London Bridge: Train bosses unveil fascinating time-lapse video of railway's transformation

Ramzy Alwakeel2 September 2015

This time-lapse video offers a unique perspective on the work being completed at London Bridge station.

The clip, which compresses three days of work over the Bank Holiday weekend into a couple of minutes, shows a kilometre of railway and 6km of power cables being laid using 20,000 hours of manpower.

Thameslink, sponsored by Whitehall, is rebuilding London Bridge and the tracks surrounding it at a cost of £6.5bn. Work is expected to last until 2018, with the new station concourse set to be unveiled from behind its cladding next year.

Last month Network Rail was hit with a £2m fine by the Office of Rail and Road for "underestimating" the impact of the work on services and visiting months of chaos on commuters.

This weekend saw them laying several new sets of points, severing and repositioning two tracks used by Charing Cross trains, and building a "massive" new signal gantry near Waterloo East.

Thameslink Programme rail systems director Mark Somers thanked passengers for their patience during the closure.

"Every weekend where we can do work on this scale is absolutely massive for us," he said. "Every single piece of track and every piece of equipment we put in position this weekend is crucial for Christmas, which will be the vital next stage for the project."

The video shows track being laid either side of the station, with the main timelapse section filmed overlooking Waterloo East where pieces of track are being hoisted in by cranes. Floodlit work continues into the night as engineers scramble to get the most out of the three-day window.

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