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Tube bosses are to split the Northern line in two, returning to a system last used almost 90 years ago in an attempt to tackle rush-hour congestion.
They have been given approval by Mayor Boris Johnson to press ahead with an upgrade that will increase the number of trains on the City and Charing Cross branches.
But the Charing Cross branch, which serves the West End, will terminate at Kennington. All passengers who are travelling to and from south London and want to use the Charing Cross branch will have to change at Kennington. In addition, trains to and from Morden will travel on the City branch, via Bank and London Bridge.
The Northern line is the Tube's busiest, carrying 660,000 passengers every weekday. But it is also one of the most congested, with northbound trains between London Bridge and Bank suffering some of the highest overcrowding on the network. Transport for London data show that more than four passengers are standing in every square metre of space on northbound trains between the two stations.
Work has already begun on the first phase of the upgrade, which will introduce computerised signalling and a new control centre, increasing capacity by 20 per cent. This should be completed by the end of next year.
The changes at Kennington, which will cost £312 million, will add even more capacity. They will be the second phase of the upgrade, due to be completed by 2018.
By then, the number of trains on the City branch will increase from 22 to 32 an hour northbound and 20 to 28 southbound during the morning peak. The number of trains on the Charing Cross branch in rush hour will rise from 20 to 28 an hour in both directions.
Kennington has been chosen because passengers do not have far to walk between the City and Charing Cross platforms, and because the station has the capacity for Charing Cross trains to be turned round.
Previous attempts to boost capacity involved changing the layout at Camden Town, where many passengers switch between the Edgware and High Barnet branches. But two planning applications to rebuild the station were refused, forcing TfL to look at Kennington.
A TfL spokesman said: "The [first phase of the] upgrade of the Northern line, which we plan to deliver with the minimum of disruption to passengers, will deliver a much needed 20 per cent increase in capacity. But passenger demand is set to continue growing. To meet that, we plan a second upgrade to simplify the service patterns and increase the number of trains. This will further reduce journey times, and further increase capacity by 33 per cent on the City branch and 17 per cent on the Charing Cross branch."
The changes will return the line to a format not seen since 1926. The City and South London Railway ran from King William Street in the City to Stockwell, while the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway became what is now the Northern line's Charing Cross and Edgware branch.
Jo de Bank, spokeswoman for London Travelwatch, said: "It's not the perfect solution but at the moment it's the only solution that can meet the heavy demand for trains on that line."
Reader views (14)
This wont work until Camden Town is sorted out properly with proper cross platform interchange between lines and easy links between Northbound and Southbound lines. The station has to be totally re-built and if that means demolishing buildings then that may be the only option.
There are also problems at the southern end with stations that still have island platforms like the Angel used to have and a major rebuild of Bank Station is required to allow that station to cope with future growth, something that may increase if plans to extend the DLR to Charing Cross/Victoria go ahead making use of the original Jubilee Line section and station at Charing Cross.
Ah well will this mean the return of "The City and South London Railway" and "The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway?".
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 13/05/2010 11:45
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I noticed Kings Cross was missing off the diagram in last nights paper - is the northern line not going to be stopping there after the changes are made?
I've always defended the Northern Line, until I moved and realised how god-awful the NL actually is due to overcrowding.
Running more trains will be welcome, but it won't reduce overcrowding unless planners take it's limited capacity into account when granting permission for more high-density housing developments. We all need somewhere to live, but there has to a recognition that the infrastructure can only take so much.
Clapham stations are often temporarily closed in the mornings because the station can't cope with the volume of people wanting to get on - and it gets worse every year as more houses are turned into multi-occupancy flats.
And the buses don't stop because they're already full.
- Zed, London, 13/05/2010 11:14
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The proposal in full, as per TfL's Richard parry in Dec 08, is "an even split of services from High Barnet (or Edgware) to both City and Charing Cross branches in the morning peak, but with all northbound (ie contra-flow) services split so that all services from the City would go to High Barnet. This pattern would reverse in the evening"
- Chris, Edgware, 12/05/2010 17:56
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All parties agreed that the station needed rebuilding but nobody could agree on the building that went on top. The existing building was badly damaged during the war so there is not much left to list. I thought the seperationof the lines couldn't happen until they sorted out Camden Road. Looks like it's future is still sadly in limbo.
- Darren, London, 12/05/2010 17:45
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Jez they don't need a special bus service from Kennington to Clapham because the 155 runs every few minutes from outside Kennington Station serving both Clapham North and Clapham Common !!
- Lee W, London, 12/05/2010
But Lee, the Northern Line takes thousands of passengers over the weekend.
Do you really think the normal 155 weekend service can accomodate all those who would normally have travelled on the Tube?
No chance.
- Ricko, London, 12/05/2010 17:37
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mass uncontrolled immigration equals overcrowding - fact
- Grim Reaper, Hell, 12/05/2010 17:16
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Jez they don't need a special bus service from Kennington to Clapham because the 155 runs every few minutes from outside Kennington Station serving both Clapham North and Clapham Common !!
- Lee W, London, 12/05/2010 16:20
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It's long overdue.
Now could TFL do something similar on the Piccadilly Line? The Rayners Lane branch is under-used while the Heathrow branch is very overcrowded.
- Paul, London, UK, 12/05/2010 15:47
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How about getting the second Northern Line running, the high-speed shadow line that already has some of the infrastructure in place and would take the strain off the busier parts of the Charing Cross branch.
Most of this is now used as storage facilities!!!
- Rich, Londonshire, 12/05/2010 14:03
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The Northern Line is much, much better than it was 20 years ago - as long as you're on the train by 7.15am! The worst aspect of Northern Line travel is the relentless shouting over the tannoy, with repeated, pointless announcements. They shout because most people have earphones stuck in their ears.
- Conspiracy Factualist, London, 12/05/2010 13:52
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Am I missing something? Most Charing X trains terminate at Kennington anyway and it is the easiest interchange to negotiate - just a few steps over to the City/Morden platform. So what exactly will change?
- Steve E, London, UK, 12/05/2010 13:47
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Facts:
1 there is currently no weekend service south of Kennington on the Northern Line
2 there is no replacement bus service from there to Clapham Common
3 TfL are offering ZERO compensation to those affected
Boris - please explain or should we hire one of your bikes instead?
- Jez, Sarf London, 12/05/2010 13:38
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I think planning permission was refused because TFL wanted to demolish the old Tube station building which is of architectural interest. It wasn'ty simply a case of altering the underground layout
- Headhunter, London, 12/05/2010 12:40
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Planning permission was 'refused' at Camden? Which idiot did that – and why was it not pushed more? Camden and Kennington together would give so much more flexibility.
- Neil, London, 12/05/2010 12:26
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