Northern line closures disruptions limited

With TfL taking over the operations of Tube Lines, they have reviewed the forthcoming Northern line closures. Back in March, under Tube Lines, there was a proposal to close the entire Northern line north of Stockwell on Monday to Thursday evenings from 11:30pm.

But there is good news, the Mayor of London and Transport for London have now arranged closures such that only the Bank branch of the Northern line between Kennington and Camden Town and the High Barnet branch north of East Finchley would be closed around 9:30pm Mondays to Thursdays from 5 July.

It will mean that the Charing Cross branch will remain open and that through services will run between Morden and Edgware/East Finchley via Charing Cross. This will result as an alternative to Northern line customers. There will also be replacement bus services for the closed section.

As for the Morden branch, the weekend closures will still go ahead between Kennington and Morden through July and August as planned. The rest of the future closures is to be reviewed.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson welcomed the plan:

This is the first sign that we are close to an escape from the dastardly confines of PPP contracts that required closures to be arranged for the maximum benefit of shareholders rather than the travelling public.

This is vital upgrade work, and some closures will be necessary, but as we take control of Tube Lines and reconfigure the upgrade programme, we’ll be looking to proceed in a way that causes Londoners the least disruption possible.

This plan would be constantly reviewed to minimise disruption and fewer weekend closures.

Mike Brown, the Managing Director of London Underground said:

Londoners want their Tube upgraded, but they also want to be able to get around their city.

Although the Northern line upgrade is essential, we can approach it in a way that inconveniences Londoners less.

Some closures have already been planned, and we need to go ahead with them, but once we have control over the work we will be able to cut disruption. Our priority is to lay out a programme that gets the job done to a timetable that suits Londoners and with the minimum disruption to our customers and businesses.

Transport for London also said that they want to reassure passengers that a full service would be running during the 2012 Olympics.

The weekend closures between Kennington and Morden for July and August is now as follows:

10-11 July
31 July-1 August
7-8 August
21-22 August
30 August (Bank Holiday Monday)

This is certainly the first step in reducing disruption and trying to keep parts of the Northern line open. We will have to wait and see what other plans Transport for London have next.