LJ Station is 100 years old

In July this year, Loughborough Junction station celebrates its 100th birthday.

Although it has existed in various forms since the 1860s, the station that we currently use is essentially one that was built in 1925; a rationalisation of a previous, larger station. It was constructed as part of the modernisation and electrification of south London's railways that took place during the 1920s.

Station layout before and after 1925

The arrows mark the location of the station's main entrance and ticket office, before and after its 1925

rebuild. The dotted lines show the various ways the ticket office in the older station could be reached. In

addition to Rathgar Road and Station Avenue, there were pedestrian routes that ran under or alongside

the viaducts and platforms.

The 1925 design shoehorned the station entrance into a single railway arch – but since then, space has been reduced even further. There used to be a significantly larger ticket office and entrance hall at street level, and waiting rooms and toilets up on the platform. Loughborough Junction station suffered extended periods of neglect and underinvestment towards the end of the 20th century.

In the early 1990s, despite being part of the newly established Thameslink network, British Rail proposed to withdraw all of the station's off-peak services. Without local campaigning at that time, perhaps the station would have been closed altogether.

In 2025 Loughborough Junction station enjoys a frequent train service with direct connections to central London interchanges, and is increasingly well used, but the only way to access the platform is via the staircase built 100 years ago to a design that falls well short of modern accessibility and safety standards. The cramped entrance hall at street level, along with an inadequate number of ticket gates, creates a bottleneck during rush hour that causes overcrowding on the stairway and impedes the safe movement of passengers.

And for those who struggle with the stairs, or simply aren't able to use them, there is no alternative – Loughborough Junction has no lift.

The station has so far failed to benefit from Network Rail's “Access For All” funding, despite support from local MP Helen Hayes, and Lambeth Council. In 2023 a petition calling for the installation of a lift was instigated by the Loughborough Junction Action Group in an attempt to raise awareness.

More recently we, some local residents, have formed a campaign group dedicated to the issue of accessibility at the station. In investigating the history and layout of the station in some detail, it has become obvious that installing a lift and making the station fit for purpose is not a trivial project. Inevitably, it would involve taking over one or more additional arches in the viaduct.

Our aim is to push for meaningful investment in the station, and we believe it is necessary for proper and realistic consideration to be given to a number of options when it comes to deciding how improvements can be delivered. We hope to work constructively with Lambeth, Network Rail, Govia Thameslink, the Arch Company and any other interested parties, including of course the local community.

In 2020, Lambeth Council commissioned a desktop report which looked at the feasibility of installing lifts at five stations in the borough. In 2025, of these five, Loughborough Junction station has by far the highest number of passengers using an individual stairway. It is the only one with a single island platform: allowing direct step-free access between ticket office and trains to be provided with just one lift and no expensive overbridge. Additionally, it is the only one of the five which has seen passenger numbers not just return to, but exceed the levels seen just prior to Covid. Of the five stations already identified by Lambeth as priorities for step-free access, there is a very strong case to be made for Loughborough Junction.

With over a million annual entries & exits Loughborough Junction is well used – more so than many might think – and demands on it will increase as several major car-free housing developments become occupied. Its users also include staff and patients at King's College Hospital which in addition to its main site half a mile away now has an outpost in Loughborough Junction itself. As a busy station, with a single platform (and therefore potentially accessible via a single lift) there is a strong case to be made for many decades of neglect to be put right.

One hundred years of no improvement in accessibility is far too long.

• The LJ Station Access group's website is at: www.LJStation.com

• A detailed explanation of the station's history can be found at colin-m.com/LJ4D/station

• A petition asking for accessibility at the station can be found here

• Contact and subscription can be found here

Written by Colin MacInnes, a member of the LJ station access group.