Getting to the City of London Will Be a Lot Harder From January

(Bloomberg) -- The Bank branch of the Northern Line, a key subway route used by thousands to travel into the City of London each day, will shut for 17 weeks next year, potentially making it more difficult for employers to tempt workers back to the office.

The closing will allow Transport for London to increase capacity at Bank station, which has suffered from overcrowding at peak commuter times, and make the stop more accessible for those with disabilities. 

The service will shut on Jan. 15 from Kennington to Moorgate, the transit manager said in a statement on Friday. During that period, services will run every two minutes on the Charing Cross branch to help deal with the capacity issues and a temporary bus route will run from Oval to the financial district.

The percentage of workers back at their desks in the City has risen to the highest since the pandemic began to spread in March of last year but the numbers lag those back at work in the wider economy, according to data compiled by Google. 

Access to the district is expected to improve further next year when the Elizabeth line, which will eventually run to Heathrow Airport, finally opens after being hit by long construction delays.

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