The Northern Line is on track to extend to Battersea later this year, with two new stations opening.
Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station will follow on from Kennington – and this will impact a strange quirk of the Tube network.
At the moment, when southbound services terminate at Kennington the train does a huge underground circle beneath the Oval cricket ground and loops back in a northbound direction at Kennington again.
This means travellers can visit the same station twice in one journey, and is a bizarre favourite among Tube fans on social media.
One described the Kennington Loop phenomenon as a “wild journey.”
“I wasn’t sure where I’d end up. Can confirm I made it to Tooting Broadway,” she said.
🚨Personal news🚨 I stayed on the northern line when it terminated at Kennington and can confirm that the train driver does a loop in the tunnel back to Kennington going Northbound. It was a wild journey, I wasn't sure where I'd end up. Can confirm I made it to Tooting Broadway.
— Shaheen Sattar (@ShaheenSattar) February 4, 2021
Others have said they need to ride the loop before it’s too late.
Fewer trains will be terminating at Kennington once the extension opens in the autumn because trains will continue to the two new stations.
This means the loop is likely to be used less.
Currently around 24 trains per hour go down the Charing Cross branch and run around the loop.
However, it is thought that when the new stations open, 16 trains per hour will carry on to Nine Elms and Battersea, leaving just eight trains per hour terminating at Kennington and travelling around the loop.
But this has yet to be officially confirmed by Transport for London.
Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station will both be in Zone 1, and will bring the total number of Tube stations to 272 when they open in the autumn of this year.
I need to go the Kennington loop before it’s too late!! https://t.co/Uh6iSctkqM
— Mark Donahue (@markjdonahue) January 4, 2021
The extension of the Northern Line is the first major Tube extension since the Jubilee Line in the late 1990s.
It will mean Battersea and the surrounding areas will be within 15 minutes of the City and the West End.
TfL has said the scheme is on track to finish on time, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Around Christmas, test passenger trains successfully completed their journeys through the new tunnels.
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