New Tube entrance will offer access to the Waterloo & City line from Walbrook Square when it opens in late 2017

London Underground (LU) has begun work on a new entrance to Bank Tube station that will significantly reduce congestion through the station, one of the busiest on the network.

Just metres away from Walbrook Square, the new entrance to the Waterloo & City line will offer two new lifts, four new escalators and a new ticket hall when it opens in late 2017.

It will be located beneath Bloomberg's new European headquarters and has been created by Bloomberg's contractors as part of the planning conditions. The underground structure has now been handed to LU so that the fit-out of the station can begin. LU engineers, in partnership with contractors Hochtief, will also construct two new 5.5 metre passenger tunnels to link the new entrance with the existing platforms.

The area is home to the ruins of the historic Roman Temple of Mithras, and layers of history have been revealed throughout the construction with archaeologists from the Museum of London uncovering more than 30 Roman tablets. This rich history is to be celebrated in the new station entrance with the installation of 24 etched-glass panels in the concourse. The panels were created by celebrated artist John Hutton in 1960 to commemorate the find of the ruins and celebrate the history of the ancient site on the long-vanished river Walbrook. The panels were previously displayed on the now-demolished Bucklersbury House, where the ruins were discovered.

Miles Ashley, London Underground's Construction Programme Director, said: `This new Tube entrance will be only a stone's throw away from the Bank of England - providing direct access to the heart of the City of London's financial district. With a design nod to the City's ancient Roman past, this new Waterloo & City line entrance will make journeys swifter and easier for the hundreds of thousands of Tube customers who use Bank station every day.'

To enable the £57m upgrade to take place, the Waterloo & City line subway - which provides access to and from the DLR and Northern line platforms - will be closed to customers for a 10-month period. The subway will close on Sunday 8 November and will reopen again in August next year. While the closure is in place, customers changing between the Waterloo & City line, DLR and Northern line will travel via the Northern ticket hall on weekdays, and via the Central line platforms at weekends.

The Bank/Monument station complex is the fourth busiest interchange station on the Underground network, serving over 98 million customers per year. Transport for London (TfL) has proposed a substantial upgrade the capacity of the station from 2016 to keep up with increasing demand. The major upgrade of the six-line interchange at Bank would provide a step-free route between the Northern line platforms, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and street levels. TfL has applied for a Transport & Works Act Order, which if granted will give permission to carry out the work.

Artists impressions of the new Waterloo & City line entrance at Bank station are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/albums/72157660745604586

Waterloo & City line subway closure: