Sydenham railway station (London)

Sydenham railway station serves the suburb of Sydenham in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is slightly to the north of Sydenham junction, which is a junction between the main line from to Brighton and the line to Crystal Palace.

The station is operated by London Overground, with London Overground and Southern trains serving the station. First Capital Connect and some Southern services pass through the station. It is located in Travelcard Zone 3. The station is situated on Sydenham Road (A212)/Sydenham Station Approach. It has two platforms, with four tracks running through the station. The station layout is unusual in that the two platforms only partly face each other, and are partly staggered on either side of the footbridge.

Sydenham station has two entrances. The main entrance, the ticket office is located on platform 2. The second entrance, on platform 1 to Peak Hill Gardens was upgraded from a 'back gate' to a shelter with an information screen, a ticket machine, two help points, and ticket barriers in late 2009, thus giving step free access to both platforms.

History
Sydenham station is on the site of the former Croydon Canal which was purchased and drained by the London and Croydon Railway and re-opened as a railway on 5 June 1839. Around 1844 the 'Up' (London bound) platform was re-sited during the installation of the Atmospheric railway equipment used by the railway. The railway became a part of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in July 1846 and the following year 'Atmospheric' working was abandoned.

The 'Down' (Croydon bound) platform had to be moved to the north of the road bridge in 1852 as a result of the construction of the branch line to Crystal Palace railway station. The 'up'(London bound) platform had also to be moved north of the road bridge in the 1980s.

Before May 2010, Southern was the only TOC serving the station with 6 trains per hour during off peak periods. However, when the London Overground's East London Line opened this changed with Southern reducing its services into London Bridge to 4 trains per hour by withdrawing trains to Sutton, supplemented by an additional 8 trains operated by London Overground - giving a total of 12 trains per hour.

There are, or have been, four other stations in the Sydenham area:
 * Lower Sydenham on the Hayes Line
 * Upper Sydenham on the now closed Crystal Palace (High Level) line
 * Sydenham Hill, Penge East on the to Orpington line.

Services
Sydenham is served by 8 trains in each direction off peak, with additional Southern services at peak hours. Southern operates 4-8 car trains throughout the day, with 10 carriage trains at peak hours.

Off Peak frequencies are:

Transport links
Sydenham station is served by six bus stops with London Buses routes 75, 122, 176, 194, 197, 202 and 450 all serving the station.

Future
In a rail meeting in Sydenham, Southern said First Capital Connect trains may stop here after the Thameslink Programme is completed in 2018. However, Network Rail's draft timetable suggests no Thameslink trains will stop. Currently Thameslink trains to Bedford and Brighton pass by this station without stopping.