Next Friday evening, the Northern line between Kennington and Moorgate will close for several months, as a major stage of the Bank station upgrade is carried out. So you have just over a week left to see Bank tube station in its current state before the new tunnels and platforms are brought into use when the line reopens in May.
The closure of the Northern line is needed because a whole new tunnel has been dug at Bank station and it needs to be joined up to the existing rail tunnel, and that can’t be done when there are trains running through the tunnel. To carry out the work, the tunnels will be filled with lightweight concrete foam to provide support while the old iron rings are drilled out to link up with the new tunnel. Then once all is cleaned up, they have to reset the rail tracks into the new alignment.
The additional tunnel is for a brand new and much larger southbound Northern line platform, and the old tunnel will be turned into a large central concourse – roughly tripling the amount of space for Northern line passengers.
In addition, new escalators are being installed between the Northern line and the DLR, and a travolator to the Central line.
These works, which have been underway for several years, should be completed by the time the line reopens in May, and in addition, later this year a new station entrance will open on Canon Street with escalators direct to the Northern line and DLR.
So, you have until Friday evening to pay a visit to see Bank tube station as it currently is, for the next time you go in there, it’ll be a radically different station.
The background to the Bank station upgrade is here.
Northern line concourse (c) TfL
Your post about the background to the Bank station upgrade is a brilliant piece of journalism and is what turned me into a regular visitor
You should take some before / after photos
Quite excited for the new layout. No need for a last visit though the current station is burned into my brain being a daily commuter there, back of the envelope calculation says the average person who gets off at Bank spends >72 hours hours per year traipsing the tunnels đŸ¤ª
I always loved the dark congested northern line platforms at bank. Somehow I’m gonna miss them.
Great news, but coming 50 years too late for me. I remember well those 3 years of struggling through those rush hour crowds as I changed between the Northern and Central. At the time I considered it a great leap forward when they installed a second treacherous spiral staircase.
I am tempted, not least as will be in town on Fri. Yes it will be very odd when done. First priority will be to ignore the signed routes and find the quickest ways!
What washappening there this afternoon? The station was evacuated and there were police and firecrews everywhere.