No plans are in place to widen a narrow set of platforms at two Tube stations, Sadiq Khan has admitted, despite concerns over safety and capacity.
The platforms at Clapham Common and Clapham North, on the Northern line, have the network’s only underground ‘island’ platforms, with a width spanning just 3.7 metres.
But Transport for London (TfL) has said that widening them would consume too much time and money, while pledging to keep the platforms and their safety “under review”.
Potential safety risks were highlighted in an incident at Clapham Common in May last year, when about 100 passengers on board a packed train exited through smashed windows onto the slim platform, after the train began to fill with smoke.
In a written question to Mr Khan last month, the area’s local London Assembly member, Marina Ahmad, asked whether the mayor will “commission work to identify risks at small island stations, and whether enlargement of platforms would be better for capacity, the economy and safety”.
She pointed out that transport is “a key component of London’s economy,” and that “narrow central islands in Underground stations can limit passenger capacity at peak times”.
Referring to the events at Clapham Common last year, she said the platforms also posed a potential danger to passengers. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch’s report on the incident found that London Underground Limited “did not identify the risk of passenger evacuation from a partially deplatformed train, in particular at narrow island platforms”.
The mayor said in response to Ms Ahmad: “Following the incident in May 2023, and prior to the publication of the RAIB investigation report, TfL reviewed the safety risk to its customers at island platforms…
“As a result, TfL updated the relevant risk assessments and ensured that congestion plans consider these risks and the risks of passenger evacuation from a partially deplatformed train.
“TfL has considered the potential safety risk closely, including the possibility of widening these platforms. To do so would require significant works to be carried out at the station, including expanding tunnels to allow for the wider platforms.
“Such works would require closure of the stations for a considerable period of time which would be disproportionate to the benefits. There would also be significant costs.
“At this stage, TfL does not have any proposals to undertake such works and considers that it can manage the risk to customers effectively with current measures. TfL will continue to keep this under review.”
