The Bermondsey Dive Under is a new railway junction that, similar to a motorway underpass, will separate the tracks on the eastern approach to London Bridge station. Currently, as trains from Sussex and Kent approach London Bridge, the railway lines intersect at a series of junctions, causing congestion and delays.
When complete in 2018, the new junction will allow Southeastern trains travelling from Kent to 鈥榙ive under鈥� the Sussex lines used by Southern and Thameslink trains.
The work at Bermondsey and the rebuilding of London Bridge station are both part of the wider Thameslink Programme.
The first tracks through the Bermondsey Dive Under were laid last week using Balfour Beatty鈥檚 New Track Construction (NTC) machine ahead of a major milestone for the project in December. Network Rail鈥檚 engineers will work round-the-clock over the Christmas weekend to bring the first track into passenger use from the early hours of 27th December 2016.
Simon Blanchflower, Network Rail鈥檚 Thameslink programme director, said: 鈥淥ur work at London Bridge station understandably grabs a lot of the attention, but just as important is the work we鈥檙e doing at Bermondsey and on the approaches to the station. Ultimately, that鈥檚 what allows us to give passengers what they really want 鈥� better, more frequent and more reliable journeys.鈥�
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