Member Article

Former Abbey Wood station demolished to make way for Crossrail

The former station building at Abbey Wood, South East London, has been demolished by Network Rail as part of work to transform services in the local area for Crossrail.

The station building was opened in May 1987 but has been removed to make way for a new, landmark station being constructed by Network Rail.

Matthew White, Crossrail Surface Director 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.”

Matthew Steele, Crossrail Programme Director at Network Rail said: “With the demolition of the former 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 an improved connection with local bus services.”

As part of the new station at Abbey Wood, there will be a bright, spacious concourse and ticket hall linking directly onto Harrow Manorway, the dual carriageway that runs above the station. New lifts will provide step-free access to every platform.

In addition to the new station, two miles of new track is being laid between Abbey Wood and the tunnel portal at Plumstead. This section of track is now half complete.

Crossrail represents the single biggest addition to the local rail network since the North Kent line was built in 1849.

From 2018, a train every five minutes during the peak will allow residents to travel right through the capital without having to change trains.

The journey from Abbey Wood to Canary Wharf and Bond Street will be around 20 minutes quicker and passengers travelling to Heathrow will be able to cut around 40 minutes off their journey.

An interim station, in place to serve Southeastern passengers while the new station is built, opened in October 2014.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .