King William Street Tunnels

[Sad Sprinter]

Could the King William Street tunnels still be used today?

I was thinking, as an alternative to HS2, it might be worth breaking the Kennington Loop and building an extra pair of fast tracks down to Morden. Northwards from Kennington, would it be viable to build a new pair of tunnels to Borough to continue trains to the old King William Street station? Thus quadrupling the line between Morden and Bank?

 

[NoMorePacers]

Well, the tunnels were split in half by the London Bridge refurbishment scheme and otherwise run right next to the station, so probably not.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Could the King William Street tunnels still be used today?

I was thinking, as an alternative to HS2, it might be worth breaking the Kennington Loop and building an extra pair of fast tracks down to Morden. Northwards from Kennington, would it be viable to build a new pair of tunnels to Borough to continue trains to the old King William Street station? Thus quadrupling the line between Morden and Bank?

How is it alternative to HS2? I am confused

 

[DavidGrain]

I believe the King William Street tunnels where smaller diameter than the tube tunnels which replaced them

 

[Sad Sprinter]

How is it alternative to HS2? I am confused

Crossrail 2 sorry.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Crossrail 2 sorry.

Ah that makes sense I think it would just be easier to build Crossrail 2 and Crossrail 2 benefits more people. Reliefs congestion out of Liverpool Street and Waterloo by diverting suburban services away from those stations making room for more services out of Waterloo and Liverpool Street, provides a relief for the Piccadilly and Victoria Lines.

 

[randyrippley]

I believe the King William Street tunnels where smaller diameter than the tube tunnels which replaced them

According to this site http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/King_William_Street_1.html
they were only 10'2" diameter. From the photos there they look very cheaply built with a fair bit of subsidence. Also that site states "The original southbound tunnel was obliterated here at London Bridge when the station was redeveloped for the Jubilee Line extension"
Also if you look at the photos you'll see a fair number of issues such as water leakage, blocked access, repurposing of the tunnels and shafts

 

[swt_passenger]

Some of the King William St station tunnels are being used as part of the Bank capacity upgrade worksite.

I believe any reuse of the running tunnels would be completely irrelevant to any future upgrades, they just aren’t large enough, straight enough, or level enough.

 

[Bald Rick]

I believe any reuse of the running tunnels would be completely irrelevant to any future upgrades, they just aren’t large enough, straight enough, or level enough.

But other than that?

 

[swt_passenger]

But other than that?

Not dry enough?

 

[Dr_Paul]

But other than that?

They point in the wrong direction?

 

[Fireless]

Getting those tunnels into a state suitable for running normal-sized tube trains (the C&SLR was using a smaller loading gauge) and up to modern safety standards is unlikely to be more economical than a new purpose-built tunnel.

If any existing tunnels were to be used for such a project, the former air-raid shelters at some stations (e.g. Clapham South) on the Northern line would be a better starting point.
They were designed to be used to supplement the existing infrastructure as avoiding lines and are not too small for tube trains due to their diameter of 16.5 ft.