Northern Line
Encyclopedia
The Northern line is a London Underground
line. It is coloured black on the Tube map
.
For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in having two different routes through the centre of London. Despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground network, although it does serve the southernmost station (Morden) as well as sixteen of the Underground system's 29 stations south of the River Thames
. There are 50 stations on the Northern line, of which 36 are underground.
The line has a complicated history, and the current complex arrangement of two northern branches, two central branches and the southern branch reflects its genesis as three separate railway companies that were brought together and combined in the 1920s and 1930s. An extension in the 1920s used a route originally planned by a fourth company. Abandoned plans dating from the 1920s, to extend the line further southwards, and then northwards in the 1930s, would have incorporated parts of the routes of two further companies. From the 1930s to the 1970s, the tracks of a seventh company were also managed as a branch of the Northern line.
The core of the Northern line evolved from two railway companies: the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR).
The C&SLR, London's first deep-level tube railway, was built under the supervision of James Henry Greathead
, who had been responsible, with Peter W. Barlow
, for the Tower Subway
. It was the first of the Underground's lines to be constructed by boring deep below the surface and the first to be operated by electric traction. The railway opened in November 1890 from Stockwell
to a now-disused station at King William Street
. This was inconveniently placed and unable to cope with the company's traffic so, in 1900, a new route to Moorgate
via Bank was opened. By 1907 the C&SLR had been further extended at both ends to run from Clapham Common
to Euston
.
The CCE&HR (commonly known as the "Hampstead Tube") was opened in 1907 and ran from Charing Cross
(known for many years as Strand) via Euston and Camden Town
(where there was a junction) to Golders Green
and Highgate (now known as Archway
). It was extended south by one stop to Embankment
in 1914 to form an interchange with the Bakerloo
and District line
s. In 1913, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
(UERL), owner of the CCE&HR, took over the C&SLR, although they remained separate companies.
stations and provided a new intermediate station at Waterloo
to connect to the main line station there and the Bakerloo line
. The smaller-diameter tunnels of the C&SLR were expanded to match the standard diameter of the CCE&HR and the other deep tube lines.
in Middlesex
(now in the London Borough of Barnet
) and southwards to Morden
in Surrey
(then in the Merton and Morden Urban District
, but now in the London Borough of Merton
).
in 1923 and to Edgware
in 1924. The line crossed undeveloped open countryside and was on the surface, apart from a short tunnel north of Hendon Central. Five new stations were constructed to pavilion-style designs by Stanley Heaps
, stimulating the rapid northward expansion of suburban developments in the following years.
, which was constructed in a cutting. The extension was initially planned to continue to Sutton
over part of the route for the unbuilt Wimbledon and Sutton Railway
, in which the UERL held a stake, but agreements were made with the Southern Railway
to end the extension at Morden. The extension opened in 1926 with seven new stations, all designed by Charles Holden
in a modern style. Originally, Stanley Heaps, head of the Underground's Architects Office was to design the stations, but after seeing these designs Frank Pick
, Assistant Joint Manager of the UERL, decided Holden should take over the project. With the exception of Morden and Clapham South
, where more land was available, the new stations were built on confined corner sites at main road junctions in already developed areas. Holden made good use of this limited space and designed impressive buildings. The street-level structures are of white Portland stone
with tall double-height ticket halls, with the famous London Underground roundel made up in coloured glass panels in large glazed screens. The stone columns framing the glass screens are surmounted by a capital formed as a three-dimensional version of the roundel. The large expanses of glass above the entrances ensure that the ticket halls are bright and, lit from within at night, welcoming. The first and last new stations on the extension, Clapham South and Morden, include a parade of shops and were designed with structures capable of being built above (like many of the earlier central London
stations). Clapham South was extended upwards soon after its construction with a block of apartments; Morden was extended upwards in the 1960s with a block of offices. All the stations on the extension, except Morden itself, are Grade II listed buildings.
