Escalators will be worked on two-at-a-time to finish project as quickly as possible
"Holborn is one of our busiest stations, with 40 million customers each year, and we need to make sure that the escalators are reliable for the future"
David Hughes
London Underground's Director of Strategy and Service Development

TfL is advising customers who use Holborn Underground station that work to refurbish the escalators at the station will start from Monday 22 August.

During the work, the station will operate as exit only with no interchange from the Central line to the Piccadilly line between 7:30am and 10am on weekdays.

There are seven escalators at the station that need to be refurbished due to their age and condition. There are four between the ticket hall and the intermediate concourse for the Central line and three from there to the Piccadilly line platforms.

Boost the reliability

These will be worked on two-at-a-time in order to complete the refurbishment as soon as possible. The modernisation work will boost the reliability of the escalators, which is crucial to ensure the station can continue to deal with ever-increasing customer demand as London's population continues to grow.

Services on both lines will continue to call at the station during the work. Interchange between the lines will be restored in autumn 2017, with all work completed at the entrance to the station during the morning peak by March 2018.

40 million customers

David Hughes, London Underground's Director of Strategy and Service Development, said: 'This work is necessary because the escalators at Holborn are becoming increasingly unreliable due to their age and heavy use.

'Holborn is one of our busiest stations, with 40 million customers each year, and we need to make sure that the escalators are reliable for the future.

'I apologise for the disruption that this work will cause to passengers. We have carefully planned the refurbishment to keep trains on both lines calling at the station, minimising disruption, reducing the length of time of the work and ensuring that the station can operate safely.

'Once the work is complete, the escalators will be more reliable and there will be less disruption to journeys through the station.'

Customers are advised to allow extra time for their journeys, particularly in the morning and evening peak hours. For alternative journeys, customers can use other local stations such as Covent Garden, Russell Square and Tottenham Court Road.

Holborn is the 14th busiest station on the network during the working week, with over 60,000 customers exiting the station every weekday and over 40 million customers using the station annually.

 

Notes to Editors:

  • Two 'up' escalators are needed to clear the Piccadilly line platforms during the morning peak hours, hence the need to restrict access to the platform from intermediate level. During other times, there are fewer customers leaving Piccadilly line trains and so there can be one 'up' and one 'down' escalator