Platform two at Tooting station has been extended after essential upgrade work on the Thameslink programme, allowing the eight-carriage train on the Wimbledon and Sutton line to call at the station.

The new trains come into service later this year and carry 1,146 passengers.

The platform extensions form part of enabling work at four stations known as the “Sutton loop” – Tooting, Sutton Common, Hackbridge and Mitcham Junction – that will transform passengers’ journeys to and through London as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan.

Simon Blanchflower, Thameslink programme director, said: The improvements made to these stations will have a direct, positive impact on passengers’ journeys.

"The new trains will help to keep London moving and provide more spacious, more reliable journeys into the engine room of the economy."

Thameslink passenger service director Stuart Cheshire said: "Our new Thameslink trains are going to make a huge difference to passengers on the Wimbledon and Sutton loop when they enter service.

"They are designed to carry many more people, in air conditioned comfort and will be streets ahead of the near-30-year-old trains we operate today.

"This platform extension at Tooting and the others to follow will enable these trains to make a real difference for commuters."

Work at Sutton Common will finish on July 15 and work on Mitcham and Hackbridge stations will begin on August 21.