The revamped Tottenham Court Road underground station has opened with a new entrance and enlarged ticket hall.
Designed by HawkinsBrown and undertaken by Taylor Woodrow Construction and BAM Nuttall, the project is part of a programme to upgrade the station in preparation for Crossrail. The arrival of the cross city railway, which will run from 2018, is expected to increase the number of passengers using the station from 150,000 to 200,000.
The enlarged ticket hall is accessed from a new entrance on Oxford Street with three additional escalators leading down from the entrance to the ticket hall and a further three new escalators leading from the ticket hall to the Northern line lower concourse.
At present only the Northern line is running from the station, with work on the Central line concourse expected to be complete in 2016. When complete the station will be fully accessible, with five new lifts providing step-free access from the ticket hall to the platforms.
The enlarged ticket hall is accessed from a new entrance on Oxford Street
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Last month we had the busiest week on the Tube in its history and as London’s population grows our work to modernise and improve our transport network becomes ever more vital.”
Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground, added: “The opening of this fantastic new ticket hall in a key West End station and the completion of the main element of the Northern line are both significant milestones in our vital work to modernise the Tube and meet the demands of London’s rapidly growing population.”
Redevelopment work to increase capacity is underway at a number of stations including Victoria and Bond Street, and more than half of London Underground’s 270 stations have now been modernised or refurbished.