Demolition of the old Abbey Wood railway station has begun to make way for Crossrail.

The roof of the 166 year old station was turned into rubble on May 16 to mark the beginning of the demolition of the old building.

A new two storey Crossrail station will be built in its place, scheduled to be completed by 2017.

Network Rail's Crossrail programme director, Matthew Steele, said: "With the demolition of the old building, we're one step closer to providing people in Abbey Wood with a brand new, landmark station with state of the art facilities.

"When the new station opens passengers will benefit from a spacious ticket hall, step free access to every platform and much easier connection with local bus services."

The interim station in Abbey Wood will remain in place while the old station building is being demolished and the new one is being built.

The new station will have six new lifts to provide step free access to every existing platform and two new platforms for Crossrail and the North Kent line.

Crossrail surface director Matthew White said: "This is another major milestone for the works taking place in Abbey Wood to transform rail services for local people.

"The arrival of Crossrail in 2018 will significantly increase the number of trains serving the local area and, for the first time, allow people to travel right through central London without having to change trains."

The first Crossrail trains will run in 2018. At peak time, Crossrail trains will leave Abbey Wood every five minutes.

Crossrail will link the station directly to the ExCel arena and Canary Wharf before entering the city centre.

Passengers will also be able to travel directly to Heathrow Airport and Maidenhead.