Bank consultation

[flippyff]

consultations.tfl.gov.uk/tube/bank/consult_view

Bank station capacity upgrade
Overview
The Tube is now running more services than ever before. At the same time demand is at its highest level in our 148 year history and we are carrying more than a billion passengers each year, as many as the entire National Rail network. The Tube upgrade programme is therefore vital – and a major part of our programme is to increase capacity at key stations so they can cope with increased demand in the future.

Bank station is the fourth busiest station on the London Underground (LU) network (interlinked with Monument) and provides access to the heart of the City of London. It comprises five Underground lines, a DLR terminus, three ticket halls, ten platforms, 15 escalators and two 300 foot moving walkways.

Bank has seen a huge increase in passenger numbers in recent years – with a 43 per cent rise in customers interchanging at the station and the number of passengers entering and leaving the station up by about a third since 2003. Currently 96,000 passengers use Bank during the morning peak period of which about 40,000 are changing between lines.

The Northern line platforms, in particular, are severely congested during the morning and evening peaks. Crowding is made worse by insufficient passenger circulation space, a result of the complex way the station has developed over the past 127 years.

Why we are consulting
After significant research and planning in close collaboration with the City of London Corporation, LU is proposing a scheme that will make a huge difference in reducing crowds and improving access at Bank. The key benefits of this scheme are:

• Increased capacity on the Northern line platforms by constructing a new running tunnel and platform for southbound trains

• A wider circulation area for the Northern line by using the existing southbound platform and tunnel space

• A new station entrance

• Step-free access between Northern line platforms and street level and from the Northern line to the DLR

<<Mappy planny type thing >>

The majority of works are below ground level apart from the new station entrance. The proposed works are complex but disruption to neighbours and customers will be kept to a minimum during construction and environmental impacts will be managed through industry best practices.

Before the work can begin LU will need to secure planning permission and gain a Transport & Works Act Order (TWAO) which will cover the major part of the works. We will also seek consent on heritage matters and planning permission for any development above the new station entrance.

If approval is received work is expected to start in 2015 and targeted for completion in 2021, though some customer benefits delivered by the scheme may be available before then.

In addition to this proposed scheme, LU has been working with the developers of Walbrook Square for a new station entrance to the Waterloo & City line, which is already underway. Both projects will together offer a much improved and less crowded station for our passengers at Bank.

LU will communicate regularly over the next phases of development leading up to the submission of the TWAO application. We will also host a public exhibition where you can learn more detail about the project and speak to our technical experts about any concerns. Please keep an eye out for publicity about the venue and timings.

Planned project timescales

Consultation and development	Now until end of 2012
Transport and Works Act Order application	second half of 2012
Start of construction	2015
Target completion	2021

Please have your say on the proposed scheme by completing the online form below.

Give Us Your Views
This consultation will open on 6 October 2011. Please come back on or after this date to give us your views.

[Deep Level]

I'm sorry...is this a discussion about it or are you advertising this?

[flippyff]

I'm drawing peoples attention to it.

One down, rest of the planet to go.....

;-)

[Deleted]

Thanks flippyff... and that's two down

So, if there's a 43% rise in passengers interchanging, where are they all going from-to? and what potential is there for providing new routes or interchanges that can take the pressure off Bank? For example, if lots more people are changing onto trains to Canary Wharf, what about a new north-south route through Canary Wharf, so people can interchange out in the burbs?

That's a tight squeeze between the DLR and Northern tunnels!

Couple of isometrics <HERE> and <HERE>

[edwin]

I've asked this before, but why will this take nearly the entire time of Crossrail's construction to build?

[chrisvandenkieboom]

Why does this have to take much longer than the construction of the original Met? (only 3 years!) or the C&SLR (5 years or so?)

[suncloud]

Presumably to minimise disruption to roads, businesses and people wanting to use bank station/the northern line. There is also so much legislation that seems to delay infrastructure projects these days, all in themselves well meaning. (Thinks like Working Hours, Noise overnight H&S etc.)
Recently the local authority closed a fairly major road in the town every night for a week and a half to put a new hand rail on a pedestrian overbridge.

