The Northern Line Extension

The extension to the Northern Line, which opened on 20 September 2021, serves two new stations, Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. It was the first extension to the London Underground since 2008 when the Underground made it to Heathrow Terminal 5. And with the current funding issues facing TFL no new extensions to the Underground are currently being built with the Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham and possibly beyond now not thought to be constructed before 2030.

At Nine Elms and along the whole extension the track is very clean as dirt has not had the time to build up
Notice how clean the track is

The extension starts from Kennington, specifically the Charing Cross branch, and travels west with the new tunnels being dug out from the Kennington loop. The Kennington loop is a piece of track trains can travel along so southbound terminators can continue in the same direction, with the train subsequently arriving travelling northbound into the northbound platform. This means the driver never has to change ends of the train which is more efficient and simpler than the complex stepping back procedures used elsewhere on the Underground. As part of the Northern Line extension the Kennignton loop was resignalled so it can now be used bidirectionally this means the stations on the extension can have a train service for more hours of the day.

Diverging from the Kennington loop the two running lines of the extension are rather far apart because of the nature of the track in a loop. This does mean that the line towards Battersea Power Station runs directly underneath Oval station, which is on the section of the Northern line to Morden, before reaching Nine Elms. The back of Nine Elms station is clearly visible from the South Western Railway lines just before reaching Vauxhall when travelling into Waterloo. Both of the Stations on this line were built in anticipation of major housing developments so currently Nine Elms is mostly surrounded by construction works.

The wall of Battersea Power Station is bare as no adverts are needed as you always just go staight into the waiting train
No adverts at Battersea Power Station as a train is designed to be always in a platform

After leaving Nine Elms now travelling virtually directly west you might realise that the tunnels on the extension have a larger diameter than the normal Northern Line (and other deep level tube lines) tunnels. But as the extension is relatively small no new trains have been built so consequently the same 95 stock trains, as used on the rest of the line, are used on the extension. Making it to Battersea Power Station station, its proper name, there is a crossover and an island platform to terminate. Battersea Power Station is the current terminus of the Northern Line but the route to Clapham Junction has been safeguarded so eventually (maybe) the Northern Line will make it to Britain's busiest station (in terms of the number of trains passing through it) .

A closeup of the Battersea Power Station sign which is thought to have the longest text on an underground logo
Battersea Power Station on opening day

Battersea Power Station station is named after Battersea Power Station (proper) which as a power station used to generate a lot of the power for London and it is now part of the way complete in its transformation into a “destination” with Canary Wharf ambitions. This destination has already partly opened and numerous skyscrapers are being erected around the power station. It even has an Uber boat pier for river travel into central London. Battersea Power Station is most famous for its four chimneys which are iconic in the London Skyline and even feature of the official logo of the London Borough of Wandsworth.

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