Commuters at London Bridge will have to battle one week of cancelled and diverted trains this August and September as Charing Cross trains roll out for the first time since January 2015.

As part of the £6.5bn Thameslink Programme network revamp, no trains will run at Cannon Street from Saturday August 27, to Thursday September 1 while works are carried out on the tracks approaching London Bridge.

Trains will be diverted to Victoria or Blackfriars where possible, but passengers may have to find alternative routes to work.

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London Bridge station and Charing Cross services are expected to be very busy with possible queuing systems put in place at peak times.

Passengers are being asked to consider changing their normal journey to work as a result of the alterations.

Charing Cross trains will begin calling at London Bridge from 29th August for the first time since January 2015 but the hidden caveat is that Cannon Street trains won’t be calling at London Bridge until January 2018.

London Bridge has remained partially opened to the 56m passengers passing through it each year but disrupted and cancelled services have vexed commuters since works began last year.

In spite of such complications, two-thirds of the new Wembley-sized station concourse at London Bridge will be open from Bank Holiday Monday August 29 and represents a “major milestone” is reached in the government-sponsored Thameslink Programme, its director has confirmed.

The ultimate aim of the multi-billion pound investment is to create one new train journey through central London every 2-3 minutes at peak times.

Untangling the tracks on the approach to London Bridge station is expected to reduce delays caused by trains crossing pathways and better travel options to destinations like Cambridge and parts of the East Coast Mainline will also be fed into the Thameslink network.

Thameslink Programme director Simon Blanchflower said: “It’s a major milestone for the programme when we open the concourse this August bank holiday, as it also means that passengers will finally get to see the outcome of all the work we have been doing for the past few years.

“There will be wider platforms, new shops and cafes and of course the huge new concourse we have built under the tracks.”