Transport for London (TfL) has warned people that a large part of the Bank branch of the Northern line is closing for repairs for four months next year – possibly causing huge disruption to travellers.
The line will be closed between Kennington and Moorgate to carry out upgrades to the Northern line part of Bank station, from January 15 to mid-May next year.
As well as Kennington, the Southwark stations affected are Elephant and Castle, Borough and London Bridge.
TfL has asked people to travel at less busy times to avoid the expected congestion in other parts of the transport network – although this may be difficult given that people’s commuting times are unlikely to change.
Elephant and Castle tube: Southwark Council spending £63m on ‘undeliverable’ station upgrade
The transport agency is increasing other services, including a train every two minutes at peak time on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line.
TfL is also running a temporary new bus route, the 733, from Oval into the City (Finsbury Square), on weekdays. The bus will run every seven-eight minutes along a similar route to the Bank branch, past Kennington, Elephant and Castle, Borough London Bridge stations into the City.
The line is being close to finalise work on the Northern line tunnel and passenger concourse at Bank station. Station capacity will increase by about 40 per cent when the work is finished, TfL said.
Drivers slapped with £5m in fines for breaking Rotherhithe Tunnel rules
Andy Lord, Managing Director of London Underground, said: ‘The Bank Station Capacity Upgrade is a crucial project to support the City’s continued growth and success.
‘We are encouraging affected customers to check their journeys before they travel by using Journey Planner or the TfL Go app, and suggest they try to retime their journeys, or take a different route by Tube, rail, bus, walking or cycling during this vital 17-week closure.
‘I’d like to reassure everyone that we are doing everything possible to reduce the impact of this closure, with an increased service on the Charing Cross branch and a new bus route into the City. We will also use this closure to carry out maintenance and improvement work at other stations in order to minimise future disruption.”
Permission for the closure was given in 2015.
End of the day it’s all for the greater good