London Power Tunnels

The new network of tunnels replaces a series of ageing power cables, most of which were buried directly beneath roads.

These were becoming unreliable, difficult to maintain without disrupting traffic and were unable to meet future demand for electricity.

[2] The first phase involved constructing 32 km of tunnels linking substations from Wimbledon in the south west to Hackney in north east of London, at a cost of £1 bn.

It also involved the construction of two new substations at Seven Sisters Road in Highbury, and at Kensal Green, to feed traction power to Crossrail.

[10] Construction of the second phase (known as LPT2) started in spring 2020 and will span 32.5 km from Wimbledon to Crayford in south-east London, connecting to existing substations at New Cross, Kidbrooke, and Hurst.