Transport for London (TfL) and the Riverlinx Limited design, construction and operating consortium, have confirmed that London’s Silvertown Tunnel is planned to open on April 7, 2025.
The tunnel, which will be tolled, is the first new road crossing to be built either under or over the River Thames within Greater London since the new London Bridge was opened in 1973, and the first all-new route for road vehicles across the Greater London stretch of the Thames since the Rotherhithe Tunnel opened in 1908.
When the new tunnel opens charges will come into force both for it and for the nearby, existing Blackwall Tunnel. The charges will apply from 6am to 10pm daily, with both tunnels being charged to prevent traffic from simply diverting to an uncharged crossing.
The standard off-peak rate will be £1.50 for vehicles registered with TfL Auto Pay. During peak hours, charges will increase: motorcycles will pay an additional £1, cars and small vans will pay £2.50 more, large vans will pay £4 extra, and HGVs will pay £5 more. These peak rates apply northbound from 6am to 10am and southbound from 4pm to 7pm on weekdays. Users without TfL Auto Pay will also pay these higher rates.
Several groups will receive discounts or exemptions. Low-income residents in twelve east and southeast London boroughs and the City of London can qualify for a 50% discount if they receive certain benefits such as Universal Credit, Income Support, or Housing Benefit. Small businesses, sole traders, and charities in Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Greenwich will receive a £1 discount on off-peak charges for at least the first year.
Complete exemptions apply to buses, coaches, and vehicles with nine or more seats. Taxis, blue badge holders, and wheelchair-accessible private hire vehicles registered with TfL won’t have to pay. Zero-emission capable private hire vehicles licensed by TfL are also exempt, as are accredited breakdown vehicles. NHS staff and eligible patients can have their charges reimbursed.
To encourage public transport use, several cross-river bus routes serving Newham, Tower Hamlets, and Greenwich will be free for at least a year, along with specific DLR cross-river journeys. A new free “cycle-shuttle” bus service will operate between Silvertown and North Greenwich from 6:30am to 9:30pm daily, allowing cyclists to cross the river safely.
For enforcement, a single penalty charge of £180 will apply per day for non-payment, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days, regardless of how many unpaid crossings are made that day.
All new bus routes serving the tunnel, which will be free for at least the first year, will also launch the day of opening. The introduction of these new buses, including the Superloop 4 (SL4) between Canary Wharf and Grove Park, will increase the hourly number of buses able to cross the river in the area from six to 21, meaning more Londoners will benefit from using the tunnel.
With construction work on the Silvertown project now coming towards a close, and operational readiness testing underway ahead of the tunnel opening, work is moving to installing the infrastructure which will support the new zero-emission bus routes that will serve the Silvertown Tunnel – including the new cycle-shuttle service under the Thames.
“Following years of hard work and close collaboration between ourselves and Riverlinx Limited. The tunnel is on track to open in the coming months and is a testament to brilliant and ground-breaking engineering,” says Stuart Harvey, chief capital officer at Transport for London “The new tunnel, along with the initial user charges, discounts and exemptions, will support growth in the local area and provide new public transport connections across the river. These measures will also help manage traffic demand as well as the environmental impacts, and ensure the new tunnel delivers on its objectives of reducing traffic congestion and providing resilience at the Blackwall Tunnel, while ensuring we support local residents on low income, small businesses, sole traders and local charities.”
TfL will also shortly begin to install the new shelters and cycle racks for the zero-emission cycle-shuttle service, which will have a bespoke design to support cyclists and distinguish them from the regular bus network. The service will operate every 12 minutes, seven days a week from 06:30 to 21:30. It will have two stops, one on each side of the river.
The service will also have a unique look and feel to help distinguish it from the regular bus network. This branding will be used on the buses, the stops and shelters, and on the wayfinding signs to raise awareness of the new service. Maps showing local cycle routes will also be on display at shelters to help with journey planning and encourage further journeys by cycle. Further details of the branding will be revealed in the new year.
“We’re excited to be asked to operate the innovative and important Silvertown Tunnel cycle-shuttle service as part of the enhanced cross river public transport offering, and we’re busy making sure our specially converted zero emission buses will be ready in time,” says Stagecoach London managing director Paul Lynch “We also hope to see the new tunnel ease traffic conditions for our other bus services in the area.”
Work on Tidal Basin Roundabout, together with new walking and cycling routes around the roundabout and along Dock Road has also recently been completed, with work on improving Lower Lea Crossing for all road users currently underway and due to be complete by the end of spring 2025.
First announced in 2012, the 1.4km Silvertown Tunnel will link Newham to the Greenwich Peninsula and, supported by the new user charges, will make journeys faster and more reliable, with average journey time savings expected to be up to 20 minutes at peak times.
The tunnel is also located in the Ultra Low Emission Zone and will also support economic growth and allow TfL to increase the number of buses able to cross the river in this area from six to 21 buses an hour in each direction during the busiest times – all of which will be zero emission at the tailpipe.
To help manage traffic levels across the Silvertown and Blackwall tunnels, repay costs for building the new Silvertown Tunnel, and cover ongoing maintenance and operation costs at both tunnels, a user charge will be introduced on April 7, 2025. Without introducing this user charge at both tunnels, there would likely be high levels of traffic and congestion in the area, which would lead to detrimental air quality impacts, as well as longer journey times.
East London residents and businesses currently face chronic traffic congestion in the area around the Blackwall Tunnel. The Victorian-era tunnel suffers from frequent closures – more than 700 times a year – which result in large tailbacks, poor air quality and millions of hours lost due to drivers being trapped in traffic congestion.
Throughout the construction of the new tunnel, which began in 2021, more than 1,860,000 tonnes of material have been transported to and from the site via river rather than using roads – helping to remove around 110,000 lorry trips from local roads around the construction site. The tunnel boring machine, Jill (named after Jill Viner – London’s first female bus driver), was also innovatively turned around within the rotation chamber in Greenwich to then bore the second tunnel back towards Newham – a UK engineering first. As a project, the Silvertown Tunnel has also enabled more than 120 apprenticeships across the supply chain, as well as supported the hiring of more than 90 people who were previously unemployed and offered more than 1,500 days in placements for the next generation of engineers.