[rsdworker]

Oct 1, 2011 10:54:21 GMT suncloud said:

Presumably to minimise disruption to roads, businesses and people wanting to use bank station/the northern line. There is also so much legislation that seems to delay infrastructure projects these days, all in themselves well meaning. (Thinks like Working Hours, Noise overnight H&S etc.)
Recently the local authority closed a fairly major road in the town every night for a week and a half to put a new hand rail on a pedestrian overbridge.

that's a silly closure for just handrails - they should know better

[chrisvandenkieboom]

By the way, if LU is gonna reconstruct the Northern line at Bank, why won't they just do the entire station, for crying out loud?

[Deleted]

Nice to see that, according to the map, I've was working in a museum for the last 5 years!
It seems I'll now have to commute through several more years of chaos at Bank! Fortunately I only use it in the evenings now, and only the W&C, so shouldn't be too bad.

[chrisvandenkieboom]

I wonder what the questions will be like in the consultation... (Can non-Londoners who sometimes visit London and regularly change from DLR to Northern at Bank also join in?)

[abe]

Oct 1, 2011 17:57:03 GMT chrisvandenkieboom said:

By the way, if LU is gonna reconstruct the Northern line at Bank, why won't they just do the entire station, for crying out loud?

Because it would cost even more and cause even more disruption? And what else do you want done? Another thread has discussed straightening the Central line and discounted the possibility. Yes, the station is a bit of a warren, but that's just the result of new lines being added to it over the years, and new subways being constructed. There are probably very few places that extra subways could be added that would make the station easier to use.

Building a new SB running tunnel and platform can be done without too much disruption - thinking back to the works at Angel - it is only the 'plumbing in' to the existing tunnels that will cause closures. This will be be for the step-plate junctions in the running tunnels, and then constructing the central concourse in the old SB platform tunnel. I can't remember how long this took at London Bridge - probably a couple of months of closure, followed by a couple more whilst finishing works were carried out overnight. Of course, if the southernmost step-plate junction is impractical for the same reasons as they had at London Bridge then the SB City branch will have to undergo a lengthier closure. The plan that is included on the consultation web page indicates that this might be the case.

(For those who are unaware, when the new SB tunnel was made at London Bridge, the line needed closing because it was not possible to build a step plate junction at the north end. The junction is under the Thames, in the vicinity of the old bridge, and surveys showed that the river bed might have depressions resulting from tidal scour. The large side of a step-plate junction could have breached one of these, flooding the tunnels. Instead, the running tunnel was filled with low-density foam concrete and the new running tunnel was tunnelled directly into the old.)

[chrisvandenkieboom]

Straightening the Central line isn't that necessary. Making sure that someone going from the Central to Monument doesn't unnecessarily use the Northern and DLR platforms is. I already suggested a main wide subway with the flat escalators (whatever their name may be. don't feel like googling now), Jubilee at Waterloo style.

[younglulnerd]

chrisvandenkieboom, they're called travelators (US Eng) or moving walkways.

Oh, and if they are doing the Northern, why not do the W&C at the same time, so that it would be easier to get to Moorgate.

Forword planning, something not known by TfL...

[chrisvandenkieboom]

Thanks ;') All platforms would be linked to my main wide subway, which should provide the following;

Step-free access to all platforms
Step-free access to trains on platforms that don't have a gap (not sure which ones, definitely the DLR)
Step-free interchange to the platforms and in some cases trains...

[abe]

Do what to the W&C? It can't be extended eastwards; it's blocked in by the Central line (as well as the travelators and other subways). There was a lot of work done c.1913 looking at connecting the GN&CR (at Moorgate) to the W&C, which concluded that it wasn't really practical. There are too many deep basements and too many other tunnels in the area. The best that could be done was getting the GN&CR to a pair of platforms below (I think; might have been above) the W&C platforms and putting escalators between them. The problem north to Moorgate is that the Northern line tunnels are under the street, and at Moorgate the platforms would have to be either under the Northern and Northern City (i.e., very deep), or to the side, making for an awkward interchange. Add to this the new Crossrail tunnels, as well as the fact that this would duplicate the Northern line, and I really don't see the point.

