Bank Station is to undergo an overhaul that will see parts of the station close for up to 10 months beginning this weekend.
The Bank & Monument station complex is the Tube network’s fourth busiest interchange, dealing with 98 million passengers a year, so it’s going to be a jolly commute for workers in the City, who are already exasperated with ongoing mayhem at London Bridge.
Fortunately parts of the station will remain open, and in the long term, the £57m overhaul aims to reduce congestion.
But before that, the Waterloo & City line subway – which provides access to and from the DLR and Northern line platforms – will be closed from Sunday 8 November until August 2016.
While the closure is in place, customers changing between the Waterloo & City line, DLR and Northern line will travel via the Northern ticket hall on weekdays, and via the Central line platforms at weekends.
When the works are completed, the new entrance to the Waterloo & City line will offer two new lifts, four new escalators and a new ticket hall.
Miles Ashley, London Underground’s construction programme director, said: “This new Tube entrance will be only a stone’s throw away from the Bank of England – providing direct access to the heart of the City of London’s financial district.
“With a design nod to the City’s ancient Roman past, this new Waterloo & City line entrance will make journeys swifter and easier for the hundreds of thousands of Tube customers who use Bank station every day.”
If you’re wondering what the “ancient Roman past” bit he’s on about is, then TfL also included this genuinely fascinating snippet in their press release: “The area is home to the ruins of the historic Roman Temple of Mithras, and layers of history have been revealed throughout the construction with archaeologists from the Museum of London uncovering more than 30 Roman tablets.
“This rich history is to be celebrated in the new station entrance with the installation of 24 etched-glass panels in the concourse. The panels were created by celebrated artist John Hutton in 1960 to commemorate the find of the ruins and celebrate the history of the ancient site on the long-vanished river Walbrook. The panels were previously displayed on the now-demolished Bucklersbury House, where the ruins were discovered.”