Battersea Extension

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Northern line extension Issue 5 • December 2015
Mayor of London visits NLE Battersea site
Mayor Boris Johnson MP visited the
Battersea site in November to mark the
launch of major works on the Northern line
extension.
The event focused on the starting up of the
conveyor that will transport excavated
material (or ‘spoil’) from the site out to the
jetty. Around 600,000 tonnes of spoil over
the course of the project will then travel by
barge down the River Thames to Tilbury in
Essex where it will be used to create arable
farmland.
After having a site safety induction and
getting into his protective equipment, the
Mayor met with members of the project
team before visiting the viewing platform on
the roof of the site offices for a briefing of
the current construction activities. He then
made his way onto the site to meet with 10
of our apprentices and local employees
before heading to the conveyor for media
interviews. On the Mayor’s signal, the
specially designed 300m-long belt whirred
into action.
The Mayor was accompanied by directors
from TfL, London Underground, Ferrovial
Agroman UK & Ireland and Laing O’Rourke,
Leader of Wandsworth Council Councillor
Ravi Govindia and the CEO of Battersea
Power Station Development Company Rob
Tincknell as well as members of the NLE
project team and members of the press.
On Monday 30 November Jane Ellison MP for
Battersea visited the Battersea site with
Wandsworth Councillor Jonathan Cook and
Deputy Economic Development Officer
Steve Diamond for an update on the works
and to see the progress from the viewing
platform.
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Kennington
We are building two permanent shafts at
Kennington Park and Kennington Green to
provide ventilation, cooling and emergency
access to the tunnels.
At Kennington Green, utility works are
continuing and foundation works (piling) has
started on site and more than 30 piles have
been completed to date. The Chivas wall has
also been demolished to allow vehicles direct
access to site. Traffic management measures
remain in place and we thank you for your
patience during this time.
Work over the next three months will
include:
 Completing utility works
 Completing the permanent hoarding
 Removal of obstructions
 Continuing piling works
At Kennington Park, the diversion of a major
gas main through the park has been
completed. The site has also been capped in
concrete to minimise dust pollution and the
construction of the piling mat (the base for
excavation of the shaft) continues. Piling
works have started on site with more than
100 piles completed to date.
Work over the next three months will
include:
 Continuing piling works

Piling rigs at Kennington Park and Green
Nine Elms
We are building a new Underground station
at Nine Elms near Pascal Street and
Wandsworth Road.
Banhams Security Building has now been
demolished ahead of schedule. Permanent
power has been installed on site so
temporary power generators are no longer
needed. Piling works continue, with 86 piles
completed to date and construction of the
piling mat for the remainder of the station
box piles and obstruction removal continues.
Works over the next three months include:
 Continuing piling works
 Continuing construction of the piling
mat
The demolition of Banhams and the bentonite plant
Battersea
We are building a new Underground station
in Battersea next to Battersea Park Road and
the Battersea Power Station development.
The station will be called ‘Battersea Power
Station’.
The conveyor has been commissioned and
diaphragm wall works have started.
Diaphragm walling (d-walling) involves
excavating a narrow trench which is then
filled with concrete to create the ‘walls’ of
the station and crossover boxes. Utility
diversion works are also taking place in
Battersea Park Road to construct the new
site entrance. Traffic management measures
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are in place including a temporary bus stop eastbound, closure of the westbound bus stop and a temporary pedestrian crossing. We thank you for your patience during these works.
Works over the next three months will include:
 Continuing with d-walling works
 Continuing barge movements from Battersea jetty
 Constructing a new site entrance
The crossover box construction at Battersea
Facts and figures
 Each running tunnel is 3.2km long – that’s more than 6km of tunnels
 The conveyor belt will carry the equivalent, in weight, of 50,000 Routemaster buses over the course of the project
 The full cost of the project is expected to be up to £1bn
 At its peak there will be more than 500 people working on the project
 When in operation, the extension will carry people from Battersea to the West End in under 15 minutes
 We will be constructing a total of 350 piles to build the foundations for the new Nine Elms station
You said, we did…
With work continuing on all sites we have received a number of enquiries and comments. Some of the issues include:
 Traffic management – we continue to work closely with TfL Highways and the local authorities. Monthly meetings ensure coordination of all traffic management schemes in the Kennington area
 Noise and vibration – we have liaised closely with affected residents, are monitoring buildings and have briefed subcontractors on their obligations
 Settlement Deeds and defects surveys – this process continues; all Deeds have been distributed to those who requested one and we are in the process of receiving the signed copies. Defect surveys continue and will be undertaken no less than four weeks before works that may affect your property
 Public utilities – we are working closely with the Statutory Utility companies to minimise the risk of service disruption that are a result of our works
 Site lighting – lights that were causing a nuisance to residents have been shielded and we are reviewing lighting on hoardings
Working hours over the festive period
All sites will shut down from the evening of 23 December until 04 January. 24/7 on-site security will continue over this period.
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Community Liaison Groups
The following Community Liaison Groups meet regularly to provide residents, businesses and councillors with an opportunity to find out more about the Northern line extension:
 Kennington Park and Newington
 Kennington Green
 Nine Elms and Oval
 Battersea
 Core Group – an overall liaison group considering route-wide issues
Residents are welcome. Presentations, minutes and details of upcoming meetings are on our website – tfl.gov.uk/northern-line-extension.
Timeline
2014
Transport and Works Act Order decision
2015
Main works start
2016
Tunnel Boring Machines arrive on site
2017
Tunnelling complete
2018
Station fit out
2019
Testing and commissioning
2020
Extension in operation
Staying in touch
For more information and to register for updates on the scheme, visit tfl.gov.uk/northern-line-extension
You can also email the project team at nle@tfl.gov.uk or call our helpdesk on
0343 222 2424 (Option 1).
We will be running regular ‘drop in’ sessions at all sites. Dates and locations will be on the website and community notice boards.
Transforming the Northern line
The extension includes two new 3.2km of new tunnels connecting to the existing Northern line at Kennington and two new Underground stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station.
The extension is part of a massive investment programme to transform the Northern line which includes:
 A signalling upgrade which has achieved a 20 per cent increase in capacity through central London
 More frequent trains following the signalling upgrade
 Plans to rebuild Tube stations that are critical to improving capacity and supporting regeneration. These include Tottenham Court Road, Bank, Camden Town and Elephant & Castle






