Kidbrooke Station Usage Shoots Up 19% Over Past Year – Big Growth on Eltham Line

In keeping with the Greenwich line shown in the last post, the Eltham line saw strong passenger growth in the latest figures. Kidbrooke saw particularly strong growth as more people moved into the new housing replacing the Ferrier Estate.

As with Deptford’s 11.7% growth, notes on the spreadsheet released with these figures seem to misplace where much of the growth is coming from. There’s no mention of housing growth nearby. They put the figures down to London Overground’s recent extension through Denmark Hill to Clapham Junction, which a small number of services on this lines interchange with. Whilst that is a factor, I would have thought more people living locally is a much bigger factor, and one Network Rail need to look at more closely when planning services.

Lewisham also sees good growth following on from 8% the previous year. Bear in mind that from January, southeastern and Network Rail are hoping that up to 20% of Greenwich line passengers will switch during the evening rush hour to using trains to Lewisham, then the DLR to Greenwich/Deptford. If that happens, how bad will congestion become? There is still no confirmation of 12 car trains on the Eltham line from January, nor are any new trains forthcoming to bolster stock numbers any time soon.

Lewisham continues to see many new developments under construction immediately around the station and opening soon. I covered them in previous posts a couple of month ago. Part one is here and part two here. Completing in 2015 are Thurston Road (406 units) and Riverdale House (137 units) to name just two.

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