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Hundreds of thousands of City commuters had their journeys disrupted in 2025 after Chancery Lane tube station was unexpectedly closed for a staggering one in six mornings, City AM can reveal.
The Central line station, which sits at the western edge of the Square Mile, was shuttered at short notice during the early hours of the morning for more than 60 days of the year due to what Transport for London (TfL) called “staffing shortages”.
Chancery Lane station typically handles as many as 25,000 daily entries and exits, according to TfL passenger data, meaning the number of journeys disrupted could well have exceeded half a million.
The closures, which are among the worst of any London tube station, raise questions over the transport body’s management of resources in an area vital to the capital’s professional services economy.
The closure figures, which were obtained by City AM via a freedom of information request, also show that another Central Line station, Lancaster Gate, was closed for more than 50 mornings, again due to staffing constraints.
A TfL spokesperson said the transport body is legally required to close a station if it does not have the requisite number of staff available. They added that resourcing shortages sometimes trigger a redeployment of staff to interchange stations, which can come at the expense of smaller stations having to close.
Nick Dent, TfL’s director of customer operations, said: “We are sorry if customers have been affected by short-notice closures at some of our Tube stations. We are aware of the inconvenience that station closures can cause which is why we only close stations as a last resort and always work to minimise the length of time a station is closed for.
“We do all we can to minimise station closures and we have an established and flexible rostering system to ensure stations are sufficiently staffed throughout the year. We are also introducing a new staffing model that will help reduce station closures by enabling us to deploy staff more flexibly.”
Sluggish Central line upgrade
Regular closures of Chancery Lane come as another blow to commuters using the Central line, a vital route to and from the Square Mile, after City AM revealed earlier this week that just four of the line’s 71-strong rolling stock had been upgraded as part of a £500m project unveiled in 2023.
Only another four trains are expected to be completed by the end of the year, despite TfL commissioners previously promising that one upgraded train would enter service every month from the project’s launch. At the current completion rate, the refit would not be completed until 2043.
TfL first laid out proposals to extend the life of the current Central line stock, which was introduced into service in the early 1990s, as a cost-saving measure to avoid completely replacing the trains, a task which would likely cost more than £1bn.
The plans include new seat moquettes, new motors and new in-car information screens. But unlike the Piccadilly line upgrade, the refitted trains will not include air conditioning.
The ageing stock has also been plagued with graffiti over the past year, circumstances which TfL has put down to cleaning issues at its depots.
TfL has insisted that the rate at which refitted Central line trains re-enter service will be sped up, and that the £500m project will be completed by the end of the 2020s.
