Greenwich Foot Tunnel will close on Christmas Eve and not reopen until Boxing Day, it has been revealed.
With the stairs at both ends of the tunnel closed for refurbishment, a decision has been taken not to provide staff to operate the lift on Christmas Day.
Southeastern trains, the DLR, London Underground and London Buses will also not be running on Christmas Day.
The £11.5m refurbishment of both Greenwich and Woolwich foot tunnels started in April of this year. The Woolwich Foot Tunnel is expected to remain completely closed until March 2011.
Breakdowns and disruption “regretted”
At last night’s full council meeting, Cllr Denise Hyland, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Enterprise and Skills, expressed her regret at recent “breakdowns and consequent disruption” in the foot tunnel.
In a written answer to a member of the public, she revealed there had been six unplanned closures of the tunnel, totalling 9hr50, during November due to the lift breaking down.
She added that the council has managed to reduce the lift contractor’s call out time to 1 hour and that the council’s Twitter service notifying the public of unplanned tunnel closures is “being revised to include references to the alternate crossings.”
Unplanned foot tunnel closures in November
3 Nov 17.20 – 20.00
5 Nov 16.30 – 17.00
17 Nov 16.00 – 16.45
24 Nov 17.45 – 19.00
27 Nov 13.55 – 16.15
28 Nov 13.55 – 16.15
Christmas comes – North London cut off…
This is silly. I don’t mind that public transport is cut off, but now I can’t even walk from south of the river to north of the river to join friends on the other side.
You’d have thought they would refurbish the lifts FIRST on the basis that the steps won’t break down while they are doing it, then the lifts will be reliable while doing the steps !!