As part of the redevelopment of the Elephant & Castle, the tube station also needs to be rebuilt, but following discussions with London Underground, changes are being proposed.

The current scheme includes a new Northern line ticket hall that upgrades the capacity to meet future passenger demand and provides step-free access from street to train. What they’re looking to do now is change the plans in order to safeguard the Bakerloo line extension by enlarging the new station to include access to the planned Bakerloo line tunnels.

3D plan of proposed station (c) Developer

At the moment, there are two tube stations at Elephant & Castle one for the Bakerloo line, and one for the Northern line, with a rather circuitous connection underground between the lines. Although the Bakerloo line extension has been put on hold for the moment, the plans had included merging the two stations into one — which is now what’s being proposed by the developer.

That requires the enlarged ticket hall to be extended over the existing Bakerloo line tunnels, so they are having to change some of the weight transfer of the piling and the buildings above.

Amended basement level (c) Developer

Although unlikely to be needed when it opens, the new station will include a space for three additional escalators — down to the replacement Bakerloo line platforms, when they are eventually built.

The changed layout also removes an intermediate level between the ticket hall and the Northern line tunnels, making it quicker to get between street and platform.

The developer will construct the new extended ticket hall and London Underground will construct three new passenger tunnels to connect the new station box to the existing Northern Line platforms and fit-out the new infrastructure. That’s a method similar to that used at Bank and Waterloo stations in recent years.

New ticket hall (c) Developer

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10 comments
  1. Ben says:

    Thanks for this update. Do these plans mean the current Bakerloo Line entrance will be closed? This would be a huge shame as the distance between that entrance and the many bus routes on London Road is handily short. It’s especially good for those who struggle to walk far.

    Interchange between bus and tube will get much worse with only one entrance. And buses are key in this rail desert!

    • ianvisits says:

      It has always been intended that the old entrance would close as it wouldn’t link up with the new tunnel alignment for the Bakerloo line platforms.

  2. Andrew Gwilt says:

    I wonder how many more underground stations are to be refurbished and revamped and to become step-free. If TfL are spending £millions improving tube stations in London.

  3. Paul says:

    Isn’t the Bakerloo Line proposed to be put on a new alignment South of Lambeth North?
    And thus, isn’t the station being extended across the path proposed for the *new* Bakerloo tunnels, rather than the existing ones?

    • Paul says:

      To be fair, this might be academic as the consultation shows the two sets of Bakerloo tunnels (new and old) as crossing at about this point.
      Not clear if the new tunnels will be above/below/level with the old. I’m guessing the old would need to remain operational during construction, so above or below seems likely.

  4. Paulette says:

    When will this be completed? What is the estimated cost? What about the connection with Network Rail ? Will the main entrance be nearest to where the most expensive flats are?

    • ianvisits says:

      I do love it when people just bark questions at me without even a please or thank you.

  5. Vatche Gulbekian says:

    The Bakerloo, Northern and National Rail stations were originally built by competing companies – hence the separate station buildings. We now have a one-off opportunity to correct this but, sadly, the planners have decided to keep the Underground and National Rail stations quite separate. Is there really any reason why an underground passage from the new Underground ticket hall to the National Rail ticket hall cannot be built as part of this project?

  6. pdennis64@gmail.com says:

    I am very sorry to upset you Ian. This was my first time in replying to your wonderful website. I thought my questions would be answered by people reading your articles. Thank you for making my week more enjoyable.

  7. John Humphrey says:

    Of course the upgrading of the Underground station should include integration with the main line station. It was bad enough before demolition of the shopping centre. On a recent visit to London, I changed at Elephant & Castle from the Bakerloo Line to Thameslink in order to get to Bat & Ball. I had to use the narrow passageway from the Bakerloo Line to the Northern Line in order to leave the station. When I got to the exit, none of the gates would take a paper ticket so I had to squeeze through to the entrance gate line in order to get the staff to let me out. Then I had to walk all the way round the outside of the building site in order to reach the National Rail entrance. It is possible to interchange between the Underground and Thameslink at Farringdon or Kentish Town without going through the barriers, so why not at the Elephant (or, for that matter, at Blackfriars where such a change would allow the entrance on the South Bank to be used for the Underground as well as for Thameslink. Why not?

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