With regard to a new Bank (Central) to Monument subway - isn't this pretty much what will happen when the new SB Northern line platform is built? The DLR route isn't via the DLR platforms, but a central passageway. It's not the most convenient, I freely admit, partly because of the number of escalators involved. The new SB Northern line platform will free up the old SB platform to become a wide concourse though, and not so deep, so a third route to Monument seems to be overkill. And if travelators were put in, allowing links to all the other platforms would mean a large number of short travelators, increasing the cost and reducing the benefit of putting them in at all. Now, if it was found that there was a particularly large amount of traffic between the Central line and Monument, then a direct travelator connection might be a solution, but I'm not sure if there is a straight-line route available, given the number of tunnels in the area. If the route isn't straight you start to need more travelators...

What would be useful would be a direct connection to Mansion House from the west end of the W&C platforms. If it ever happened I'd like to see how the station complex would appear on the map!

[Deleted]

@ abe, lots of info, thanks

Do you know of any on-line sources of that work c.1913? This discussion on the GN&City linked to the W&City just wont go away, so it would be good to present some more detail on why it wont work...

I think it was Tubeman who suggested turning Cannon St into a through station by burrowing the lines immediately after they crossed the Thames. Any thoughts on the practicality of that?

If indeed it was possible, it's a short distance over to Moorgate and conceivably could then take over the GN&City. This would go directly under the Bank, but there would not necessarily need to be a station there, but perhaps new Moorgate platforms under Lothbury...

[chrisvandenkieboom]

@bank to Monument subway; it will be pretty much as straight as possible and it will have junctions to other lines. Southbound platform can also be used, but my idea creates easier step-free access.

[abe]

@lemmo: the information on the W&C - GN&CR link is in London's Lost Tube Schemes, pages 277-281; I'm not aware of any on-line sources.

@chris: If the Bank-Monument subway is shallow, it runs into problems of under-street utilities (and these go deeper than you would imagine). Every connection to another line will involve steps, escalators, and/or lifts - all of which have to avoid conflicting with existing tunnels. Make it deeper and it the subway clashes with the existing station tunnels. Every junction with another line means a break in the travelator, i.e., an extra machine, extra motors, etc. If the station was being designed from scratch it would make sense - but then the station wouldn't be laid out in the same way in the first place. The same would apply to many other stations as well.

Let's face it, most Underground stations have grown in a piecemeal fashion as lines are added and tweaks are made to address problems - most notably congestion. A fantasy subway to link all lines and give step-free access would be great at most central London stations. Unfortunately it just isn't possible to thread it through the existing labyrinth.

[Ben]

Are there any indicative plans for how the Fleet line would have integrated at Canon Street into the complex? Seems only natural that it would have had a direct connection somehow...

[chrisvandenkieboom]

Oct 6, 2011 20:00:04 GMT abe said:

@lemmo: the information on the W&C - GN&CR link is in London's Lost Tube Schemes, pages 277-281; I'm not aware of any on-line sources.

@chris: If the Bank-Monument subway is shallow, it runs into problems of under-street utilities (and these go deeper than you would imagine). Every connection to another line will involve steps, escalators, and/or lifts - all of which have to avoid conflicting with existing tunnels. Make it deeper and it the subway clashes with the existing station tunnels. Every junction with another line means a break in the travelator, i.e., an extra machine, extra motors, etc. If the station was being designed from scratch it would make sense - but then the station wouldn't be laid out in the same way in the first place. The same would apply to many other stations as well.

Let's face it, most Underground stations have grown in a piecemeal fashion as lines are added and tweaks are made to address problems - most notably congestion. A fantasy subway to link all lines and give step-free access would be great at most central London stations. Unfortunately it just isn't possible to thread it through the existing labyrinth.

Weren't separate tunnels made for the utilities at some point? LU must have them... Connections to other lines just have the moving walkway on a slight incline, but not that much inclined that wheelchairs become dangerous without a proper handbrake.