TfL Press Release - TfL updates on progress of upgrade at Bank station as it nears completion

Transport for London (TfL) is updating customers on the huge progress made at the Bank Tube station upgrade as it announces the final phase of work needed to complete the project. The project has seen 200,000 tonnes of material excavated from under the City of London, allowing a new tunnel for the Northern line to be constructed alongside a number of improved customer routes through the station.

The final phase of the work will be completed during a 17-week closure of the Bank branch of the Northern line from 15 January until mid-May 2022. This closure will allow TfL and its contractors to complete the intricate work needed to connect the new tunnels to the existing railway, as well as fit out the new station, install the final sections of track, complete work in the tunnels constructed during the project and integrate all the new systems installed in the station. It will also allow London Underground staff to prepare to operate the new areas of the station safely.

The improvements at Bank will include a new station entrance providing direct access to the Northern line on Cannon Street, as well as a new circulating area to provide more space for customers underground and a new southbound Northern line platform. These changes will help to address long-standing capacity issues at the station and make journeys through Bank easier, quicker and more comfortable.

Stuart Harvey, Director of Major Projects for TfL, said: “Bank station has a vital role to play in London’s recovery from the pandemic. The changes to the station will transform the experience of every customer that uses Bank and will help the City as it continues to recover and people return to the area. I am proud of the work our staff, contractors and everyone associated with the project has put into this vital upgrade and I look forward to that work being complete next year, but I am sorry that this vital and complex work will cause disruption.”

To help customers get to their destinations during the closure, services on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line will be enhanced, and a new bus route between Oval and the City will ensure that customers in south London are able to reach the area easily. Additional staff will be deployed across the network to assist customers. TfL is also working with Network Rail and other train operators on alternative travel options on national rail services with more detail to follow on this closer to the time.

Before and during the vital closure of the Bank branch, TfL will be running a full-scale, pan-London communications campaign to give customers the tools and advice they need to retime, reroute or use alternative public transport for their journeys minimising the impact of the closure. As part of this, TfL will be working closely with the City of London and business stakeholders, as well as train operators and other boroughs to use their own communications channels to further disseminate this information.

There are plenty of easily accessible walking and cycling routes to help customers complete all or part of their journey. Details of alternative walking or cycling routes will form part of TfL’s detailed travel information, which will be available closer to the time of the closure starting.

Prior to the pandemic, the connected Bank and Monument stations were among the busiest on the Tube network, and among the busiest stations in the UK, with more than 120 million customers using them each year. The Northern line was also the busiest on the network with just over one million customers using it each working day.

During the closure of the Northern line, signalling equipment will be installed and the new tunnels will be connected to the existing ones, ready for customer use after the 17-week closure. This will involve breaking through the walls of the current southbound tunnel, which is below the northbound one, and connecting it to the recently excavated tunnel. Following this delicate and intricate construction work, new track will be laid along with signalling and control equipment to allow trains to use the new tunnel. While this is going on, the current southbound running tunnel will be converted into a passenger concourse with concrete poured into the track area and connected to the new tunnels via newly finished cross passageways. The tunnels that have been excavated to facilitate construction work in such a complex subterranean environment will also be filled in.

The improvements at Bank will mean that there is 40 per cent more space within the station, as well as step-free access to the Northern line for the first time at Bank and improved access to the DLR. There will also be two moving walkways between the Northern and Central lines, as well as new escalators linking the new entrance to the Northern line and the DLR.

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.