Transport for Londinium have announced a highly ambitious plan to greatly expand the Londinium Underground. The Central, Jubilee, and Crossrail lines are to be expanded, and four new lines are to be created — the Bakerloo, Piccadilly, District, and Waterloo & City lines. While no concrete timeline has been provided, it is clear TfL are nonetheless serious about the plan. In the making of this article, TfL approached us with information the public has not yet seen.

The Central line would be expanded to the Northeast, creating a brand-new Londinium Borough, bringing its total length up to five stops. The Jubilee line would be extended to King’s Cross St. Pancras, and south to Baker Street, a road currently under construction in another new section of Londinium. This section would be served by the Bakerloo line, which would have eight stops. The District line, which opened today, serves as a shuttle between Fleet Street and Croydon Road, which finally makes Croydon accessible to people with no access to a car. The first part of the Central and Jubilee line extensions have also been completed, meaning both lines are now no longer a shuttle.

The Piccadilly line would run (from North to South) to Cockfosters, Finsbury Park, King’s Cross, then Piccadilly Circus, and finally Baker Street. Cockfosters is to be a tiny pocket surrounded by forest and Finsbury Park is to be a national park running along the edge of said forest.

Crossrail would be expanded to King’s Cross in the north and Waterloo (part of the Baker Street district) in the south. Interestingly, the plan is to open Crossrail before opening Heathrow, which would be achieved by speeding the train past the platform without stopping there. It is also confirmed that TfL will not be offering entry into Heathrow Underground Station, though they may change their mind.

Interestingly enough, the Northern line is to remain entirely unchanged, for “historical purposes” - the line is the oldest on the network and its platform and tunnel designs are considered archaic. As such, an update would be (a) a significant amount of work (the tiny tunnels already cause problems; famously, the line cuts through a maintenance shaft in Bond Stret) and (b) considered to be cultural erasure.

Finally, the Waterloo & City line is to be a shuttle between Waterloo and Bank — part of the new area served by the Central line.

All of this will make use of an all-new platform design based on the original used on the Northern line designed at the Central Testing Railway Line, which is the first ever design capable of more than two connecting stations. It is also more efficient than the Crossrail design in use on the Central line, though that design will be used in cases where two lines meet at the same stop, like in Piccadilly Circus.

The plan hinges on the completion of King’s Cross St. Pancras and would result in a significant amount of construction work. That said, the plan has been received highly positively, with the Government pouring significant resources into the project. Overall, this plan looks like it could provide significant rejuvination to Londinium, though the lack of coverage in Croydon has been criticised; it is clear the Government is underinvesting in the area.