page_title: Tottenham Court Road tube station
section_title: Upgrade and expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Tottenham Court Road tube station / History / Upgrade and expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Daniel Buren's artwork in the Refurbished South Plaza Entrance
context_page_description: Tottenham Court Road is a London Underground station in St Giles in the West End of London. It is served by the Central line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line. The station will also be served by the Elizabeth line when the core section opens.
  On the Central line it is between Oxford Circus and Holborn, and on the Northern line it is between Leicester Square and Goodge Street. The station is located at St Giles Circus, the junction of Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, New Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road and is in Travelcard Zone 1.
context_section_description: The station had four entrances to the sub-surface ticket hall from the north-east, south-west and north-west corners of the junction and from a subway beneath the Centre Point building which starts on Andrew Borde Street. The entrances were frequently congested leading to occasions during peak periods of the day when they were briefly closed to prevent overcrowding in the station.
  In the aftermath of the King's Cross fire in 1987, London Underground was recommended to investigate "passenger flow and congestion in stations and take remedial action". A Parliamentary bill was tabled in 1991 to permit London Underground to improve and expand the frequently congested station, however this was not proceeded with. In 2000, London Underground consulted on an station upgrade including a new larger ticket hall, new escalators and step free access, which would have taken 4 years to construct.
  The station was eventually reconstructed and upgraded in the mid 2010s as part of the Crossrail project, with the £500m station upgrade taking 8 years. The works involved building a much larger ticket hall under the forecourt of Centre Point, new sets of escalators to reach the central section of the Northern line platforms from the ticket hall, step-free access to the platforms, as well as escalators down to the eastern end of the future Crossrail station. 
  The subway to Andrew Borde Street was replaced as part of this development. To enable this expansion to occur, both the Astoria theatres and the original Central line entrance were demolished.
  
  As part of the expansion of the ticket hall, Art on the Underground commissioned an artwork by Daniel Buren, a French conceptual artist. This piece, 'Diamonds and Circles' permanent works 'in situ', was Buren's first permanent public commission in the UK. The artwork comprises colourful diamond and circle shapes, which contrast with Buren's trademark stripes in black and white, fixed to internal glass walls throughout the ticket hall. The piece was completed in 2017.
  From 2 April until 28 November 2011, the Northern line platforms were closed for structural upgrade works and Northern line trains ran non-stop through the station.
  From 5 January until 7 December 2015, the Central line platforms were closed, meaning Central line trains did not stop at the station. On 12 January 2015, the first part of the new ticket hall opened for the first time. The station which previously required commuters going through the Central line level concourse to get to the Northern line, via a one-way system, now has escalators directly to Northern line level followed by stairs to the platforms. The escalators are among the longest in the tube, and take a minute top to bottom.
caption: Tottenham Court Road Eastern Ticket Hall after expansion, with Daniel Buren's artwork.
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