Loan secured for London's Northern Line extension
11 December 2012The UK Government has agreed a loan of up to GBP 1bn (USD 1.6bn) that will allow London Underground to fund an extension of the Northern Line to the Battersea Power Station site. The work includes 3km of TBM driven tube-twin tunnels and two new stations, the Greater London Authortiy (GLA) announced late last week.
"I am delighted that after months of intensive discussions and hard work we have got the go ahead from Government on financing an extension to the Northern Line, which is hugely significant as Nine Elms is one of the areas with the greatest prospect for new development in the whole of the capital," said Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. "It will be an incredible confidence boost for developers preparing to invest there and it will also be a considerable boost for local people who will benefit from the new Tube link."
Officials from the Mayor's Office and TfL will now finalise arrangements for financing of the extension with the Government. Work could begin on the extension by 2015 and services could begin operation by 2020.
Financing the extension is the latest in a series of milestones to be achieved on the project over the last 12 months as considerable progress has been made on taking forward the planning framework for Nine Elms. In the last year a new buyer has been confirmed for the Battersea Power station site and plans have been proposed for a redevelopment of the site that will see the creation of 3,400 new homes, a new office quarter, a retail centre, new hotels, and an entertainment district.
A consultation is also already underway on the proposed extension of the Northern Line to Nine Elms and Battersea. The consultation is an essential piece of work that must be carried out before an application for a Transport and Works Act Order, which is required for infrastructure of this scale, is finalised in spring 2013, GLA stated.
As well as enabling access to the tube for thousands more passengers, GLA stated that the transport benefits from building an extension to the Northern Line include cutting journey times from that part of London to the West End and the City to around 15 minutes, reduced pressure on Vauxhall station, relief to existing Northern line services south of Kennington and wider access to leisure and employment opportunities for local people.
