London Underground's first major expansion this century opens to commuters
Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms connect up with Kennington
Last updated 20th Sep 2021
Two new Northern line tube stations have opened today (September 20) as part of the first major tube extension in decades.
The £1 billion Northern line extension to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station has been over 10 years in the making.
The new extension runs from Kennington station on the Charing Cross branch.
But the two-minute journey hasn’t been easy to make a reality, with TfL bosses saying the hardest challenge was 11 weeks of halted work due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In order to catch up, TfL looked at ways to overlap work and reduce trial period test running times safely.
The first train from Kennnington to Battersea Power Station was tested in December 2020, with 2021 being a period of signal system testing.
While tunnelling into Kennington Tube station, builders had to hand mine with primitive tools including their hands around the existing tunnel because you can’t bring big machinery into the station.
Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station are the first two Northern line stations in 80 years – the first major tube extension this century.
The last one was Mill Hill East in 1941 – then before that it was Morden in the 1920s.
Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, previously said:
“The two new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station are the first new stations on the Northern line for 80 years.
“They will hugely improve connectivity between these two areas and the rest of London, and play a major part in the capital’s recovery from the pandemic by supporting thousands of new jobs, homes and businesses.”
Councillor Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council, said:
“This huge £1 billion transport investment to extend the Northern line to Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms has been over 10 years in the making, so we are delighted that this growing Wandsworth neighbourhood is now firmly on the London Underground map.”