A new water cooled ventilation fan roughly twice the height of a double-decker bus has been installed on the Victoria line to help cool one of the warmest stations on the Underground.
Just the top of the huge ventilation system
Walthamstow is currently one of the warmest stations on the Victoria line, and the new chiller system has just been installed between Blackhorse Road and Walthamstow Central. The fan system works by drawing in fresh air from the street through coils which have chilled water flowing through them.
The chilled air is sent into a mid-tunnel shaft between Walthamstow Central and Blackhorse Road tube stations, reducing temperatures on the platforms and in the tunnel by up to 3 degrees.
Two of London’s busiest Tube stations on the Victoria line are Green Park and Oxford Circus, which were upgraded in 2012 with the installation of air cooling units that reduce temperatures at platform level. At Green Park, the air cooling units use cool water extracted via boreholes from the aquifer deep below Green Park.
As part of the cooling the tube programme, across the underground, the capacity of the station ventilation fan network has been doubled and 83 fans restored
London Underground is also establishing an Innovative development project to explore new methods to Cool the Tube. The research undertaken at this centre, which will be supported by academics from London South Bank University (LSBU), will assist LU in delivering its £300 million programme of investment in cooling infrastructure over the next 10 years.
