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Oxford Circus has been revealed as London’s most overcrowded Tube station, with passengers being prevented from entering the station more than 100 times each year.

The central London station was forced to close entrances 219 times as it struggled with the sheer numbers of commuters - more than twice as many as any other stop - over the two years from March 2014 to February 2016.

Bank and Walthamstow Central were also among the most overcrowded stations across the London Underground network according to data released by Transport for London (TfL) under the Freedom of Information Act.

Walthamstow Central was closed to passengers 77 times between March 2014 and February 2016, while City hub Bank was closed 90 times in the same period.

The figures come after claims the Tube network would be put "out of action" within 15 years due to the strain of the capital's soaring population.

TfL said there were a total of 547 temporary station controls between March 2015 and February this year, up from 531 during the previous 12 months.

More than a fifth of station closures happened at Oxford Circus.

TfL said it uses station control to “maintain a safe and reliable service”.

London TravelWatch, a watchdog for the capital's transport users, claimed the statistics demonstrate the importance of investment in the network to boost capacity.

A spokesman for Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “Sadiq has been clear that we can't have a situation where people don't feel safe on the Tube, and TfL are already taking short-term measures to avoid overcrowding."

London Underground stations with the most closures due to overcrowding (Mar 2014 - Feb 2016) 1. Oxford Circus - 219 2. Bank - 90 3. Walthamstow Central - 77 4. Holborn - 55 5. Finsbury Park - 29 6. Warren Street - 27 7. Euston - 26 8. London Bridge - 26 9. Canada Water - 25 10. Green Park - 23

He called for a "more strategic approach" to tackle overcrowding in the long term, such as encouraging people to use other forms of public transport or to walk or cycle, pushing the Government to speed up the transfer of suburban rail services to TfL and supporting Crossrail 2.

Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, said the closure of hundreds of station ticket offices last year has exacerbated overcrowding in Tube stations.

Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, insisted that overcrowding is "a massive issue", adding that managing the risk of passengers falling in the gap between platforms and trains is "a daily problem".

A statement from TfL said: "(Station control) essentially means keeping the station open whilst managing the flow of customers to maintain a safe and reliable service.

"Temporary station controls normally last only a few minutes, and other entrances often remain available during that period for customers to use."

A spokesman added: "Record numbers of people are using the Tube, with over 1.3bn passenger journeys last year. London’s success-driven growth means the city’s population is expected to grow from 8.6 million now to 10 million by 2030. We have consistently argued that this means that sustained investment needs to be put into modernising and expanding the transport network.

“That is why we have one of the biggest investment programmes in the world. The TfL-run Elizabeth line, which will open in 2018, will serve more than half a million customers a day on a fleet of brand new 200m long trains. Our modernisation of signalling on vast parts of the Tube network, new more frequent trains and our rebuilding of stations like Victoria and Bank is also critical. But we also now need to start building Crossrail 2 as soon as possible to relieve Waterloo and enable London to meet growing demand.”