Brixton Tube Station queues will continue until July 2015, admits TfL

By
Tim Dickens
-
Picture by @_preeya_
Picture by @_preeya_

Tedious rush hour queues to get into Brixton station will continue until at least July next year, Transport for London have admitted.

Brixton commuters have had a week of ‘complete chaos’ since TfL began work on one of the three escalators at the Tube station last week.

Related: Brixton Tube escalator works: Your guide to alternative travel

Tube bosses originally said that the work would be completed by the end of the month, but yesterday it emerged they would then start work on the other escalators. The overall work will not be completed until next summer, offering a winter of big rush hour queues to get down to the platforms.

Passengers were urged to use Stockwell or Oval stations instead, and special buses have been provided to shuttle people from Brixton to Stockwell.

Peter McNaught, operations director at TfL, said: “We have just commenced works to refurbish two of the three escalators at Brixton station.

“The escalators are over 40 years old and now need to be refurbished to ensure the continued safe operation of the station for the future. To keep the station open  the escalators are being refurbished one at a time, however we appreciate that it is taking longer for customers to enter and exit the station during the morning and evening rush hour.

“We have more  staff at the station and additional buses operating between Brixton and Stockwell stations to help customers with their journeys. I would like to apologise for any disruption caused while these works take place, which are due to be completed by Summer 2015.”

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22 COMMENTS

  4. After a week of chaos, so far I have not managed to see a single engineer working on the escalator. Can TfL not employ more people to shorten the disruption? And surely some of the work could be done overnight or at weekends? And why not ask people travelling against the flow to use alternative stations rather than the people commuting into London? Shame on you TfL!

  5. I go through the Tube station twice a day and have seen not one, not a single person, at work on that escalator. Nobody. Neither are there any noises of work going on beneath it.

    Colossal inefficiency and utterly unacceptable. The idea that it will take until next Spring to fix a single escalator is a sick joke.

    Brixton blog, may I suggest that you start gathering names for a petition for Brixtonites to be reimbursed part of their tube fare because of the appalling disruption. I would sign immediately.

    And ROSS, whoever you are: I would like to think that the days of deciding who is and who is not an acceptable inhabitant of Brixton are a thing of the past. That sort of thinking didn’t turn out very well for us in the past and nobody with an ounce of sense wants it back. Please become a nicer, more thoughtful person.

  7. Peter McNaught needs to go back and check his facts and come up with a better solution as to why this work is happening at Brixton Tube Station. This station underwent building works and refurbishment from around 2000 to 2010. Yes, unbelievably it took nearly a decade to complete all this work. This included replacing the existing two escalators and installing a third instead of the stairs that used to be there. These escalators took years to sort out and here we are 4 years later being told that works are needed again. This station was opened in 1971 after work started in 1967. It then lasted until 2000 when it was upgraded to meet the increase in passengers, new trains, new track, extra escalator, new lift from ground to platform and extra ticket machines. Now it takes 10 years to upgrade and lasts a mere 4 years. Whereas back in 1967 it took 4 years to build from start and lasted 29 years. TFL need to explain to passengers why this is happening and not place it on 40 year escalators that were removed afew years ago. This station is not large and it serves only one line in comparison to say Oxford Street. What on earth is going on tfl? Why are new escalators needing an overhaul after afew years? Does this mean that other new escalators installed in the past 14 years under the tube/station upgrades will suffer the same fate? Is there something wrong with these new escalators? Too many questions but 40 years old they ain’t.

  8. Why was it not said first time round that all three escalators, rather than only one, would be repaired?

  10. This illustrates exactly why we need the new Brixton overground link on the upper rail line (see Brixton Blog article February 5th). So bleedin obvious.

  12. The escalators are not 40 years old, the middle one they are repairing was a staircase just a few years ago, it is virtually new. Its just that it has been built so poorly that already it needs renewing. Last time it was built it took nearly 3 years if my memory is correct, God help us all if they need to rebuild it again. The shard went up in about that time, but asking TFL contractors to work like builders of the Shard is a little like trying to get Lambeth council to maintain its trees.

    • I remember when the Middle one had the escalope put in and that took 2 years. I remover saying how a house could be built in less time. Bullshit TFL.

  14. It often strikes me why they can’t just make the station entrance only between hours 0800 and 0930 and exit only between hours 1700 and 1900.

  15. Absolutely outrageous. Locals at Brixton had to endure years of travel disruption while the station was being “completely overhauled” and they now need to fix the escalators because they are over 40 years old? What the f*** were they doing all those years then?!

    I am truly angry. Tfl needs to compensate commuters, at least financially, for the inconvenience. Whilst Lambeth council sells Brixton out bit by bit to property developers and blocks of flats are being built left, right and centre, no money is being invested in the transport infrastructure.
    People from all over South London converge in Brixton tube station to commute into town.

    When is Boris Johnson going to divert some much-needed funds to this part of his dreaded south London?

    Outrageous!! Invest the fortune you are getting in stamp duty / property taxes back into the transport infrastructure!!

    • Indeed, no harm in developing an area, but that must include transport, and schools etc. It seems that the overhaul they gave it was not just poor quality, but under capacity. This is all good stuff to use as a lever for extending the tube south to Streatham, Tulse Hill and Dulwich.. and beyond. People who want our votes – are you listening?,

  17. This is unacceptable. I pay an expensive travelcard for a fully working service, they should provide partial reimbursement when the service does not work as expected.

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