Northern Line's £1.1bn extension adds two brand new tube stations
Two new tube stations have opened on London Underground's Northern line, in the conclusion of a £1.1bn ($1.5bn) expansion project, which has been in the works since 2014.
Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms saw their first trains depart on Monday, and represent the first major expansion of the London Underground this century. There are now 272 tube stations on the network.
The last major extension of the service was the rollout of the Jubilee line from Green Park to Stratford in 1999.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said that the services would play "a major role" in the capital's post-COVID recovery.
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Major construction on the 3km twin-tunnel railway between Kennington and Battersea Power Station, via Nine Elms, began in 2015.
TfL said that despite the challenges of the pandemic, the construction project has stayed on track for an autumn opening.
TfL also said the extension is supporting 25,000 new jobs and more than 20,000 new homes. Nine Elms is seeing significant regeneration, with 40 major development sites taking place between now and 2030.
TfL also said the construction of the extension has helped support 1,000 jobs.
The first train left Battersea Power Station at 5.28am on Monday and there will be an initial peak time service of six trains per hour on the extension, which will rise to 12 trains per hour by mid-2022.
There will be five trains per hour during off-peak times, doubling to 10 trains per hour next year.
Both new stations are in Zone 1 and Kennington has become a Zone 1/2 station, to avoid penalising those using it as an interchange.
Watch: The first passenger service to depart Battersea Power Station