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Kentish Town Tube station has reopened after a longer than expected shutdown to allow its escalators to be replaced.
The station, on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, had been closed since June 2023.
It reopened early on Monday morning – a date first revealed by The Standard two weeks ago.
However, its new ticket machines will not be ready until the New Year – meaning passengers will be unable to top up their Oyster card or buy a paper ticket in the station.
It will also be several weeks before direct access to Thameslink train services is also restored. Thameslink passengers will have to continue to use the out-of-hours entrance 20 metres along Kentish Town Road in the interim.
It’s a big day for NW5! Kentish Town station is open. It’s been shut for 18 months. Have a peek inside at the new escalators and ticket machines with me and @the_bedi on @BBCRadioLondon this morning 🚊 pic.twitter.com/weHgJBLZVz
— Sarah Morris (@SarahFMorris) December 23, 2024
Like the rest of the London Underground, the station will close on Tuesday night and not reopen until Boxing Day, as there will be no Tube services on Christmas Day.
In a further boost to Northern line passengers, Colindale station reopened – in a “temporary state” – last Friday (December 20) after being closed for six months for a major upgrade.
The work at Colindale, on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, is due to be completed in autumn 2025.
It will provide a landmark station building with a larger ticket hall and lift, giving the station step-free access for the first time.
The work overran at Kentish Town because the extent of disrepair was far greater than expected.
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The station was initially expected to open in the summer of 2024. This was pushed back to September 2024 – and then to the end of the year.
This included a complete rebuild of the ticket hall’s floor and ceiling. Some parts of the station were “beyond repair”.
The two escalators, which were 26 years old, were said to be the least reliable on the entire London Underground. Because they were obsolete, TfL struggled to find replacement parts when they broke down.
Contractors also removed the disused ticket office, realigned the ticket barriers to provide more space for customers, and installed more ticket gates, taking the total to seven.
New signs and tiling were added and historic features – such as the original clocks on the platforms and outside the station – were preserved. The station first opened in 1907.
The new escalators should last for 40 years. When not in use, the escalators will run slower to save energy.
Richard Jones, TfL’s director of asset performance delivery, said: “I’d like to thank our customers for their patience while we replaced the escalators at Kentish Town Tube station, particularly as the work took longer than originally planned due to additional challenges that were uncovered once the complex work had begun.
“The new escalators will greatly improve journeys through the station and are expected to be in service for the next 40 years.
“The station is now more spacious, more welcoming and easier to navigate for our customers as a result of the additional works we’ve done.”
The new escalators are the same model as those used on the Elizabeth line and throughout the London Underground network, making sourcing parts easier. This should lead to a reduction in unplanned station closures.
