20 January (Part 1) - Loadsa money being spent but not much in Bexley
The
Network Rail representative at the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee was William Knighton who looks after railway infrastructure over much of Southern England including of course all of South London.
He is currently busy planning the spending of £1·35 billion in South East London and Kent over
the next five years and reaching the end of the £90 million Lewisham
improvements and £400 million at Victoria.
Hungerford Bridge into Charing Cross which dates from 1864 has just started a £210 million
refurbishment which should not affect train services too much, followed by £70
million on replacing the points leading to the Charing Cross platforms which probably will.
The Slade Green Depot is getting a makeover including new train maintenance equipment.
Possibly not such good news is that the Blackheath tunnel is going to be closed
again. After replacing 10,000 bricks last year further work has to be done to
stop water ingress and from 18th May 2025 to 29th July there will be no trains
on the North Kent line taking the Lewisham route. Presumably two fewer trains an
hour from Abbey Wood. The dates may change slightly but, barring the unforeseen, no more closures are anticipated.
More bad news is that Erith will not become an accessible station until the
2030s at best. The Access for All programme which saw Bexley station upgraded
last year operates on a five year cycle and the bid for funds in the 2024-2029
period was rejected by the Department for Transport. Network Rail will try to
strengthen the case for Erith but there can be no guarantees of success in 2029-2034.
Assuming that this Government continues its support.
Hither Green will get a full upgrade but Belvedere will have to be satisfied with extra bike racks.