Look folks, TfL Rail trains are starting to be rebranded as Elizabeth line, and have the Lizzie line on their internal tube maps.
Less than 10 days to go...
BOOM! Northern line reopened: A DAY EARLY. @transportforlondon pulls back the gates, trains start running, staff at the the gateline smiling and THEY WAIT. No announcement, no fanfare, just the JOY of passengers happening upon a railway that ain’t meant to be there yet and grinning staff delighted that a few of us have walked past, done a double-take and said “is… is it open?” Whoever is Louisa’s boss at Borough GIVE HER A BIG GOLD STAR please because she is the sort of person that makes @transportforlondon GREAT. She is so chuffed to have people back and she has been proudly showing customers her lovely gleaming white new station all afternoon. The rest of you - everyone involved in the Bank Upgrade project - I know it’s been a crazy 17 weeks because I saw behind the scenes: you are all total superstars. And it ain’t finished yet: travolator and escalators and snagging is still in hand. But it’s open and you sodding did it and we who use the branch as part of our daily lives will be so sodding pleased.
.
To see BEHIND THE SCENES of this project - and what’s been left behind - #secretsofthelondonunderground this Thursday night at 8pm on @yesterday_channel shows the birth of the new tube route. More footage from behind the cameras in Jan from me later this week! Love from Tim x
.
#northernline#bankupgrade#bankstation#micdrop#thetube#londonunderground#tflrocks#tfl#newstation#tubestation#railways#railwayarchitecture#tubetrains#thelondonunderground#london#londonlife#accidentallywesanderson#cityoflondon
1,583
14
2 days ago
London’s oldest abandoned deep level tube train running tunnel… followed by the most recent! Oldest is the tiny, constricted and tortuously-inclined running line into King William Street, near Monument; the newest is the former southbound running tunnel at Bank.
.
Back in January, we were given incredible and exclusive access to the Bank upgrade project worksite, accessed through an almost secret door at Monument. Wow. What a day that was! Down scores of steps to see the abandoned Victorian tube station of King William Street station (more pics and trailer later in week) but then on to see the TfL plus contractor teams LITERALLY carve out a tunnel from the London clay in front of our eyes. It was if we were watching a new tube line being born!
.
King William St is incredible: more info tomorrow.
.
We traipsed on up the new tunnel with the experts (the leader of whom was at my alma mater, Exeter University - over at its world-acclaimed Camborne School of Mines) showing us how Bank was being built.
.
As one digger hacked into the cast-iron rings of the old Northern line, another was hoisting up platform signage. Extraordinary, as I so often find myself saying: because NONE OF THIS IS ORDINARY. It is all quite simply amazing.
.
The old southbound running tunnel has now become the central passenger concourse - as from my posts yesterday - enabling better passenger flows and safer access for all - with the new running line and wide platforms receiving trains as of last night. There's a travelator and escalators yet to be finished - they’re all phase 2 - but last night people like me who live on the Northern line Bank branch breathed a sigh of relief as @transportforlondon and its contractors nailed it, ahead of time. Cheers and well done all.
.
See HOW they did it and how we got our access on #secretsofthelondonunderground this THURSDAY at 8pm on @Yesterday_channel@UKTV . .
.
#socialhistory#tube#thetube#london#bank#bankupgrade#bankstation#northernline#tfl#transportforlondpon#jobwelldone#younailedit#londonunderground#leadingfromthefront#underground#railways#transit#urbex#urbanexploration#urbanhistory#history#STEM#engineering#tunnels