(MR) were brought under public control in the form of the London Passenger Transport Board
(LPTB) in 1933, the MR's subsidiary, the Great Northern & City Railway
, which ran from Moorgate to Finsbury Park
, became part of the Underground as the Northern City Line. In preparation for the Northern Heights Plan, it was operated as part of the Northern line, although it was never connected to it.
In June 1935, the LPTB announced the New Works Programme
, an ambitious plan to expand the Underground network which included the integration of a complex of existing London and North Eastern Railway
(LNER) lines north of Highgate
through the Northern Heights. These lines, built in the 1860s and 1870s by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) and its successors, ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware
via Highgate, with branches to Alexandra Palace
and High Barnet
. The line taken over would be extended beyond Edgware to Brockley Hill
, Elstree South
and Bushey Heath
with a new depot at Aldenham
. The extension's route was that planned for the unbuilt Watford and Edgware Railway
(W&ER), using rights obtained from the earlier purchase of the W&ER (which had long-intended an extension of the EH&LR Edgware route towards Watford
). This also provided the potential for further extension in the future if required; indeed, Bushey
's town planners reserved space in Bushey village for a future station and Bushey Heath station's design was revised several times to ensure this option would remain available in the future.
The project involved electrification
of the surface lines (operated by steam trains at the time), the doubling of the original single-line section between Finchley Central
and the proposed junction with the Edgware branch of the Northern line, and the construction of three new linking sections of track: a connection between Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station on the surface; an extension from Archway to the LNER line near East Finchley
via new deep-level platforms below Highgate station
; and a short diversion from just before the LNER's Edgware station to the Underground's station of the same name.
) had been completed and the service to the rebuilt surface station at East Finchley
started on 3 July 1939, but without the opening of the intermediate (new) Highgate Station, at the site of the LNER's station of the same name. Further progress was disrupted by the start of the war, though enough had been made to complete the electrification of the High Barnet
branch onwards from East Finchley over which tube services started on 14 April 1940; the new (deep-level) Highgate
station finally opened on 19 January 1941. The single track LNER line to Edgware was electrified as far as Mill Hill East
, including the Dollis Brook Viaduct
, opening as a tube service on 18 May 1941 to serve the barracks there, thus forming the Northern line as it is today. The new depot at Aldenham had already been built and was used to build Halifax
bombers. Work on the other elements of the plan was suspended late in 1939.
Preparatory work including viaducts and a tunnel had been started but not completed on the Bushey extension pre-war. After the war, however, the area beyond Edgware was made part of the Metropolitan Green Belt
largely preventing the anticipated residential development in the area and the potential demand for services from Bushey Heath thus vanished. Available funds were directed towards completing the eastern extension of the Central line
instead, and the Northern Heights plan was dropped on 9 February 1954. Aldenham depot was converted into an overhaul facility for buses.
The implemented service from High Barnet branch gave good access both to the West End
and the City
. This appears to have undermined traffic on the Alexandra Palace branch still run with steam haulage to Kings Cross
via Finsbury Park, as Highgate (low-level) was but a short bus ride away and car traffic was much lighter than it would become later. Consequently, the line from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace via the surface platforms at Highgate was closed altogether to passenger traffic in 1954. This contrasts with the decision to electrify the Epping-Ongar branch of the Central line, another remnant of the New Works programme, run as a tube train shuttle from 1957. A local pressure group, the Muswell Hill Metro Group, campaigns to reopen this route as a light rail service. So far there is no sign of movement on this issue: the route, now the Parkland Walk, is highly valued by walkers and cyclists and suggestions in the 1990s that it could, in part, become a road were met with fierce opposition. Another pressure group has proposed using the track bed further north, as part of the North and West London Light Railway. The connection between Drayton Park
and the surface platforms at Finsbury Park was eventually opened in 1976, the Northern City Line becoming part of British Rail
.
The rural railway heritage of the High Barnet branch beyond Highgate can be seen in the design of many of the stations.
