Earlier this year – way back in February – Time Out reported that there was a new development in the highly-anticipated, long-awaited project to extend the Bakerloo line. A Transport for London report outlined that extending the brown line past Elephant and Castle could involve the building of two new tube stations and cost up to £8 billion, and that it might be complete by 2040.
And now there’s another update. TfL has named consultants to work on a ‘feasibility study’ for the Bakerloo extension – essentially working out how the project could be achieved. Firms AECOM and WW P will carry out the study, with WW P looking into the design aspects and AECOM looking after all the engineering matters.
The feasibility study will take place over the next eight months, and it should give us a much better idea of what the Bakerloo extension might look like, exactly how long it’ll take to build and how much it’ll cost.
In the most recent plans, TfL outlined that the extension could cost £5-8 billion. For that, the rickety brown line would push beyond Elephant and Castle to Burgess Park, Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham, significantly improving travel links in southeast London.
After years of rumours, polls and petitions, the Bakerloo line extension looks more promising than ever. And while funding for the line remains unsecured, TfL appears to still be preparing for it. Elephant and Castle’s multi-million-pound glow up is being carried out with the extension in mind, while earlier this week an estimated timeline was finally announced for the Bakerloo’s new trains. The line currently boasts the oldest trains on the London Underground network.
So, exciting times ahead for southeast Londoners! In the meantime, Sadiq Khan could extend the Superloop rapid bus service to run the same route as the Bakerloo extension – find out all about the Bakerloop bus service on Time Out here.
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