UK: On January 29 the European Investment Bank announced that it had agreed a £480m loan to finance 50% of the cost of the building a 3·3 km branch of London Underground’s Northern Line to Nine Elms and Battersea.
The long-term loan is to be repaid using a combination of contributions from developments that will benefit from the extension, and business rates from an enterprise zone that is to be created in 2016.
In August 2014 Transport for London named Ferrovial Agroman Laing O’Rourke as design-build contractor for the main works for the extension, and three months later the government granted legal powers for construction. Work is expected to begin in spring this year, for opening in 2020.
‘Long-term investment to improve transport connections in Europe’s largest city benefits both passengers and businesses’, said EIB Vice-President Jonathan Taylor. He said the extension would ‘both improve connections to Battersea and unlock regeneration in Wandsworth, Lambeth and Southwark. This will also be supported by innovative contributions from developers. The new engagement builds on recent EIB backing for significant investment in Crossrail, London Overground and the Docklands Light Railway.’
- Read more about London Underground's Northern Line upgrading programme in the February 2015 issue of Railway Gazette International.
