Extension built by Laing O’Rourke JV is the first major Tube expansion this century 

New Tube stations at Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms are set to open in just over two weeks.

The £1.1bn Northern Line extension, built by a Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke (FLO) joint venture, is the Tube network’s first major extension this century after the Jubilee Line extension opened in 1999.

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that the two new zone 1 stations will open to the public on Monday 20 September.

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The project was originally due to open by the end of last year, but in December 2018 TfL pushed the opening date back by nine months.

At the time, TfL said the opening of the new line had been “realigned” to coincide with the opening of the Bank Station upgrade, creating more capacity on the line.

But when the pandemic disrupted construction work the timetable for the Bank Station upgrade suffered, setting its completion date back to at least the middle of next year.

Services on the Northern Line extension, which run from Kennington station on the Charing Cross branch, will have an initial peak time service of six trains an hour, increasing to 12 trains by mid-2022. There will be five trains an hour during off-peak times, doubling to 10 trains next year.

Major construction on the 3km twin-tunnel railway began in 2015, with the joint venture winning the £500m main contractor deal the year before.

Timeline of the Northern Line Extension:  

  • 2014: Secretary of state granted Transport and Works Act Order (November)  
  • 2015: Start of major construction works (November)  
  • 2017: Two tunnel boring machines – Helen and Amy - launched at Battersea (March) and broke-through at Kennington (November) – named in honour of the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, and British aviation pioneer, Amy Johnson, who was the first female pilot to fly solo from Britain to Australia  
  • 2018: Tunnelling work undertaken for new customer passageways linking platforms at Kennington Tube station   
  • 2019: Completion of track installation throughout the NLE. Engineering train travels the length of the extension for the first time (June)  
  • 2020: Power supplied to stations (November) and energisation of track (December). Start of dynamic testing with first test passenger train travelling the length of the extension (December)  
  • 2021: Trial operations begin (July); start of passenger services on 20 September  

 

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