All Northern line trains consist of London Underground 1995 Stock
and are in the distinctive Underground livery of red, white and blue. In common with the other deep-level lines, the trains are the smaller of the two sizes used on Underground. 1995 stock sports automated announcements and quick-close doors. Should the proposed split of the line take place (estimated for 2018), then 19 new additional trains will be delivered alongside the existing fleet.
, Jubilee
and Piccadilly line
s. Apart from the core central underground tunnels, part of the section between Hendon
and Colindale
is also underground. As bicycles are not allowed in tunnel sections (even if no station is in that section) as they would hinder evacuation, they are limited to High Barnet – East Finchley, the Mill Hill East branch, Edgware – Colindale and Hendon – Golders Green. There are also time-based restrictions.
The tunnel from Morden to East Finchley via Bank, 17 miles 528 yards (27.841 km)., was for a time the longest in the world. The Seikan Tunnel
is now longer.
and is located adjacent to Golders Green tube station, while the second, at Morden, is south of Morden tube station and is the larger of the two. The other two are located at Edgware and Highgate. The depot at Highgate is on the former LNER branch that used to run to Alexandra Palace. There was originally a depot at Stockwell but it closed in 1915.There are stabling sidings at High Barnet for storing trains overnight.
Bushey Extension stations not constructed
.
In the 1980s and 1990s the line was nicknamed the "Misery Line", but its reputation has improved since the introduction of the 1995 stock.
In 2003, a train derailed at Camden Town. Although no one was hurt, points and signals were damaged, and the junctions there were not used while repairs were under way: trains coming from Edgware worked the Bank branch only, and trains from High Barnet and Mill Hill East worked the Charing Cross branch only. This situation was resolved when the junctions reopened, after much repair work and safety analysis and testing, on 7 March 2004.
A joint report by the Underground and its maintenance contractor Tube Lines
concluded that poor track geometry was the main cause, and that, because of this, extra friction arising out of striations (scratches) on a newly installed set of points had allowed the leading wheel of the last carriage to climb the rail and so derail. The track geometry at the derailment site is a very tight bend and tight tunnel bore, which precludes the normal solution for this sort of geometry of canting the track by raising the height of one rail relative to the other.
On 7 July 2005 a defective train on the Northern line (causing its subsequent suspension) saved a Northern line train from being blown up as part of a terrorist attack on the London Underground and bus systems
. Three trains on the Circle and Piccadilly lines were blown up. The Northern line bomber instead boarded a bus, which he later blew up.
On 13 October 2005 the entire Northern line service was suspended due to maintenance problems with the emergency braking system on the trains. A series of rail replacement buses was used to connect outlying stations with other Underground lines. Full service was restored on 18 October.
In October 2006, off-peak service between Mill Hill East and Finchley Central was cut back to a shuttle, except for a few weekend through trains.
From June 2006, the service between East Finchley and Camden Town was suspended for two non-consecutive weekends every month, with service on the Edgware branch suspended for the other two weeks. This was part of Tube Lines's redevelopment of some Edgware and High Barnet Branch stations, including replacement of track, signals, as well as station maintenance. This included refurbishment of all High Barnet branch stations from West Finchley
to Camden Town.
On Friday 13 August 2010, a defective maintenance train caused disruption on the Charing Cross branch, after it travelled four miles in 13 minutes without a driver. The train was being towed to the depot after becoming faulty. At Archway tube station
, the defective train became detached and ran driverless until coming to a stop at an incline near Warren Street tube station
. This caused morning rush-hour services to be suspended on this branch. All passenger trains were diverted via the Bank branch, with several not stopping at stations until they were safely on the Bank branch.
in 2012, using the same SelTrac
system due to be commissioned on the Jubilee line
in 2009 and used for a number of years on the Docklands Light Railway
. Work was originally planned to follow on from the Jubilee line in order to benefit from the experience of installing it there, but that project is not now expected to be complete until spring 2011. Originally work on the Northern line was intended to be completed by the contractually stipulated date, which was before the 2012 Olympics
. With the work now being taken in-house and no contractual deadlines to meet, a more realistic timetable suggests that it will be complete in 2014.
