Balfour Beatty is continuing work to build a major new railway junction in London.

The contractor is delivering a £50 million scheme to 'untangle' the tracks on the eastern approach to London Bridge station. The development is on schedule for completion in 2018.

Once finished, the new junction will allow trains travelling from Kent to 'dive under' the Sussex lines used by Southern and Thameslink trains, relieving the bottleneck of trains and improving the travel experience of passengers.

The first tracks through the Bermondsey Dive Under were laid last week using Balfour Beatty's New Track Construction (NTC) machine. Engineers will then work to bring the first track into passenger use from 27 December.

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The work at Bermondsey and the rebuilding of London Bridge station forms part of the £6.5bn Thameslink Programme, which includes infrastructure upgrades, new technology and a fleet of brand new trains.

Simon Blanchflower, Network Rail's Thameslink Programme Director, said: "The Thameslink Programme is a key part of our Railway Upgrade Plan which will provide huge benefits for passengers on some of the busiest parts of our network.

"Our work at London Bridge station understandably grabs a lot of the attention, but just as important is the work we're doing at Bermondsey and on the approaches to the station. Ultimately, that's what allows us to give passengers what they really want – better, more frequent and more reliable journeys."

(LM/JP)