# Tunnels underneath the River Thames

The table below lists many of the tunnels under the River Thames in and near London, which, thanks largely to its underlying bed of clay, is one of the most tunnelled cities in the world. The tunnels are used for road vehicles, pedestrians, Underground and railway lines and utilities. Several tunnels are over a century old: the original Thames Tunnel was the world's first underwater tunnel.

## List of tunnels

| Name | Type | Between | Opened | Carries | Notes |
| Thames Cable Tunnel | Utility tunnel | Former Tilbury power station↔Eastcourt Marsh sealing end compound | 1970 | Power cable | 1,675 metres (5,495 ft) long, carries two 400 kV circuits; depth 46 metres (151 ft), only accessible by authorised personnel |
| High Speed 1 tunnels | Railway tunnel | West Thurrock, Swanscombe | 2007 | High Speed 1 | |
| Dartford Tunnel (eastern) | Road tunnel | | May 1980 | A282 road | |
| Dartford Tunnel (western) | Road tunnel | | 18 Nov 1963 | A282 road, European route E15 | |
| Dartford Cable Tunnel | Utility tunnel | | 2005 | Power cable | |
| Barking cable tunnel | Utility tunnel | Barking, Thamesmead | 1920s | Power cable | |
| Docklands Light Railway tunnel | Railway tunnel | King George V, Woolwich Arsenal | 2009 | Docklands Light Railway | |
| Crossrail tunnels | Railway tunnel | Woolwich, North Woolwich | 2014 | Elizabeth line | Tunnel construction completed in 2015; rail service began 24 May 2022. |
| Woolwich foot tunnel | Pedestrian tunnel | Woolwich, North Woolwich | 26 Oct 1912 | Footpath | The chief engineer was Maurice Fitzmaurice. |
| Thames Barrier | Flood barrier | Woolwich, North Woolwich | 1984 | | Service tunnel only accessible by authorised personnel. |
| Millennium Dome cable tunnel | Utility tunnel | Millennium Dome, West Ham | 1999 | Power cable | 2.8-metre (9 ft 2 in) diameter, only accessible by authorised personnel |
| Jubilee line tunnels | Railway tunnel | North Greenwich tube station, Canning Town station | 1999 | Jubilee line | |
| Blackwall Tunnel (eastern) | Road tunnel | | 1967 | A102 road | |
| Blackwall Tunnel (western) | Road tunnel | London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Royal Borough of Greenwich | 22 May 1897 | A102 road | Engineer was Alexander Binnie. |
| Isle of Dogs Jubilee line tunnels | Railway tunnel | Canary Wharf tube station, North Greenwich tube station | 1999 | Jubilee line | |
| Docklands Light Railway tunnel | Railway tunnel | Island Gardens, Cutty Sark | 1999 | Docklands Light Railway | |
| Greenwich foot tunnel | Pedestrian tunnel | Millwall, Greenwich | 1899 | Footpath | The chief engineer was Alexander Binnie. |
| Deptford cable tunnel | Utility tunnel | Deptford, Wapping | | Power cable | |
| Jubilee line tunnels | Railway tunnel | Canada Water station, Canary Wharf tube station | 1999 | Jubilee line | |
| Rotherhithe Tunnel | Road tunnel, pedestrian tunnel | Rotherhithe, Limehouse | 12 Jun 1908 | A101 road | The chief engineer was Maurice Fitzmaurice. |
| Thames Tunnel | Railway tunnel | Wapping, Rotherhithe | 1843 | East London line, London Overground | Marc Brunel. The world's first underwater tunnel, now part of the Overground network. Originally a foot tunnel. |
| New Cross to Finsbury Market Cable Tunnel | Utility tunnel | New Cross Substation - Wellclose Square Substation | 2017 | Power cable | |
| Tower Subway | Utility tunnel, tube railway, pedestrian tunnel | | 2 Aug 1870 | Water pipe, optical fiber | Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead. The world's first underground tube railway. A rail tunnel for 3 months only, then a foot tunnel. Currently carries pipes and fibre-optic lines. |
| Northern Line (Bank branch) tunnels | Railway tunnel | London Bridge tube station, Bank and Monument stations | 1900 | Northern line (Bank branch) | |
| City & South London Railway tunnels | Railway tunnel | Borough tube station, King William Street tube station | 1890 | City and South London Railway | Originally rail tunnels, now disused. The world's first electric tube railway, with tunnels only 10 feet 2 inches (3.10 m) in diameter, became disused in 1900 when new 11-foot-6-inch (3.51 m) tunnels to the east replaced them |
| Waterloo & City line tunnels | Railway tunnel | Bank and Monument stations, Waterloo tube station | 1898 | Waterloo & City line | |
| Bankside Cable Tunnel | Utility tunnel | Bankside, Blackfriars | 1940s | Power cable | |
| Northern line (Charing Cross branch) tunnels | Railway tunnel | Waterloo tube station, Embankment tube station | 1926 | Northern line (Charing Cross branch) | |
| Bakerloo line tunnels | Railway tunnel | Waterloo tube station, Embankment tube station | 1906 | Bakerloo line | |
| Bankside–Charing Cross cable tunnel | Utility tunnel | Bankside substation to Charing Cross substation, partly runs beneath Hungerford Bridge | | Power cable | |
| Jubilee Line Extension tunnels | Railway tunnel | Waterloo tube station, Westminster tube station | 1999 | Jubilee line | |
| Victoria line tunnels | Railway tunnel | Vauxhall tube station, Pimlico tube station | 1971 | Victoria line | |
| Wimbledon – Pimlico cable tunnel | Utility tunnel | | 1996 | Power cable | |
| Battersea steam tunnel | Utility tunnel | Battersea, Pimlico | 20th century | Water pipe | Used to carry steam under the Thames to the Churchill Gardens estate. |
| Battersea exhaust tunnels | Utility tunnel | Battersea, Pimlico | 1920s | | Two tunnels run under the Thames from the station and arrive on either side of Chelsea Bridge. |
| London Power Tunnels | Utility tunnel | Wimbledon, Kensal Green | 2018, 2011 | Power cable | |

## Other tunnels

The figure and list above leaves out a tunnel to the site of the old Ferranti power station on the east side of the mouth of Deptford Creek.
There is also a tunnel between Cottons centre and the old Billingsgate Fish Market near to London Bridge. Citibank used it for cabling at one point; it was large enough for a person to walk through.
The Silvertown Tunnel will open on 7 April 2025.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel, due for completion in 2025, will be a 25 km (16 mi) long tunnel running mostly under the tidal section of the River Thames through central London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently overflows into the river.

## Background

London's abundance of river tunnels has resulted from a number of factors. For historical reasons, the city centre has relatively few railway bridges. Only three railway bridges exist in central London, only one of which provides through services across the capital. Consequently, railway builders have had to tunnel under the river in the city centre rather than bridge it. By contrast, railway bridges are relatively common to the west of the inner city.
Another historical factor has been the presence of the Port of London, which until the 1980s required large ships to be able to access the river as far upstream as the City of London. Until the construction of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge at Dartford in 1991, the easternmost bridge on the Thames was Tower Bridge in central London. Even now, the Dartford Crossing provides the only way to cross the Thames by road between London and the sea. The width of the river downstream meant that tunnels were the only options for crossings before improvements in technology allowed the construction of high bridges such as the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.