The station’s final five new platforms also opened for the first time following the closure, allowing trains travelling to and from Cannon Street to resume calling at London Bridge. These latest developments mark a key milestone in the £1Bn redevelopment of the station, seeing it fully open for the first time since 2012.

Work on the concourse – which is now larger than the pitch at Wembley – is due to continue until the spring. Then throughout 2018 new shops, cafes and leisure facilities are expected to open at the station.

Network Rail’s chief executive Mark Carne said: “The opening of our landmark station is a shining example of the investment we are making in the railway. I would like to thank passengers for their patience while we transformed London Bridge into the modern transport hub it is today, with more trains to more destinations, connecting north-south London and beyond.”

Work to upgrade London Bridge forms part of the Government sponsored Thameslink Programme, which has also seen tracks through and around the station remodelled to allow more trains to travel across the capital.

From 2019, 24 trains per hour are expected to be able to run at peak times through central London, and the station will have the ability to cope with 96M people annually – up from the 50M who currently pass through each year.

London Bridge was not the only part of the rail network to experience engineering closures during the festive period. In total work valued at over £160M was completed across more than 260 projects. This included the upgrading of signalling equipment between Birmingham and Wolverhampton and platform improvements at Liverpool Lime Street and Edinburgh Waverley stations.
 
Photo: Network Rail