TfL has announced that South Kensington Tube Station will undergo a major upgrade, including new step-free access to the District, Circle, and Piccadilly line platforms, as well as a larger, modernised ticket hall. As London’s 13th busiest station—serving over 30 million passengers each year—South Kensington is a vital gateway to our world‑renowned museums, hospitals, and university campuses.
Members of the Exhibition Road Cultural Group have worked in close collaboration with TfL and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea over several years to ensure that South Kensington station can deliver a visitor experience that matches that of our world-famous district, which includes concert halls, museums, cultural institutes, specialist hospitals and one of the world’s greatest universities. Around three million disabled passengers use the station each year, a figure constrained for many years by the station’s limited accessibility. South Kensington is also a major destination for families travelling with buggies, who are significantly affected by the absence of step‑free access.
Our institutions have invested over £123 million in recent years, upgrading their medical equipment, improving access to their buildings and in transforming their galleries and exhibitions. This project to improve the tube station is the final piece in ensuring South Kensington is accessible for all visitors. The cultural district collectively generates £2 billion a year for the economy, a figure which will grow as the capacity of the tube station increases.
This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the news of the upgrade of the station is a fitting illustration of how the original ambitions for science, technology, innovation and access for all are still alive today with a continued commitment to delivering an appropriate and inclusive welcome to all the district.
The scheme includes the provision of step‑free access to the District and Circle lines via a new accessible entrance on Thurloe Street, alongside a larger, modernised ticket hall designed to reduce congestion and make journeys significantly easier and quicker, particularly during peak periods. TfL also intends to deliver 50 new homes as part of the programme, together with retail and office spaces.
