Transport for LondonHammersmith & City line
Hammersmith & City line Manager Pete Allaway
Work to improve Liverpool Street underground station, readying it for Crossrail, means we can't run Hammersmith and City line trains through it this weekend.
A team of engineers will be working at the station, on and around the Hammersmith and City line tracks.
We appreciate it may disrupt your journey, but it's all part of the plan to upgrade the Tube.
What's going on?
Our upgrade of the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines includes the oldest section of the Tube - from Paddington to Farringdon - which is nearly 150 years old.
To limit disruption, we've planned the upgrade to these lines in three stages: a new route, spacious new air-conditioned trains, and a new signalling system that will make journeys smoother and more reliable.
More Hammersmith trains
In December 2009, we extended the Circle line from Edgware Road to Hammersmith, along the Hammersmith & City tracks.
We did this so we could run trains more frequently between Edgware Road and Hammersmith. Now, there are twice as many trains running on this section of the line and, if there's a problem on the line, service should get back to normal far quicker than it used to.
New trains
In 2012, we'll be introducing 53 new trains on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. These will be seven carriages long - one carriage longer than our current trains.
In addition to being air-conditioned, they will have walk-through carriages, automated visual displays and station announcements, plus the reassurance of CCTV.
To improve accessibility, they will also have dedicated wheelchair areas, wider doors and walkways, lower passenger alarms and a smaller gap between the train and platform.
New signalling
Signalling ensures trains run safely, and the new, more modern systems also mean we can run more trains, faster and with fewer failures. Combined with bigger trains that we can move more quickly and closer together, it'll mean more room - or capacity - on the line.
That's good news because as London keeps growing there'll be more people using the Tube. When the upgrade is complete the combined line capacity will increase by 65 per cent, which means we can carry about 17,000 more passengers an hour.
See a preview of the new trains, which will be introduced in 2012
King's Cross St. Pancras
In 2010, we completed a massive redevelopment of King's Cross St. Pancras that quadrupled the size of this key station.
It already sees more passengers a year than Heathrow Airport, and by the time of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, more than 100,000 people will pass through the station at peak times every day.
King's Cross St. Pancras is now modern and spacious, has step-free access to all lines, and is less congested thanks to new ways to enter and exit the station.
Paddington station (Hammersmith & City)
More than 60,000 passengers currently use the Hammersmith & City station every day and demand has already increased dramatically as a result of the extension of the Circle line to Hammersmith.
We need to prepare for further increases in demand in advance of Crossrail services in 2018.
When will the work be finished?
Key improvements
- More trains to Hammersmith
- Capacity increased by 65%
- New air-conditioned trains
- New signalling system
- Major stations more accessible
- See also
- About London Underground
- Crossrail
Check if your Tube line is affected by upgrade works
