Thameslink consider calling at either Woolwich, Belvedere or Erith

Thameslink may consider calling at a further stop in south east London according to a written reply to Greenwich Council.

In a response to a question about not stopping at Woolwich Dockyard station and whether this was because 12-car trains cannot stop, even though Thameslink only run 8-car units on the line, they replied it wasn’t the primary issue but “that will have been a factor in selecting originally which stations not to call at in the original design.”

Currently the company runs along the Greenwich and Woolwich line then onto Dartford and Medway terminating at Rainham in Kent.

Between Slade Green in Zone 6 and London Bridge in Zone 1 Thameslink skips three stops: Erith, Belvedere and Woolwich Dockyard.

The company states: “There is potential scope to squeeze one of the three stations into the calling pattern which we are starting to evaluate with our partners at Southeastern and Network Rail.”

Thameslink reasoning

Thameslink timetables include padding and skipped stops meaning journeys are timed no quicker than all-stopping Southeastern trips on the exact same line between Slade Green and London Bridge despite sailing through all three stations.

Slack in the timetable is to allow any delays to be made up before entering the core Thameslink section from London Bridge to St Pancras and impacting other routes such as those approaching from Brighton.

Thameslink make some very spurious claims stating to stop at the three stations “you need 7-9 minutes”. That’d mean Slade Green to London Bridge taking 50 minutes rather than the 41 that Southeastern manage.

This isn’t correct as the all-stopping Southeastern services show daily. Calling at all three stops wouldn’t add on “7-9 minutes” and could easily be accommodated in the current timings.

What would be accurate is to state stopping at three stations would normally present no issue but if a train is late, skipping the three stops currently enables more chance to reach the Thameslink core on approach to London Bridge at the correct time.

Let’s look at Thameslink services at the time of writing. Here’s a service that skips three stations yet is timetabled slower than a Southeastern all-stopper running minutes later. To claim that adding three stops would increase Thameslink run times by 7-9 minutes is a bit off. A rationale that meeting the core section results in requiring slack makes sense.

As well as skipping stops, some sections of the line also have extended run times. For example Abbey Wood to Woolwich Arsenal can now take six minutes when for many years Southeastern was three minutes for the non-stoppers and four minutes for those that called at Plumstead.

Thameslink could run between Slade Green and London Bridge to the same timings as Southeastern (which have also been slowed down in the past decade) given the fast accelerating Class 700 stock used. It’d simply add “performance risk” on occasion. The question is whether that’s worth it.

Housing

If you’re a passenger at Belvedere, Erith or Woolwich Dockyard seeing a Thameslink sail by is no doubt annoying, particularly as two Southeastern service per hour were cut in 2022 but it wouldn’t be too big a problem in the grand scheme of things. However what is an issue that’s only going to grow is that each station sees housebuilding plans in the near vicinity bringing increased demand.

If we look at Woolwich Dockyard it’s the quietest of the three stations in terms of annual passenger numbers, though it does have nearly a thousand homes nearly complete nearby as part of a major estate redevelopment.

Charlton Riverside housing plans has been slow to get moving though some sites are just as close to Woolwich Dockyard (if not closer) than Charlton station.

Here’s Faraday Works near the Thames Barrier to give an example.

Erith and Belvedere are already busier in terms of annual passenger numbers though major housing plans have yet to see spades in the ground.

Belvedere is in line for many thousands of homes. One plot for 1,250 is outlined below with approval in February 2024.

Another site in the town sits further west but also in close proximity to Belvedere station.

This is the former gasholder site with 400 homes. A decision on the Bellway-owned site is expected imminently.

Erith is seeing nothing of that magnitude though some plots have been approved close to the station.

One such site is from Bexley Council’s developer BexleyCo.

Other development sites include the Post Office site where early plans were revealed in December 2024.

Here’s how parts of the town centre appeared in a prior Masterplan. Bexley Council foresees thousands of homes across the wider town centre.

In time I’d expect hundreds of homes to come forwards on sites such as the shopping centre (the current owner is open about redeveloping part of the site) but as yet no application has been made.

Remove Thameslink?

Given both Greenwich and Bexley borough’s housing plans are mostly centred in the north of the borough, either Thameslink will in time probably need to call at all stops or Southeastern increase services with the likes of the now-gone Gillingham services (semi-fast or all stopping) coming back or the missing two trains per hour service through Greenwich removed in 2022.

Ultimately if – or when – all those homes are built trains will probably need to call at each stop along the line. It won’t be tenable long-term to skip, for example, Belvedere with thousands more residents nor Woolwich Dockyard when the eastern section of Charlton Riverside does get moving.

If that reduces resilience for Thameslink it’ll probably either be a case of skipping more stops at quieter north Kent stations (though most are also in major housebuilding areas – see Stone Crossing, Swanscombe etc), concede that performance risk will be an enhanced factor entering the core central London section and a necessary evil or not run services via the Woolwich line at all.