Milestone reached in Elephant & Castle upgrade

A milestone has been reached in the project to increase capacity at London’s Elephant & Castle underground station.

Transport for London (TfL) has awarded a contract to Dragados UK for the design and construction of new passenger tunnels at the tube station, which will link the new station box to the existing platforms and overbridge.

The first stage of the major upgrade of Elephant & Castle station, which includes the tunnelling work, is funded by the Greater London Authority (GLA), London Borough of Southwark (LBS) and contributions from local developers. Work on excavating around 135m of new passenger tunnels will start next year and is due to be completed in 2027. 

Engineers celebrated excavating to the lowest level – 33m below ground – in March this year. The station box will also support a new oversite development, including the new campus for UAL’s London College of Communication.

The ongoing work includes constructing a new station box and passenger tunnels, enabling a new, larger Northern line entrance and ticket hall, with step-free access and futureproofing for a possible extension of the Bakerloo Line to Lewisham, which is currently unfunded.

The new entrance and ticket hall would initially improve capacity for Northern Line customers but is being constructed in such a way that it could serve both Northern and Bakerloo Line customers in future.