St Johns railway station

Not to be confused with St. John's railway station on the Isle of Man.

St Johns
St Johns Location of St Johns in Greater London
Location	St Johns
Local authority	London Borough of Lewisham
Managed by	Southeastern
Station code	SAJ
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
National Rail annual entry and exit
2007–08	0.601 million
2008–09	0.585 million
2009–10	0.584 million
2010–11	0.661 million
2011–12	0.696 million
2012–13	0.714 million
Key dates
1 June 1873	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

St Johns railway station is in the London Borough of Lewisham, in south-east London.

History

The station was opened on 1 June 1873 by the South Eastern Railway. In 1923 it was taken over by the Southern Railway.

The line was electrified in February 1926.

In 1948 the station passed to British Railways.

In the mid 1970s the station was re-modelled when the fast line island platform was closed and demolished. This provided space to build a flydown from the Lewisham-Nunhead line to the up fast line.

The booking office at street level was destroyed by fire in the late 1970s.

Accidents

File:St Johns train crash 1898.jpg

Damaged brake van and rear carriage in sidings at St Johns after the accident in 1898.

On 21 March 1898, two trains collided in thick fog, killing three people, when a signaller allowed a train to enter the station while another train was at the platform.

On 4 December 1957, two trains collided just south-east of the station on the main line bypassing Lewisham, bringing down the Lewisham-Nunhead railway bridge and killing 90 people. Further disaster was averted as a train about to cross the bridge was halted by its driver.

Layout

The station is reached by a footbridge from St Johns Vale - there is no direct road access. There is a single island platform with two platform faces, on the slow lines.

South of the station the Greenwich Park branch crossed over before closure in 1917, connected to Lewisham in 1929. The remains of the embankment can be seen on the eastern side of the line. There was a signal box at the south end of the station that closed and was demolished when the area was resignalled in the mid 1970s. The flydown was built at this time and commissioned on 3 April 1976.

In the early 1990s the original bridge carrying St Johns Vale was replaced. This allowed the platforms to be extended towards New Cross to allow longer trains to call.

It was proposed to double the flydown line under the Thameslink Programme. Work started in 2012 with cranes and civil engineering plant on site on 8 April; it was completed over Easter 2013.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
New Cross		Southeastern London to Orpington, Hayes Line and Dartford Loop Line		Lewisham

External links

• Accident at Lewisham on 4 December 1957 (Summary)
• Report On The Collision That Occurred On 4 December 1957 Near Lewisham In The Southern Region British Railways (2.2 Mb)

Railways around Lewisham and Hither Green

Legend South Eastern Main Line to Charing Cross non-stop via London Bridge South Eastern Main Line to Cannon Street via New Cross x20px St Johns Nunhead to Lewisham link to London Victoria File:BSicon hNULc2.svg Greenwich Park Branch Line to Greenwich Park Docklands Light Railway to Bank–Monument or Stratford Elverson Road Lewisham North Kent & Bexleyheath Lines to Dartford via Blackheath Ladywell Hayes Line to Hayes via Catford Bridge Hither Green Hither Green TMD Dartford Loop Line to Dartford via Sidcup Lee South Eastern Main Line to Kent non-stop via Orpington South Eastern Main Line to Orpington (stopping services)