Camberwell & Walworth stations

The inner London areas of Camberwell and Walworth lost their rail service in 1916 and never got it back. Plans exist to rebuild two stations to serve them.

Camberwell has a Station Road just off Camberwell Green; there used by a station here until 1916, when competition from electric trams (with steam trains) forced its closure.

The trams were lost in the 50s and 60s. From even before this, from the 30s right up to the 70s, there was a proposal to extend the Bakerloo line south from Elephant & Castle to serve the area; approval was even acquired in Parliament in the 30s, but the work never got underway, and the approval ran out, leaving Camberwell and Walworth without any rail service. Current public transport provision is through a large number of bus routes.

Camberwell station could be on the site of the bus garage there. Walworth station would be adjacent to John Ruskin Street. Services would be provided by Thameslink on their Luton - Wimbledon / Sutton services, although two new stations would add significantly to journey time.

In 2003, Camberwell station was pre-qualified by the SRA for its list of approved Rail Passenger Partnership (RPP) schemes - but nothing has been heard since.

Several parties including Lambeth Council and the Save Borough Market group have proposed an alternative to the Thameslink 2000 proposal for an improved route through the Borough Market to London Bridge. They advocate running all enhanced Thameslink services through the Elephant & Castle, with re-opening of Camberwell and possibly Walworth stations.

Unfortunately, construction of stations here could be expensive since this is a four-track viaduct with buildings close by on either side.

An alternative to these rail stations, floated by the LTUC, is to provide a branch of the new Cross River Tram scheme to serve Walworth Road and Camberwell Road. This is also part of the City Tram proposal.

No current news for this project.