Major upgrade of Bank Tube station gets the green light for work to begin
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Department for Transport grants permission for the station transformation
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Government approval means that the £563m upgrade of London Underground’s third busiest station is set to begin next
year
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Bank Tube station will be dramatically transformed to increase capacity, reduce interchange times and improve accessibility
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The majority of construction work will take place behind the scenes with the station remaining open to customers
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Images are available at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/albums/72157662521120745
The
Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have announced that work to
dramatically transform and improve Bank Tube station will begin in the
new year after the plans were given
the go-ahead by Government.
The
£563m upgrade will increase the busy station’s capacity by 40 per cent,
improving accessibility and reducing interchange times when it is
completed in 2021. Now approved, the
station becomes the latest in a series of major upgrades taking place
across the Capital.
Bank
is the third busiest station on the Tube network and is used by over 52
million passengers per year, with demand having risen by 50 per cent
over the last 10 years. Improving the station
is critical to keep London working and growing and is a key step in
TfL’s future plan to increase frequency on the Northern line.
This vital interchange – at the heart of the City of London – will be modernised to include:
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A new railway tunnel and platform for the Northern line that will reduce interchange times and create more space for passengers
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Step-free access to the Northern line and DLR platforms
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More direct routes, with two new moving walkways
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Three new lifts and 12 new escalators
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A new station entrance in Cannon Street
The station will remain
open to customers throughout the work. TfL will ensure the majority of
construction work takes place below ground to minimise construction
impact on the
historically significant site, which is bordered by 31 listed
buildings.
The Mayor of London,
Boris Johnson MP, said: “Bank is a vital interchange for passengers and
it is crucial that the station is able to keep up with the increasing
demand placed
on it. These exciting plans will completely transform the station,
making it more accessible and much easier for everyone to use. It’s
great news for the tens of thousands who use the station every day that
these plans have been approved, and is another major
step in our work to transform the network and support our growing
Capital.”
Nick
Brown, Managing Director of London Underground, said: “Improving Bank
station is at the heart of our multi-billion pound investment programme
to improve and expand the Tube.
This critical and ambitious station upgrade will create a new
southbound Northern line railway tunnel and platform to vastly reduce
interchange times. A new station entrance on Cannon Street will also be
constructed alongside a range of other major improvements
to create more direct routes, improving accessibility for the millions
of Tube customers who use Bank station each year.”
The
redevelopment will complement current work to create a new entrance to
the Waterloo & City line. Just metres away from Walbrook Square, the
new entrance will offer two new
lifts, four new escalators and a new ticket hall when it opens in late
2017.
London's
population is set to grow from 8.6m today to around 10m by 2030 - an
extra Tube train full of people every three days. Redevelopment work to
increase capacity at key stations
and make them step-free is underway at a number of stations, including
Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Bond Street. Crossrail will deliver
10 per cent additional capacity to London’s rail network.
