Canada_Water_tube_station

Canada Water tube station

Canada Water tube station is a London Underground station at Canada Water in Rotherhithe. It is on the Jubilee line, between Bermondsey and Canary Wharf. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.

History

Canada Water was originally intended to be a stop on the aborted Fleet Line Extension to Thamesmead. The extension did not happen, but Canada Water became the only projected Fleet Line Extension station to be realised on the Jubilee Line Extension.

The station is a wholly new building on a derelict site formerly occupied by Albion Dock, part of the old Surrey Commercial Docks. The station was one of the first designed for the Jubilee Line Extension, was built by Wimpey Construction and was opened on 17 September 1999, served by East London line trains. Jubilee line trains arrived on 20 November 1999.

Construction of Canada Water station started in 1995 during the closure of the East London line. The building was opened for passenger service on 19 August 1999.

Architecture

Above ground, the station's most salient feature is a striking glass "drum" across, which covers a deep opening descending almost to the Jubilee Line platforms, below the surface. This feature was designed to allow natural light to reach deep into the station, a design principle common to many of the stations on the Jubilee Line Extension.

The drum is accompanied by a glass-roofed bus station designed by Eva Jiřičná which serves as a hub for services in the Rotherhithe/Bermondsey area.

Below ground, the station is dominated by a huge concrete box, large enough to accommodate one of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers on its side. It is lined by a series of huge concrete pillars designed to take the weight of a planned nine-storey building on the surface. .

The station has four lifts and six escalators with an average rise of about to connect the lower parts of the station with street level.

The construction of the station was extremely challenging, requiring the excavation (by cut-and-cover) of a void 150 m (450 ft) long, 23 m (89 ft) wide and 22 m (66 ft) deep. The building of the East London Line station required a separate slot at right angles, 130 m (390 ft) long, 13 m (39 ft) deep and tapering in width, incorporating a Victorian railway tunnel. A total of 120,000 m³ (4,237,760 ft³) of spoil had to be excavated. An additional complication was the location of the excavation site, near the foundations of two existing 22-storey tower blocks and the northern end of the still-flooded former dock of Canada Water.

Service

Viper:The station has four platforms, although since December 2007 only the two Jubilee line platforms are in use. The two East London line platforms closed on 22 December 2007 and will not reopen until June 2010, when the route will form part of the London Overground.