TfL's Transport 2025 – Transport vision for a growing world confirms its long-term aim of splitting the Northern line into two separate routes. Running trains between all combinations of branches and the two central sections, as is currently done, means only 20–22 trains an hour can run through each of the central sections, because merging trains have to wait for each other at the junctions. Completely segregating the routes will allow 32 trains an hour on all parts of the system. However, Camden Town tube station
will need to be rebuilt before this can be implemented, as the current station would not be able to cope with the increased number of passengers changing trains there. London Underground Limited (LUL) had, however, had problems gaining planning permission for the redevelopment plans. All plans for a revised scheme for Camden Town station have been delayed by budgetary cuts.
Because the full split is not possible without a rebuilt Camden Town station, and the need to increase capacity remains, the current plan is to achieve a partial split by terminating all Charing Cross branch trains at Kennington during normal service. This would eliminate the need to co-ordinate train paths southbound when they merge at Kennington and would enable the Morden-Bank branch to operate at the maximum capacity that the new signalling system will allow. This will not happen until the line has been resignalled, as it is only then that the full benefits of this plan can be realised.
In June 2008, Treasury Holdings, owners of Battersea Power Station
, announced proposals for an extension of the Northern line from Kennington to a station in Battersea
to serve a redeveloped power station site. The plan has been approved by the London Borough of Wandsworth
, and the extension could be opened by 2015 as part of a planned redevelopment of the Battersea Power Station. In October 2009, the proposal received a boost when Mayor of London
Boris Johnson
announced that developers of the area would be exempt from the Crossrail
levy and instead required to pay towards the proposed Northern line extension. In May 2010 the company proposing the route revealed four options for the route. Option 1 was for a non-stop from to Battersea. Option 2 suggested a station in the middle of Nine Elms
, then a station at Battersea. Option 3 proposed two new platforms at Vauxhall
and then to Battersea; and option 4 was for a station near the new U.S. Embassy and then to Battersea. On 11 November 2010 Wandsworth Council approved a version of option 2 with the intermediate station at Wandsworth Road. This was ratified by the Mayor of London on 22 December 2010. See also Northern line extension to Battersea.
In the long term, a full operational split of the line into two distinct non-overlapping routes could lead to one or both being renamed and given a different colour on the Tube map. If the Battersea extension does not get built, there are opportunities to extend from Kennington to other places in south-east London, such as Camberwell
, in line with the Mayor's transport policy to provide greater tube coverage in that area.
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
line. It is coloured black on the Tube map
Tube map
The Tube map is a schematic transit map representing the lines and stations of London's rapid transit railway systems, namely the London Underground , the Docklands Light Railway and London Overground....
.
For most of its length it is a deep-level tube line. The line carries 206,734,000 passengers per year. This is the highest number of any line on the London Underground system, but the Northern line is unique in having two different routes through the centre of London. Despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground network, although it does serve the southernmost station (Morden) as well as sixteen of the Underground system's 29 stations south of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. There are 50 stations on the Northern line, of which 36 are underground.
The line has a complicated history, and the current complex arrangement of two northern branches, two central branches and the southern branch reflects its genesis as three separate railway companies that were brought together and combined in the 1920s and 1930s. An extension in the 1920s used a route originally planned by a fourth company. Abandoned plans dating from the 1920s, to extend the line further southwards, and then northwards in the 1930s, would have incorporated parts of the routes of two further companies. From the 1930s to the 1970s, the tracks of a seventh company were also managed as a branch of the Northern line.
Formation
- See City and South London Railway and Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway for detailed histories of these companies
The C&SLR, London's first deep-level tube railway, was built under the supervision of James Henry Greathead
James Henry Greathead
James Henry Greathead was an engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground railway.-Early life:Greathead was born in Grahamstown, South Africa; of English descent, Greathead's grandfather had emigrated to South Africa in 1820. He was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown, and the...
