Northern line platforms at Tottenham Court Road will reopen on Monday 28 November after eight months of behind-the-scenes work to make it possible to build new access routes, new staircases and a lift.
When complete in 2016, station capacity will dramatically increase as part of the major station upgrade.
During the closure, since April 2011, a team of more than 100 people have been working around the clock to complete the critical structural works, involving the installation of more than 1,000 tonnes of new steel tunnel sections.
The work prepares the way for the full station upgrade which will transform the station by 2016 with increased capacity, new entrances and step free access.
David Waboso, Capital Programmes Director, said:
“We would like to thank passengers for their patience whilst the Northern line platforms have been closed.
“There is still further work to be done behind the scenes at the station and passengers will notice that the platforms only have a temporary render finish on the walls.
“Our priority has been to reopen the platforms as soon as the heavy civil engineering works were completed and they could be used safely by customers.
“As works to upgrade the station continue, we ask passengers to continue to bear with us.”
The £500m station upgrade is part of the Tube upgrade plan to ease congestion, improve accessibility and provide direct interchange with Crossrail services when they arrive in 2018.
When Tottenham Court Road was built over 100 years ago, it was not designed to be used by the 147,000 people that now use it daily, or the 200,000 plus daily users expected when Crossrail comes to the station in 2018.
As part of the Tube upgrade plan, London Underground is transforming the station to:
- Increase the size of the ticket hall by nearly six times
- Introduce step free access from street to platform
- Provide four new or modernised entrances
- Deliver new escalators and improved interchanges between platforms
- Connect with a new Crossrail ticket hall at Dean Street.
