Susan Hall

SADIQ Khan has been told to name the date that Kentish Town Underground Station will finally re-open – by his Tory election rival.

London Assembly member Susan Hall, the Conservative choice to take on Mr Khan at May’s mayoral elections, said she had written to him asking for urgent answers over the ongoing closure.

The Northern Line stop has been closed since June and the New Journal revealed last month how delays to the works – including replacing escalators – were overrunning. Transport for London has said the station should be back in use by September.

Ms Hall said she was concerned for adversely affected businesses and residents and women she had spoken to who have been forced to walk a lengthy distance home from Camden Town station in the dark.

A TfL spokesperson said during the closure “other parts of the station we identified assets that require essential repair to allow the station to operate safely”.

Ms Hall said the closure was “mindbogglingly lengthy and damaging”, and said passengers needed reassurances that it would open in September at the latest.

She said: “To close the station for more than a year in the first place, to replace two escalators and carry out basic maintenance work, seems mindbogglingly lengthy and to extend that further with such little detail or reassurance is unacceptable.

“With the further inconvenience of nearby tube stations regularly having to close due to overcrowding, alongside the extended closure of local bus stops, the range of public transport options available for residents are seriously lacking, not least for women who are now having to walk much longer distances home in the dark after work.

“If Sadiq Khan won’t listen to these concerns and apologise for this disruption then he should at least provide the answers that residents deserve.

Recent polls showed Ms Hall trailing Mr Khan by 25 points ahead of the election.