After years of discussion, Transport for London has finally announced that business plans for its scheme to reopen Camberwell train station will be made publicly available by summer 2017.
Latest on plans to reopen Camberwell Railway Station pic.twitter.com/TusopPxTQl
— Camberwell SE5 (@se5) November 7, 2016
Camberwell rail station would cost £50m-£100m says @peterjohn6 #asksouthwark – TfL commissioner has been to visit
— Southwark Assembly (@councilassembly) October 19, 2016
The ghost station first opened in 1862 and as with many other London stations during World War I, wartime restraints forced it to close to passenger traffic in April 1916. It is located on the west side of Camberwell Station Road and is currently in use as a converted mechanic’s garage.
A goods train is seen on the crossover at the north end of Camberwell’s island platform in February 1957.
Camberwell is a self proclaimed ‘up-and-coming area’, with population and house prices steadily rising. Considering its location so close to central London, the lack of transport infrastructure in Camberwell is well overdue for attention. The Overground stop on Camberwell Station Road will provide additional links into central, but also encourage further population and price rises. With strong arguments both for and against the reopening, locals expressed their thoughts on the matter.
Anton Sibilev, 19, a Junior Systems Engineer, thought of the project as a “completely unnecessary addition to the area”. He said “journeys will take longer because there will be another station in the way of getting where you need to be”.
Lamin Bangura, 39, a businessman working in Camberwell, said “having an extra station sounds like a very-very good thing, but it will probably bring more traffic and prices will go up, so I guess I’m about 50%-50%”.
Karen Stathers, 32, said the re-opening could be nothing but “absolutely brilliant”. The stay at home mother of one, said there was “nothing wrong with attracting more people to Camberwell”, as that would make the area “even more vibrant and exciting”.
When it comes to additional links into central London, “more transport will just be more reason to get out of the house” and possibly “get away from this little terror” Stathers said, as she gestured to her five year old son Marcus.
Cheryl Flesses, 45, police woman, said Camberwell hosts various “important landmarks and attractions”, but “limited stations and rubbish bus links do not do them justice”. Flesses said “a new station is a good idea, just because of how bad the current system is”.”This area desperately needs it” she said, “a whole chunk of London just isn’t covered”.
There is also a Twitter page dedicated to the reopening of the station, Reopen Camberwell BR. Written in the bio is “We say Reopen Camberwell Station NOW!”.
The station today.
