Renewed calls for reopening of Camberwell railway station – 100 years after it closed

Residents of one of London’s biggest areas without a railway station are bidding to have theirs restored, more than a century after it closed to passengers.

Camberwell’s SE5 Forum is appealing to the Department of Transport to consider reopening Camberwell railway station – with support from MPs Harriet Harman and Helen Hayes and Southwark council.

The forum is backed by residents, institutions and local firms on social media, two years after 2,000 people signed a petition for the restoration.

The bid will be for funding from the Restoring Your Railway programme run by the Department of Transport.

Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said: “Along with my constituency neighbour Harriet Harman MP, I met with the Minster for Transport, presenting him with a petition signed by more than 2,000 of our constituents, asking for the train station to be re-opened. So we were both delighted to sponsor this SE5 Forum bid to Restoring Your Railway.”

The campaign had a major setback in 2018, when a study by Transport for London suggested that the local benefits would be outweighed by the impact on long distance commuters.

But Network Rail is having a major strategy review of all its London services, leading to increased hope for areas such as Camberwell not currently served by effective transport links.

Councillor Richard Livingstone, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency and Councillor Johnson Situ, Cabinet Member for Growth, Development and Planning, at Southwark Council, said: “We’re pleased to be match funding this important initiative and supporting SE5 Forum with their long standing campaign for better transport links in the area. We too hope that these works will drive the local economy and help to create jobs for local people.”

Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, fourth from left, and Harriet Harman, MP for Camberwell and Peckham, third from right, with members of the SE5 Forum for Camberwell supporting the earlier campaign for the reopening of Camberwell railway station