17-week closure of the Northern line’s Bank branch starting in January
17-week closure of the Bank branch between Kennington and Moorgate of the Northern line will require customers to make changes to the way they travel
There will be no Northern Line trains via London Bridge from 5th January
Many lines and stations across central London will be busier, especially around the City of London, but extra Tube services and a new bus route will operate
Intricate work will be completed during the closure, including connecting new tunnels to existing railway and integrating new systems in the station
Transport for London (TfL) has today (Friday 5 November) issued travel advice for customers who will be affected by the upcoming closure of the Bank branch of the Northern line. The branch will be closed for 17 weeks between Kennington and Moorgate from 15 January until mid-May 2022 to safely finalise work on the brand-new Northern line tunnel and passenger concourse at the Bank Station as part of the Bank Station Capacity Upgrade work. The closure was planned and granted in 2015 as part of the upgrade work.
To help mitigate the closure, which will also mean a reduced service between Camden Town and Moorgate, an enhanced service with a train at least every two minutes will run on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line in the peaks. A temporary new bus route, the 733 from Oval into the City (Finsbury Square), will also be introduced on weekdays. It will run every 7-8 minutes to help affected customers reach their destinations.
In late October TfL announced that the Waterloo & City line would be returning to a full weekday service from 22 November, providing a vital link to the City and extra options for customers travelling during the closure. However, TfL expects Waterloo, Embankment, Tottenham Court Road, and London Bridge to be amongst the busiest during the closure, so customers may wish to seek alternative options to complete their journeys.
TfL is asking customers to travel at quieter times or use alternative routes during the closure, as many lines and stations across central London will be busier. Quieter times on the Tube and Rail services are currently between 08:45 and 16:30 and after 18:45 during the week. These times may change. Customers are encouraged to check how busy their station is before they travel, using the TfL website’s Journey Planner or via the TfL Go app.
Full travel advice ahead of the closure is available at tfl.gov.uk/northern-line-closure.
To assist customers, TfL will be installing signage at stations that will operate differently throughout the closure and deploying additional staff across the network to provide support and travel advice to customers.
Much of the work completed for the project has been intricate and complicated, with 31 listed buildings at street level above the new tunnels and foundations for other buildings that had to be tunnelled through. The work was completed by teams of engineers working in shifts around the clock, and despite the challenges presented by coronavirus is on track to be delivered as planned in 2022 and within the £700m budget, despite the challenges of the pandemic.
As well as the work at Bank station, work will be carried out at stations including London Bridge, Borough and Elephant & Castle while the Northern line is closed so that future disruption can be minimised. This will include work on lifts and escalators, as well as refurbishment work at Borough and enabling works for the future Elephant & Castle Station upgrade.