, who had been responsible, with Peter W. Barlow
Peter W. Barlow
Peter William Barlow was an English civil engineer.He was born at Woolwich, the son of an engineer and mathematician, professor Peter Barlow of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich...
, for the Tower Subway
Tower Subway
The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane to the south...
. It was the first of the Underground's lines to be constructed by boring deep below the surface and the first to be operated by electric traction. The railway opened in November 1890 from Stockwell
Stockwell tube station
Stockwell tube station is a London Underground station in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern Line between Oval and Clapham North, and on the Victoria Line between Brixton and Vauxhall. It is the southernmost station on the London Undergound that serves more...
to a now-disused station at King William Street
King William Street tube station
King William Street was the original but short-lived northern terminus of the City & South London Railway , the first deep tube underground railway in London and one of the component parts of the London Underground's Northern Line. It was in the City of London, on King William Street, just south...
. This was inconveniently placed and unable to cope with the company's traffic so, in 1900, a new route to Moorgate
Moorgate station
Moorgate station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station on Moorgate in the City of London; it provides National Rail services by First Capital Connect for Hertford, Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth and also serves the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan Lines and...
via Bank was opened. By 1907 the C&SLR had been further extended at both ends to run from Clapham Common
Clapham Common tube station
Clapham Common tube station is a station on London Underground's Northern Line. It lies between Clapham North and Clapham South stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2.-History:...
to Euston
Euston tube station
Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1....
.
Charing Cross tube station
Charing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand. The station is served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines and provides an interchange with the National Rail network at station...
(known for many years as Strand) via Euston and Camden Town
Camden Town tube station
Camden Town tube station is a major junction on the Northern Line and one of the busiest stations on the London Underground network...
(where there was a junction) to Golders Green
Golders Green tube station
Golders Green tube station is a London Underground station in Golders Green, north London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line between Hampstead and Brent Cross...
and Highgate (now known as Archway
Archway tube station
Archway tube station is a London Underground station in north London, underneath the Archway Tower, at the intersection of Holloway Road, Highgate Hill and Junction Road in the area known as Archway....
). It was extended south by one stop to Embankment
Embankment tube station
Embankment is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known by various names during its history. It is served by the Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines. On the Northern and Bakerloo lines, the station is between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations; on the Circle and...
in 1914 to form an interchange with the Bakerloo
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
and District line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
s. In 1913, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
(UERL), owner of the CCE&HR, took over the C&SLR, although they remained separate companies.
Integration
During the early 1920s, a series of works was carried out to connect the C&SLR and CCE&HR tunnels to enable an integrated service to be operated. The first of these new tunnels, between the C&SLR's Euston station and the CCE&HR's station at Camden Town, had originally been planned in 1912, but had been delayed by World War I. The second connection linked the CCE&HR's Embankment and C&SLR's KenningtonKennington tube station
Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Newington/ Walworth on Kennington Park Road, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station...
stations and provided a new intermediate station at Waterloo
Waterloo tube station
Waterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines...
to connect to the main line station there and the Bakerloo line
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
. The smaller-diameter tunnels of the C&SLR were expanded to match the standard diameter of the CCE&HR and the other deep tube lines.
Extensions
In conjunction with the works to integrate the two lines, two major extensions were undertaken: northwards to EdgwareEdgware
Edgware is an area in London, situated north-northwest of Charing Cross. It forms part of both the London Borough of Barnet and the London Borough of Harrow. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
(now in the London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet is a London borough in North London and forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 331,500 and covers . It borders Hertfordshire to the north and five other London boroughs: Harrow and Brent to the west, Camden and Haringey to the south-east and Enfield to the...
