Commuters are facing three years of travel chaos after it was announced the Wells Terrace entrance of Finsbury Park station will close – from next week.
Transport for London (TfL) emailed regular users of the station this morning to break the news.
The £220million redevelopment will create two lift shafts and a new west entrance by 2019. It was meant to begin last year and caused a major outcry before developers City North postponed the project.
But with work set to commence on Monday, commuters have three years of overcrowding breathing down their necks.
Thousands of people entering the station on weekdays between 7.30am and 9.30am will have to do so via the Station Place entrance as part of a one-way system.
During that rush-hour period, people will only be able to exit the station via Seven Sisters Road.
The rest of the time, users who use Wells Terrace will have to walk around the station to either the Seven Sisters Road or Station Place entrances.
Accountant Kris Milovsorov, 29, told the Gazette: “Commuting from Finsbury Park can be a chore already. At the moment we have slightly overcrowded platforms, which are dangerous in themselves, but this closure is going to add to the problems.
“It’ll push extra foot traffic onto the pavements on busy roads and there will no doubt be huge queues to get through the paltry number of ticket barriers.”
More than 28 million people use the station every year and the closure of the main staircase to exit the platforms until September has already led to overcrowding. And the staircase will now be out of action between 5pm and 8pm for the next three years due to another one-way system.
TfL has urged commuters who use the station to change between the Victoria and Piccadilly lines to do so at King’s Cross.
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