Angel station in Islington, which sees almost 12 million passengers a year, may be closed by Transport for London (TfL) while its crumbling escalators are replaced. The 35-year-old staircases are the longest on the Underground.
In April, one of the Northern Line station's three 200 ft escalators failed. It is understood that TfL believes the second could also fail imminently, while the third is also in desperate need of upgrading.
Exit-only plans and potential full closure
TfL is considering making the station exit-only during off-peak periods from November while some repairs are completed. But it would mean travellers would not be able to take trains from there in the evenings or at weekends.
All three escalators will need to be replaced and this work could take about a year, which could see the entire station shut for the full 12 months or a longer partial closure to replace each individually. TfL said that the escalators are too long to safely operate as a fixed staircase, and that there is no safe means of moving customers between the ticket hall and mid-concourse levels should they be out of service.
A TfL spokesperson told The Standard one possible option is a 12 month full closure in order to work on both faulty escalators at the same time, while another is keeping the station partially open and working on one escalator at a time.
Maintenance backlog and spending
Escalator failures are among the most visible of TfL’s vast £6.5 billion maintenance backlog, with Freedom of Information data released in July revealing that over a quarter of escalators on the Underground are currently operating beyond their expected shelf life. Some 153 out of 566 escalators are due upgrades, despite TfL spending £56.1 million on them during 2025/26.
This included £38.6 million of operating expenditure and £17.5m of capital expenditure to upgrade, renew and modernise the assets, according to the mayor's office. TfL also spent £1.3m on "reactive maintenance call-outs for escalators" during the same period.
It comes after Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich DLR Station was shut for around ten months for major escalator and station upgrades, reopening in March this year. A £120 million redevelopment of South Kensington station is also in the pipeline, with work due to begin later this year and a completion target date of 2031.
Official response and political reaction
Richard Jones, Director of Asset Performance Delivery for London Underground, said: “The escalators at Angel have been in service for almost 35 years and are becoming less reliable and increasingly difficult to maintain. Their size means renewal or replacement is a challenging, expensive project and we are currently exploring all options possible to extend their working life.
“Many years of constrained Government funding for essential asset renewals has meant that we have not been able to invest in new escalators at the station. Making the station exit-only during specific periods will allow us to extend the working life of the escalators and give us more time to plan our next steps, with design work on replacing the escalators to begin this autumn.
“I understand that any disruption to the station will have an impact on customers, businesses and the local community and we will do all we can to work closely with local stakeholders to ensure that we mitigate the disruption as much as possible.”
Former Liberal Democrat London Mayor candidate Rob Blackie said: “Angel may have to close because of TfL skimping on escalator maintenance. This is a serious problem for anybody who uses it - but also worrying about the wider transport network.
“When Sadiq Khan claimed that he could cut £1 billion through fare freezes, I opposed this because of the problems it would cause with tube maintenance and bus cuts. Will he now admit that this was a mistake?”