) and southwards to Morden
Morden
Morden is a district in the London Borough of Merton. It is located approximately South-southwest of central London between Merton Park , Mitcham , Sutton and Worcester Park .- Origin of name :...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
(then in the Merton and Morden Urban District
Merton and Morden Urban District
Merton Urban District and Merton and Morden Urban District was an urban district in Surrey, England. It was formed in 1907 from the parish of Merton and was expanded in 1913 to take in Morden...
, but now in the London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Merton
The London Borough of Merton is a borough in southwest London, England.The borough was formed under the London Government Act in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton and Morden Urban District, all formerly within Surrey...
).
Edgware Extension
The Edgware extension utilised plans dating back to 1901 for the Edgware and Hampstead Railway (E&HR) which the UERL had taken over in 1912. It extended the CCE&HR line from its terminus at Golders Green to Edgware in two stages: to Hendon CentralHendon Central tube station
Hendon Central tube station is a London Underground station in North West London on the A41.The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Colindale and Brent Cross stations, and is on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 3 and Zone 4. Its postcode is NW4 2TE...
in 1923 and to Edgware
Edgware tube station
Edgware tube station is a London Underground station in Edgware, in the London Borough of Barnet, in North London. The station is the terminus of the Edgware branch of the Northern Line and the next station towards central London is . Edgware is in Travelcard Zone 5.-Location:The station is in...
in 1924. The line crossed undeveloped open countryside and was on the surface, apart from a short tunnel north of Hendon Central. Five new stations were constructed to pavilion-style designs by Stanley Heaps
Stanley Heaps
Stanley A. Heaps was an English architect responsible for the design of a number of stations on the London Underground system as well as the design of train depots and bus and trolleybus garages for London Transport.-Works:...
, stimulating the rapid northward expansion of suburban developments in the following years.
Morden Extension
The engineering of the Morden extension of the C&SLR from Clapham Common to Morden was more demanding, running in tunnels to a point just north of Morden stationMorden tube station
Morden is a London Underground station in Morden in the London Borough of Merton. The station is the southern terminus for the Northern line and is the most southerly station on the Underground network. The next station north is...
, which was constructed in a cutting. The extension was initially planned to continue to Sutton
Sutton, London
Sutton is a large suburban town in southwest London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Sutton. It is located south-southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. The town was connected to central London by...
over part of the route for the unbuilt Wimbledon and Sutton Railway
Wimbledon and Sutton Railway
The Wimbledon and Sutton Railway was a railway company established by an Act of Parliament in 1910 to build a railway line in Surrey from Wimbledon to Sutton via Merton and Morden in the United Kingdom. The railway was promoted by local landowners hoping to increase the value of their land...
, in which the UERL held a stake, but agreements were made with the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
to end the extension at Morden. The extension opened in 1926 with seven new stations, all designed by Charles Holden
Charles Holden
Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the...
in a modern style. Originally, Stanley Heaps, head of the Underground's Architects Office was to design the stations, but after seeing these designs Frank Pick
Frank Pick
Frank Pick LLB Hon. RIBA was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway, before moving to the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in 1906...
, Assistant Joint Manager of the UERL, decided Holden should take over the project. With the exception of Morden and Clapham South
Clapham South tube station
Clapham South tube station is a station on London Underground's Northern Line between and Balham stations. The station is located at the corner of Balham Hill and Nightingale Lane...
, where more land was available, the new stations were built on confined corner sites at main road junctions in already developed areas. Holden made good use of this limited space and designed impressive buildings. The street-level structures are of white Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
with tall double-height ticket halls, with the famous London Underground roundel made up in coloured glass panels in large glazed screens. The stone columns framing the glass screens are surmounted by a capital formed as a three-dimensional version of the roundel. The large expanses of glass above the entrances ensure that the ticket halls are bright and, lit from within at night, welcoming. The first and last new stations on the extension, Clapham South and Morden, include a parade of shops and were designed with structures capable of being built above (like many of the earlier central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
stations). Clapham South was extended upwards soon after its construction with a block of apartments; Morden was extended upwards in the 1960s with a block of offices. All the stations on the extension, except Morden itself, are Grade II listed buildings.
