All change at the end of the line

Time for some London terminus news: Notwork Rail, the bloated UK railway infrastructure company, has released architect's impressions of the redevelopment of London Bridge station. Before we get to that, the background...

London Bridge is the oldest railway terminus in central London, on the south bank of the River Thames, and is the junction through which passes the vast majority of trains from south-east and south London. It is also a hideous, overcrowded Hell-hole of unimaginable proportions.

Here it is from a slightly different angle, the main terminus part squatting at the foot of the Shard tower (under construction, soon to be the tallest building in Western Europe, apparently), the through-lines running to the right of the train sheds:

Those narrow, squalid platforms are going to be covered with light, wave-form roofs, all glass and gentle curves, apparently:

From street level (the Shard looming up at the back), they seem to fit rather well on the enormous Victorian viaducts which carry the railway lines:

Here's the other side, with strange, wispy sci-fi clouds floating over it all as some sort of aurora borealis takes place (not an especially common sight at London Bridge station, now I come to think of it):

It exposes so much glorious and grand Victorian brickwork that it would be churlish of me to object (and, anyway, it's so hard to judge from a few overwrought elevations the effectiveness of what will be a highly complex people-moving machine). But I am hopeful. It's all part of the Thameslink 2000 scheme (sorry, I mean the Thameslink 2018 scheme. Oops. Not that this project has over-run its original timetable by a little. Oh, no).

In other news and just a bit up-river from London Bridge, Notwork Rail has announced it is going ahead with the construction of an additional 20,000 square feet of "retail opportunities" at Waterloo Station. The current concourse -- the first one purpose-designed for modern, electric multiple units and intensive commuter operations -- has become clogged with tawdry market stalls and people standing around like cows:

The new "retail opportunities" will be built at 1st floor* level off a vast balcony cantilevered over the concourse.

If it gets them out of my way I'll be well pleased.

* For my American readers, this means "2nd storey" or "2nd floor". In England we always start with a Ground Floor before proceeding up to the 1st floor, then the 2nd, etc. [Hm, you probably could have guessed that 2nd came after 1st, couldn't you?] Anyway, the 1st floor is not at street level but is up above. Honestly, I'm not making this stuff up.