Commuters finally return to Bank branch of Northern Line for first time in FOUR MONTHS after £700m upgrade works
- The Bank Underground station has reopened after being closed for four months
- Upgrade works have taken place to help increase the capacity of passengers
- The more the 100-year-old southbound platform was replaced and widened
Commuters were able to use the Bank branch of the Northern line, an important link in the London Underground, for the first time in months this morning.
The £700m upgrade works, which began in mid-January this year, aim to increase the number of passengers that Bank and Monument stations can handle by 40%.
The improvements also include a new Northern Line tunnel and passenger concourse at Bank station.
The Northern Line was London’s busiest tube line prior to the pandemic, with over a million customers every day.
Now months of commuter misery will be over as services between Moorgate and Kennington are up and running again.
Commuters were able to use Bank station along the Northern line for the first time since mid-January now upgrade works have taken place
Further work is expected later this year at the station to help simplify its ‘labyrinthian layout’
While works took place on the southbound platform (pictured), the Northbound platform remains the same as it was
Bank and Monument saw 120m passengers a year before the pandemic, making them two of the busiest underground stations in London.
Bank station now has a wider and spacious southbound Northern line platform and customer concourse.
Transport for London have also completed three new passageways, which will make moving around the station quicker and easier.
The upgrade of Bank station will see its capacity increased by 40 per cent when work finishes later this year.
Improvements still to come including step-free access to the Northern line and improved access to the DLR platforms, two new moving walkways, 12 new escalators and two new lifts.
There will also be more direct routes within the station and a new station entrance on Cannon Street.
The interchange between Bank (pictured) and Monument is the third busiest on the Underground network, seeing over 120 million passengers at the stations each year
TFL said that by addressing long-standing capacity issues they aim to make journeys through Bank safer, easier and quicker
The work at Bank station also included connecting the new southbound Northern line tunnel to the existing railway and installing all new track and railway systems within the new tunnel.
Stuart Harvey, Chief Capital Officer at Transport for London, said: ‘I’d like to thank our customers for their patience during this closure.
‘The improvements we’re making at Bank station will be finished by the end of this year and will totally transform customer journeys through the station.
‘Anyone who’s familiar with Bank station will know how its labyrinthian layout can be confusing and time-consuming to navigate.
While months of works have just completed more are expected towards the end of the year
The Bank Station Capacity Upgrade project has been ongoing since 2016
‘Northern line customers now have a new, wider southbound platform and spacious customer concourse. The countdown is on for completing the rest of this major upgrade which is one of the largest and most complicated subterranean railway complexes in the world.’
During the closure of the Bank branch of the Northern line, essential work was also carried out at other stations including London Bridge, Borough and Elephant & Castle so that future disruption to customers would be minimised.
The next phase of works at Bank station will now turn to the key interchange connections which includes the new escalators linking the Northern line to the DLR, and the two new moving walkways and three new escalators connecting the Northern and Central lines.
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