Network Rail opens consultation on removing Britain’s worst railway bottleneck

​The ‘Croydon bottleneck’ in south London causes delays and disruption to up to 300,000 passengers a day travelling on the Brighton Main Line and its branches.

Today, Network Rail announced a public consultation that will take place throughout November and December on proposals to remove the bottleneck. This major railway upgrade could improve punctuality, speed up journey times, and enable more trains to run. 

The area is by far the busiest and most congested part of the UK rail network – handling 30% more passengers and trains than London Euston and King’s Cross combined. It also has the lowest punctuality of any route, as the bottleneck in Croydon magnifies the impact of even minor delays.

Network Rail is proposing constructing additional tracks in the Croydon area, extra platforms, and an expanded and modernised station at East Croydon. It also wants to build a series of railway flyovers to replace the complicated junction where lines from the South Coast, Sussex and Surrey meet those going to and from London Bridge and London Victoria. 

“Removing the Croydon bottleneck is the only practical way to provide the step-change in reliability and capacity that passengers and businesses in Sussex so desperately want to see,” said John Halsall, Network Rail route managing director for the South East. 

“For too long, train performance on the Brighton Main Line has been below the level that commuters and other passengers expect and deserve. While a number of factors have contributed to these issues in recent years, the basic layout of our railway through the Croydon area and the bottleneck it creates means reliability won’t ever improve to acceptable levels without significant changes.”

A six-week public consultation period will open on 5 November, and members of the public can have their say at networkrail.co.uk/Croydon.