The new station at Abbey Wood built to act as a south eastern terminus for Crossrail was due to open to customers on the North Kent line by the end of October. The dramatic structure, with its sweeping roof, cuts a dash in the workaday streets of the suburb – and the introduction of the Elizabeth Line service at the end of next year, with its train every five minutes to Canary Wharf and the City, can be expected to transform the area.
The railway line divides the area in two. South of the line are the leafy streets leading to Bexleyheath, while stretching up to the river on the north side is Thamesmead, a sprawling housing estate with high scores on most social deprivation indices. The Harrow Manor Way road flyover next to the station, built some years ago to replace an earlier level crossing, has contributed to the notion of a ‘wrong side of the tracks’, with uninviting walkways and dingy staircases to the bus stops atop the flyover.
One aim in creating the new station is to blur this divide, with bright staircases and lifts on both sides of the bridge and plans for retail redevelopment on the north and south flanks. Already, a branch of Sainsbury’s and a new block of flats have been built on the ro…
