NEWS: Major disruption at London Bridge with trains not stopping for 18 months

There could be chaos on the trains as people replan their journeys (Picture: PA)

Major changes to journey patterns for thousands of rail commuters take effect today with some services not stopping at a major London station for the next 18 months.

As part of the £6.5 billion Thameslink rail project, services run by the Southeastern train company to and from Charing Cross station in London will not call at London Bridge main line station until August 2016.

Southeastern services from New Cross, St Johns, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill and Westcombe Park stations will no longer operate to and from Charing Cross or Waterloo East, and will instead operate to and from Cannon Street station in London.

Also, no Bedford to Brighton Thameslink trains will call at London Bridge station until January 2018.

Southeastern has produced a new timetable to accommodate this change and is urging passengers to check services before they travel today.

London Bridge is one of London’s busiest stations (Picture: PA)

Transport for London is also warning travellers that some parts of the London network will be busier than usual as customers take different routes.

Southeastern have said there will be longer opening hours at Cannon Street and that its high-speed Javelin trains will be calling at extra stations and will have more seats and increased frequency on some routes.

Southeastern managing director David Statham said: ‘The project to rebuild London Bridge station will provide a brand new station with a concourse the size of the pitch at Wembley Stadium, new journey opportunities to the north and south of England, and it will untangle the railway lines to remove the bottleneck we experience today.

‘This will however, mean our passengers, particularly those who use London Bridge will need to change their travel patterns while the work is carried out.’

A huge construction project is taking place as part of the £6.5billion Thameslink rail project (Picture: PA)

London Bridge Underground station will operate as normal throughout all the work.

London Underground (LU) managing director Mike Brown said: ‘During Network Rail’s modernisation work at London Bridge, several LU and London Overground stations are likely to be busier than usual.

‘We are accepting tickets at key stations from passengers whose journeys to London Bridge are affected, and deploying extra staff to assist customers and putting on dozens of extra bus services out of London Bridge and Waterloo stations.’

Many trains are going to Cannon Street instead (Picture: PA)

metro.co.uk