Commuters were able to use the Bank branch of the Northern line, an important link in the London Underground, for the first time in months this morning.
The £700m upgrade works, which began in mid-January this year, aim to increase the number of passengers that Bank and Monument stations can handle by 40%.
The improvements also include a new Northern Line tunnel and passenger concourse at Bank station.
The Northern Line was London’s busiest tube line prior to the pandemic, with over a million customers every day.
Now months of commuter misery will be over as services between Moorgate and Kennington are up and running again.
Bank and Monument saw 120m passengers a year before the pandemic, making them two of the busiest underground stations in London.
Bank station now has a wider and spacious southbound Northern line platform and customer concourse.
Transport for London have also completed three new passageways, which will make moving around the station quicker and easier.
The upgrade of Bank station will see its capacity increased by 40 per cent when work finishes later this year.
Improvements still to come including step-free access to the Northern line and improved access to the DLR platforms, two new moving walkways, 12 new escalators and two new lifts.
There will also be more direct routes within the station and a new station entrance on Cannon Street.
The work at Bank station also included connecting the new southbound Northern line tunnel to the existing railway and installing all new track and railway systems within the new tunnel.
Stuart Harvey, Chief Capital Officer at Transport for London, said: ‘I’d like to thank our customers for their patience during this closure.
‘The improvements we’re making at Bank station will be finished by the end of this year and will totally transform customer journeys through the station.
‘Anyone who’s familiar with Bank station will know how its labyrinthian layout can be confusing and time-consuming to navigate.
Northern line customers now have a new, wider southbound platform and spacious customer concourse. The countdown is on for completing the rest of this major upgrade which is one of the largest and most complicated subterranean railway complexes in the world.’
During the closure of the Bank branch of the Northern line, essential work was also carried out at other stations including London Bridge, Borough and Elephant & Castle so that future disruption to customers would be minimised.
The next phase of works at Bank station will now turn to the key interchange connections which includes the new escalators linking the Northern line to the DLR, and the two new moving walkways and three new escalators connecting the Northern and Central lines.