I notice that the underground station at Waterloo is to get refurbished starting from this April, with work continuing until next May. I use the station a moderate amount to swap between lines, so rarely go “upstairs” to the main entrances.
Anyhow – the bit of the announcement from Tube Lines which caught my attention was the following comment:
“Once construction work starts the focus will include reducing the risk of water entering the station.”
Much of the deep level network around the river section has old flood doors which would be closed in the case of flooding to prevent the entire deep level network filling with water. Most of those doors ceased to be maintained though once the Thames Barrier was completed as the threat of flooding in central London was considered to be, well – zero.
With concerns about rising sea levels, coupled with with the fact that the Thames Barrier is now raised about twice as often as it was expected to be when it was built – it is interesting to see that the tube network is also starting to prepare for a possible flooding incident again.
If you want to see some of the barriers in place, there are sliding doors on the southbound Northern Line platforms at Embankment station.
