Kentish Town station was due to re-open this summer after improvement works at the Northern line stop started on June 28 last year. But the reopening has been pushed back to September after Transport for London (TfL) said it had ‘identified assets that require essential repair’.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who is also TfL’s Chair, was asked recently if these were not identified in the initial assessment and redevelopment plan. He told the London Assembly that parts of the stop that needed to be worked on were ‘previously concealed’.
Mr Khan said on May 29: “As part of the closure to replace the escalators at Kentish Town, Transport for London took the opportunity to make improvements to the ticket hall. By removing the redundant ticket office, space will be created to install additional ticket gates. This will improve passenger flow between the National Rail and London Underground stations and improve the ambience at the station.
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“Following demolition of the ticket office, assets were identified as needing repairs in advance of safely re-opening to customers. The requirement for this work on previously concealed parts of the station only became evident following the demolition work.”
What’s going to change?
On April 2, TfL said that the original work at Kentish Town was to upgrade the escalators, and this was on track for completion in the summer. But, during work to improve other parts of the station engineers identified assets – including the ticket hall floor and ceiling – in December 2023 that required ‘essential repair to allow the station to operate safely’.
A freedom of information case officer added at the time: “Other work is being completed to improve the look and feel of the station including deep cleaning, painting, installing of new floor and wall tiling, and new signage. Further, following the commercial unit becoming vacant during the pandemic, some work has been undertaken to ensure that the space is ready to go back onto the market.”
The authority also provided a list of how many people had been working on the station between June, 2023, and February this year.
If you’re on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line between Camden Town and Tufnell Park, look out of the train window. You will see the Kentish Town platform whizz past, which, still very much looks like a building site.
Colindale station meanwhile is now closed for six months as Levelling Up funding has been secured to upgrade the stop. Until December, there will be no access to the Tube from the station.
TfL says the upgrade promises a spacious new ticket hall and a lift to provide step-free access for the first time, all in a new building to improve the Colindale area.
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