Designs for the new-look Whitechapel station have been unveiled as £110 million of work starts on its rebuilding to make way for Crossrail.
Construction at the site starting this week will mean commuters will be forced to use a temporary entrance further down Whitechapel Road for two years while the ticket hall is ripped out and the existing entrance rebuilt.
Court Street itself will be shut to traffic as part of a separate plan to make the East End more accommodating to those travelling on foot or by bicycle.
Artist’s impressions of the station show an airy ticket hall topped with a wood and glass ceiling, as well as steel struts and exposed brickwork.
As well as giving the concourse a facelift, the two-year programme will finally see the station made wheelchair-friendly.
When the new-look Whitechapel opens its doors, disabled passengers will not have to navigate any steps to get from the trains to the street outside for the first time in the station’s 140-year history.
Transport bosses have also promised “wider pathways and more ticket gates” they say will give commuters “a better, less crowded experience”.
TfL’s Crossrail operations director Howard Smith said: “People living or working in Whitechapel will benefit from convenient, step-free journeys to new parts of London without the need to change trains.
“When the work is complete customers will have a brighter, more spacious station with a bigger ticket hall and lift access to all train platforms from street level.
“In the meantime we are doing everything possible to keep disruption for our customers to an absolute minimum.”
The makeshift entrance in Court Street will have more ticket gates than the existing permanent entrance opposite the Royal London Hospital, TfL has said.
The station will be shut altogether this weekend while work gets underway.
