Work begins to double the size of the south ticket hall at Victoria Underground Station

Part of the £700m station redevelopment which will benefit millions of passengers, with new escalators, lifts and enlarged ticket halls.

• Main entrance to the station from National Rail now widened
• Changes will include the closure of Wilton Road stairs and the relocation of the taxi rank to Hudson’s Place
• Passengers are advised to buy their tickets in advance to speed up their journeys

The £700m redevelopment of Victoria Underground station, one of the busiest and most congested on the network, is well underway and work to double the size of the south ticket hall is now starting.

While this work is under way Transport for London (TfL) is advising passengers that it will be quicker and easier to buy their tickets in advance.

This can be done online, at Gatwick, or at another National Rail or Underground station or ticket stop.

Seven new lifts

The redevelopment of the Tube station will lead to a huge number of improvements for passengers.

As well as the new enlarged south ticket hall, these include a new underground north ticket hall at the junction of Bressenden Place and Victoria Street with an entrance at street level, nine new escalators, a new interchange tunnel connecting the three ticket halls, and seven new lifts providing step-free access between street and platform levels.

The station and five entrances will remain open while the work goes ahead.

Work on the south ticket hall will be carried out behind hoardings so it can remain in use, and the main stairs leading directly to the National Rail station have already been widened as part of the upgrade.

However, in order to deliver the upgrade, a number of changes will now take place at the station. These include:

• From Monday 24 September, the stairs from Wilton Road will close. They will to be replaced by a new staircase in 2018 – plus a brand new entrance will open near the Cardinal Place Shopping Mall in 2016
• The Victory Arch entrance to South Eastern services at the National Rail station and the pedestrian access in front will be closed in October, but a new entrance into the National Rail station was opened from Wilton Road on 31 May
• The taxi rank at the front of the station will be relocated round the corner to Hudson’s Place from 1 October 2012

Work to refurbish escalators connecting the District & Circle and Victoria line platforms will start in October.

Only one escalator will be out of action at a time.

Howard Collins, London Underground’s Chief Operating Officer, said: ‘The £700m transformation of Victoria Tube station, which will be completed in 2018, will result in a three ticket hall station including a brand new north ticket hall and entrance, a new south ticket hall twice the size of the existing one, and nine new escalators and seven new lifts making it step-free.

‘Victoria Tube station is one of our busiest and most congested stations, which is why we are redeveloping it and making it step-free.

‘We’re doing everything possible to keep any disruption to a minimum, but while we are doing this work, passengers will find it quicker and easier to buy their Underground ticket in advance.’

Although passengers will still be able to buy tickets in the Tube station queuing space will be limited, so it will be much quicker and easier to buy them in advance.

This can be done by:

• Ordering an Oyster card online
• Purchasing an Underground ticket with your National Rail ticket to London visiting the TfL Travel Information Centre in the National Rail station (opposite platform 7)
• Visiting one of the 4,000 ticket stops

Posters and leaflets about how to buy or top up Oyster and where to buy tickets in advance will be available at the station from next week.