Skip to main content

London's new Silvertown Tunnel set to open

TfL says average peak journey times expected to be 20 minutes quicker
By Adam Hill January 13, 2025 Read time: 2 mins
Tunnel vision (© Hupeng | Dreamstime.com)

The new Silvertown Tunnel beneath the River Thames in the east of London, UK, is set to open on 7 April 2025.

The 1.4km-long twin-bore tunnel has two lanes per tunnel with dedicated lanes for heavy goods vehicles and buses. 

Indra has equipped the new structure with its In-Mova Traffic platform and intelligent transport systems including communication systems, radio communications network and traffic signals. 

Citilog has integrated its automatic incident detection system, which includes 59 CCTV cameras, to help reduce congestion in and around the tunnel. It provides real-time incident detection and response to enhance safety and incident management, and is designed to minimise false alarms while maintaining high detection accuracy.

Using thousands of video clips will help train an advanced network to reduce false positives, allowing operators to focus on genuine emergencies.

The new tunnel runs between the London borough of Greenwich, the peninsula area, and West Silvertown on the northern bank of the Thames.

Transport for London (TfL) says modelling shows it will help reduce congestion at the existing Blackwall Tunnel, with average journey times expected to be up to 20 minutes quicker at peak times.

It will also help manage overall air quality and allow for better cross-river public transport, TfL says, with new bus routes - free for the first year - meaning that bus crossings increase from six to 21 per hour.

While you will not be able to walk or cycle through the tunnel, a new zero-emission cycle-shuttle service is due to operate every 12 minutes, seven days a week.

Related Content

  • May 21, 2015
    First pan-London Car Club Action Plan launched
    Around 85 per cent of UK car club members already based in London New plan will help reach new joint target of one million London car club members by 2025 Future growth of car clubs will help improve London’s air quality and reduce congestion in the Capital A new ‘strategy for car clubs’ in London has been launched today (21 May), to encourage residents and businesses across the capital to sign up to car club schemes as an alternative to direct car ownership. The new action plan, jointly developed b
  • February 2, 2015
    Cycling in London grows by ten per cent
    London’s cycling revolution accelerated last year, with 2014 seeing new records for usage of the capital’s cycle hire scheme and overall cycling on the Transport for London (TfL) road network. Across the TfL road network, London’s main roads, cycling levels in quarter 3 of 2014/15 (14 September to 6 December) were ten per cent higher than in the same quarter the previous year and the highest since records began in 2000. It was the fifth record quarter in a row. By the end of 2014/15, TfL forecasts a 12 p
  • September 19, 2017
    New services and equipment helps cities tackle air quality issues
    With poor urban air quality shortening lives and fines being imposed for breaching pollution limits, authorities are seeking ways to clean up their cities. Poor air quality is topping the agenda for city authorities across the globe. In the UK, for example, a report from the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health, concluded that poor outdoor air quality shortens the lives of around 40,000 people a year – principally by undermining the health of people with heart and/or lung prob
  • May 24, 2022
    London's new £19bn transit line opens
    Elizabeth Line speeds up east-west travel in the UK capital and its surrounding areas