Hither Green Station Footbridge Opens, Lifts in 2027

Network Rail opened a new footbridge at Hither Green station on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, linking every platform as the latest step in a £28 million Access for All upgrade. The Network Rail notice says four 16-person lifts, staircases, and a link passageway between platforms 4 and 5 are still going in, with street-to-platform step-free access planned for spring 2027.

Until those lifts and two new street doors open, treat the bridge as a platform-to-platform link, not a pavement-to-train route. Existing station entrances stay in use. If you are building a south London day around this Zone 3 stop, keep timed hours from the Hampton Court Palace visitor guide in the same plan, because a luggage-heavy change at Hither Green is easier today and a wheelchair or pushchair through-route from the street is not.

New Footbridge Links Every Platform From October 2

Network Rail says the structure was installed, tested, and opened to passengers on Friday, Oct. 2. It spans all platforms at the south-east London station used by Southeastern services. Murky Depths, writing the same morning, says the station sits in Zone 3 where the Sevenoaks line and the Dartford loop via Sidcup meet, and that it sees just shy of three million journeys a year.

The immediate traveler gain is interchange. Crossing from one platform to another no longer depends only on the older bridge. Network Rail frames the opening as a movement and accessibility milestone, not the finish line. The older footbridge remains in the picture for now. Murky Depths reports that the current footbridge will eventually be dismantled; Network Rail does not publish a removal date in the Oct. 2 notice.

Street-to-Platform Lifts Stay on the 2027 Calendar

The same Network Rail notice lists four new 16-person lifts, staircases, and a passageway between platforms 4 and 5. Once those pieces are live, the agency says passengers will have step-free access from street level to the footbridge and every platform, including people using wheelchairs, luggage, or pushchairs. That street-to-platform path is not available today.

Engineers are ahead of schedule on the Department for Transport-funded £28 million programme, Network Rail says, and completion is now planned for spring 2027, when step-free access from street to platform will be available for the first time. Murky Depths dates full project completion, including the new street doors, to autumn 2027. Plan with the official spring 2027 window, and treat autumn 2027 as the independent date for the new entrances until Network Rail reprints a later street-door day.

Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road Entrances Wait

The new bridge will eventually connect the platforms with new station entrances on Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road. Those doors are not open. Murky Depths quotes Network Rail directly: existing station entrances remain open, and access to the new footbridge is via station platforms only. Arrive at the doors you already use, then use stairs or the new bridge from the platform side.

Do not send a taxi, a coach, or a hotel shuttle to Fernbrook Road or Springbank Road expecting a public station entrance in October 2026. Those streets are worksites until the 2027 opening Network Rail has not yet dated beyond the spring completion aim. The existing street access, including the western entrance under the brick arch, is the one that still takes you onto the platforms.

Interchange, Luggage, and Step-Free Limits Until 2027

If you only need to change trains at Hither Green, the Oct. 2 bridge is the useful change. If you need level access from the pavement to a train, wait for the lifts or choose another step-free station. Network Rail is also installing new CCTV, a public address system, customer information screens, a ticket vending machine, and Oyster card readers as part of the same job. Those extras do not replace a lift.

A south London park day still works from this stop if you can use stairs. Keep hours on the Chessington World of Adventures park hours page when that is the outing, then add the walk through the existing entrance rather than assuming a new street lift. Thorpe Park hours on the Thorpe Park park hours page follow the same rule: the attraction clock is separate from Hither Green’s unfinished access kit. Recheck National Rail Enquiries on the morning of travel for any possessions that close platforms while lifts go in.

Access for All Funding and the Station Build Team

Network Rail is managing the programme. BAM Nuttall Ltd is the principal contractor, with architects Fereday Pollard and Partners and civil engineering designers Arcadis. McNealy Brown Ltd is fabricating and installing the main structure. The Department for Transport funds the £28 million Access for All package. Ke’arne Graham, the scheme project manager, thanked passengers and the local community for their patience as work continues.

The adjacent nature reserve will be restored, with replanting aimed at environmental recovery and biodiversity, Network Rail says. That restoration is background to the passenger decision, not a reason to treat the station as closed. Hither Green remains open. The dated choice is whether your group can use stairs from the existing street doors through October 2026 and the winter, or whether you should wait for the spring 2027 step-free path Network Rail has now put on the calendar.