That even surprised me to learn the final name will be "Battersea Power Station"

Wonder if the 'suit' used his fingers or a calculator?

IQ less than his shoe size then?

It certainly will be fun in the future saying Battersea Power Station station

There are no guarantees but Alstom, if they are interested in the work, must be the favourite as they have a huge amount of knowledge plus there is the Northern Line Train Service Contract which gives them availability and maintenance responsibilities on the Northern.

The potential procurement covers both Northern and Jubilee which just increases Alstom's potential advantage. However I'd be surprised if no one was interested in bidding other than Alstom. As a potential to "get a foot in the door" for future tube stock orders then this order may help familiarise bidders other than Alstom and Bombardier with LU's "way of doing things". That might be considered an advantage if there is reasonable confidence that new trains can actually be brought into service with minimal risk to a new bidder. That's a big "if" if you ask me but I'm not a rolling stock supplier.

There are no engineering works on the Northern over the Christmas period anyway.

Why are they making such a wide tunnel? Not even the JLE tunnel was of this diameter.

I think it's highly unlikely there will ever be any more West End trains running to/from Morden than there are now, except if the city branch has to be closed at any time (for example during the proposed upgrade work at Bank). remember that the planned layout at Kennington means that all Battersea trains will have to go via the West End. This will obviously limit the number of Morden trains which can go to the West End.

As has been observed before, it would have to be the Edgware branch unless you are going to build a new depot somewhere.


The general view is that the proposed extensive rebuilding of Camden Town would have to precede any split. The present layout would be dangerously overcrowded if any more passengers had to interchange there.

I doubt that any split would take place before the completion of the proposed work at Bank (new southbound platform) as, for at least some of that time, all trains to Morden will have to use the West End branch.



Why rename the W&C? - and if it's because of the word "City" there's another line that would need renaming.

And why the Battersea Line, rather than, say, Edgware? (to foreigners unfamiliar with English names it helps if each line has a different initial letter, although I think we're stuck with Central and Circle). I rather favour the Mornington Line, to help understanding of which of the two lines it's on!

The crossover box is just on the Vauxhall side of the new station and will be the site of the crossovers/points to allow the trains to switch tracks when arriving/departing.

It will be dug from above and will allow the tunnelling machines to be lowered into position to start their digging.

Which would give a direct link to Waterloo for the Jubilee to Canary Wharf

Which the Battersea extension also provides!

Folks, let's not drift off topic here. The extension is happening whether we like it or not. If people want to discuss extending the Bakerloo, please start a thread in RIPAS. Thanks.

The route chosen doesn't go via Vauxhall station, at least according to carto.metro. If an interchange with the Victoria line is to happen it will have to be at a new station. The lines do appear to both be straight at the point of crossing and they cross at approximately right angles, so I'd suggest that a new station would not be physically impossible, but I have no knowledge of whether passive provision for this has been included in the design or not.

Further discussion of such an interchange station (beyond confirmation of the (lack of) passive provision) would probably be best in a RIPAS thread.