20% capacity boost for Northern Line

摘要

London Underground marked the completion of the first stage of its £500m programme to rebuild Tottenham Court Road station with the opening of the new ticket hall on January 12. Connected to the North-em Line platforms by the second-longest set of escalators on the LU network, the new facility will also be connected to the Central Line once the old ticket hall has been cleared away. This stage is scheduled for completion 'before December', according to LU Managing Director Mike Brown, with Central Line services having ceased to call at the station on January 3 (RB1476 p8). At present, the new station box is accessed by escalators from the south side of Oxford Street. A second entrance via a new covered piazza is taking shape below Centre Point, east of Charing Cross Road. A further bank of escalators will connect the new ticket hall with the Crossrail platforms that are due to open in December 2018. Although the Crossrail station box was delivered by LU as part of its rebuilding works, the fit-out is being managed directly by Crossrail Ltd. Nevertheless, much of the new signage is already in place for the interchange, which is expected to see station usage jump from 150 000 to 200 000 passengers/day.