Negotiating the Northern Line

The council is urging London Underground (LU) to undertake much-needed signalling improvements on the Northern Line, but to keep the tube running as far as possible during the works. The immediate outlook for local commuters is one of continued disruption with overcrowding likely to continue until 2011 at least, and unacceptable levels of closures to the line.

The so-called 'Misery Line' has long suffered from ageing rolling stock and signalling which together with maintenance difficulties associated with a deep-level line have contributed to its reputation for unreliability.

The current programme of station modernisation and signalling works is scheduled to run until 2012.  

One of the ways in which LU and Tubelines are trying to improve reliability is by terminating services at Kennington. The downside for many people travelling up from Balham and Tooting is that this means longer, less convenient journeys.

Peak time frequencies on the Charing Cross branch have also been reduced while in the evenings and weekends people travelling to the West End are increasingly facing a change at Kennington.  

Proposed extension

The Council supports proposals to extend the Northern Line from Kennington to a new station at Battersea Power Station which would benefit a large part of Wandsworth Borough not currently served by the Tube network. This would involve permenantly segregating the two Northern Line services through central London (via Charing Cross and Bank stations) which should make the service more reliable.

More information

For more information on TfL's planned upgrades, see Transforming the Northern line.

For up-to-date travel news see TfL's Northern Line live travel news.

Have your say and find out what others are saying