Southeastern Railway and National Rail have urged customers that London Bridge station is “safe” following a series of overcrowding incidents at the station since timetable changes.

On December 11, 2022, Southeastern introduced a new timetable which made alterations to a number of services - including a reduction and changes to existing services in and out of central London.

Many customers travelling from south east London now need to change at London Bridge instead of travelling directly.

These changes have been controversial, with some customers claiming services have become “unreliable” and “dangerously overcrowded”.

 

Since these changes, Southeastern has implemented some extra services to try and ease these concerns but many commuters are still reporting problems.

London Bridge station experienced a “dangerous level of overcrowding” due to a signalling failure at Cannon Street station on February 28.

LBC News reported that passengers claimed that there were no staff, with no information on what was happening.

@Courty40 wrote on Twitter: “How the h*ll can you claim this is safe.. you divert thousands of passengers to London Bridge with your cr** new timetable and then kettle them when too many turn up.

“People keeling over and fights breaking out.

“Congrats on making a bad situation into a disaster.”

Other commuters on Twitter said that they were unable to board the platform and the station became chaotic.

Southeastern and National Rail said that “London Bridge is large, purpose-built and well-staffed station with a dedicated control room overseeing everything that happens there, in coordination with the British Transport Police and on-site paramedics” and that “if our stations are crowded, they are still safe”.

Bob Stewart MP for Beckenham wrote on Twitter: “Last night we saw more scenes of dangerous overcrowding at #LondonBridge. How many more times must this happen before @Se_Railway admit scrapping the Cannon Street services was a mistake and reinstate them.”

Southeastern Railway and National Rail did not further comment on whether it believed that the timetable changes had caused an increase in crowding at the station.

This incident comes only weeks after a similar overcrowding situation occurred at the station and a review for crowd management at London Bridge has since been carried out.

Southeastern and Network Rail have said that the system is “in line with industry standards”.

A spokesperson for Southeastern and Network Rail said: “Southeastern’s and Network Rail’s top priority is always safety.

“Disruption to train services can result in crowding particularly at large stations like London Bridge.

“You may have seen reports of this recently and we know crowding can be confusing and frustrating. But we have thorough plans in place to ensure that if our stations are crowded, they are still safe.

“London Bridge is large, purpose-built and well-staffed station with a dedicated control room overseeing everything that happens there, in coordination with the British Transport Police and on-site paramedics.

“We have conducted a review of our plans for managing crowds at London Bridge to ensure they work as they should.

“Our management of crowding is in line with industry standards, but we want to try and explain some of the things that happen on the station when services are disrupted, to ensure everyone’s safety.

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“Crowd management

• During disruption, customers may be asked to walk up to platforms to avoid crowding there; meaning escalators go down, only. This is done to ensure platforms empty more quickly than they fill.

• If necessary, we restrict access to platforms, and you may see staff using barriers to make this happen. Staff at the top and bottom of escalators stay connected to let each other know when customers can move along the platform which, in turn, means more customers can move up from the concourse. We recognise how frustrating it can be to be held on the concourse, but it is sometimes necessary because of the total available space on platforms and trains.

• If the service is disrupted we know that crowding near to escalators can be of particular concern to some customers. In these circumstances we ‘pulse’ customers up to the platform either by directing them to use the stairs or the escalators (stopping and starting them at regular intervals) to control the flow of people safely. This is mainly leading to and from platforms four and five (for Thameslink) and six and seven (from Charing Cross).

• On the concourse, we may open the gate line to reduce the overall number of people on the station, or prevent more people from entering the station to manage crowds safely

Customer Information:

• During disruption we will always seek to give customers alternative travel options, ticket acceptance on other routes (if applicable) or a clear recommendation to travel at another time or from another station.

• We’re also looking at ways in which we can improve real-time information about London Bridge Station, by using Southeastern’s website and app, push notifications and social media to provide timely and accurate information when it’s needed.

Accessibility:

• Our teams work to ensure customers’ specific requirements are met, during disruption including by keeping lifts running and providing taxis for onward travel.”