Tottenham Court Road Elizabeth line station enters final commissioning phase

Construction work on Crossrail’s Tottenham Court Road station has reached the important T-12 milestone, meaning it is considered substantially finished and final commissioning activities can begin. The station will be ready to handover to Transport for London in 12 weeks’ time.

Work at the station will now focus on the extensive testing and commissioning of systems ahead of the Elizabeth line opening in the first half of 2022.

Declan McGeeney, Director of UK Infrastructure at Laing O’Rourke, said: “This is a significant achievement by our construction team and I thank them for their commitment and hard work.

“The station has created some interesting engineering challenges to solve, including constructing the line’s only curved platform for the routeway to avoid the foundations of Centrepoint. We’ve worked in close partnership with Crossrail and London Underground to create a state-of-the-art station, and are proud to be part of the team delivering a world-class piece of infrastructure that will improve the journeys of millions of people for many years to come.”

The station is the first on the Elizabeth line to have a curved platform and has been built with step-free access from station to train. The main entrance is on Dean Street with the Elizabeth line station integrated with the expanded and upgraded London Underground station.

The sweeping 230-metre-long Elizabeth line platforms and ticket halls at either end support the new buildings at Dean Street in Soho and below St Giles Circus on Oxford Street. Both have both drawn their look and feel from the night and daytime economies at the surface. Facilities for passengers have been vastly improved and include a new public plaza and station entrances outside Centre Point.

Mark Wild, Crossrail Chief Executive, said: “This is an incredibly important moment for the team at Tottenham Court Road station and for the Crossrail project as a whole and is another important step for us on the journey to opening the Elizabeth line.

“Tottenham Court Road is an iconic location and a part of London that everyone in the city will be incredibly familiar with. Everyone who has worked on this magnificent new station can be incredibly proud of the contribution they have made to the lives of Londoners and the look of the city. I hope our new station will continue to delight everyone using it for generations to come.”

Kim Kapur, London Underground’s Head of Station Integration, said: “With Tottenham Court Road station approaching transfer it shows real progress in getting this railway integrated with our London Underground stations before they become part of our operational network.

“This is great news and follows on from Farringdon station, which reached the milestone at the end of last year. When the Elizabeth line opens, this large new station with two modern, spacious ticket halls will be a crucial gateway into central London providing a vital link with the Central and Northern lines.”