go ahead, introducing a brand new fleet of replacement trains on the Thameslink route that will allow us to run a comprehensive 12-carriage service.
The reconstruction of London Bridge station and unravelling of the complex track layout in that vicinity will unblock one of our worst bottlenecks on the rail network.