Naming
The resulting line became known as the Morden–Edgware line, although a number of alternative names were also mooted in the fashion of the contraction of Baker Street & Waterloo Railway to "Bakerloo", such as "Edgmor", "Mordenware", "Medgway" and "Edgmorden". It was eventually named the Northern line in August 1937, reflecting the planned addition of the Northern Heights lines.Great Northern & City Railway
After the UERL and the Metropolitan RailwayMetropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
(MR) were brought under public control in the form of the London Passenger Transport Board
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...
(LPTB) in 1933, the MR's subsidiary, the Great Northern & City Railway
Northern City Line
The Northern City Line is a railway line from Moorgate to Finsbury Park in London, once part of the Great Northern Electrics line. It should not be confused with the City branch of the Northern line, nor with the North London Line...
, which ran from Moorgate to Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park station
Finsbury Park Station is a busy transport interchange in North London. The interchange consists of an interconnected National Rail station, London Underground station and two bus stations. The main entrances are by the eastern bus station on Station Place...
, became part of the Underground as the Northern City Line. In preparation for the Northern Heights Plan, it was operated as part of the Northern line, although it was never connected to it.
The Northern Heights plan
- See Edgware, Highgate and London RailwayEdgware, Highgate and London RailwayThe Edgware, Highgate and London Railway was a railway in north London. The railway was a precursor of parts of London Underground's Northern Line and was, in the 1930s the core of an ambitious expansion plan for that line which was thwarted by the Second World War...
for a detailed history of that company
New Works Programme
The "New Works Programme, 1935 - 1940" was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board , commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the capital and the surrounding areas...
, an ambitious plan to expand the Underground network which included the integration of a complex of existing London and North Eastern Railway
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
(LNER) lines north of Highgate
Highgate
Highgate is an area of North London on the north-eastern corner of Hampstead Heath.Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has an active conservation body, the Highgate Society, to protect its character....
through the Northern Heights. These lines, built in the 1860s and 1870s by the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway (EH&LR) and its successors, ran from Finsbury Park to Edgware
Edgware railway station
Edgware railway station was a London and North Eastern Railway station in Station Road, Edgware, Greater London. It is not to be confused with the London Underground Northern line Edgware station approximately 200 metres to the north east.-History:...
via Highgate, with branches to Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace railway station (Muswell Hill branch)
Alexandra Palace railway station is a former station in the grounds of Alexandra Palace in the Muswell Hill area of north London...
and High Barnet
High Barnet tube station
High Barnet tube station is a London Underground station located in High Barnet in North London. The station is the terminus of the High Barnet branch of the Northern line and is in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the northernmost station on the Northern line and is situated 10.2 miles north north-west...
. The line taken over would be extended beyond Edgware to Brockley Hill
Brockley Hill tube station
Brockley Hill tube station is an unbuilt London Underground station in the Brockley Hill area of north London. The planned location was close to Edgwarebury Park and the north side of the junction of the A41 and the A410 roads.-History:...
, Elstree South
Elstree South tube station
Elstree South tube station was an unbuilt London Underground station in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It was designed by Charles Holden...
and Bushey Heath
Bushey Heath tube station
Bushey Heath tube station was an unbuilt London Underground station in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. The planned location of the station was at the junction of the A41 and A411 roads.-History:...
with a new depot at Aldenham
Aldenham Works
The Aldenham Works, or Aldenham Bus Overhaul Works, was the main London Transport Bus overhaul works. It was located on the edge of the Hertfordshire village of Elstree and not Aldenham despite being officially called Aldenham Works. In its heyday, 50 buses a week were overhauled there, and it was...
. The extension's route was that planned for the unbuilt Watford and Edgware Railway
Watford and Edgware Railway
The Watford and Edgware Railway was a railway company established in the 1860s that intended to build a railway that would run between Edgware and Watford, via Bushey...
(W&ER), using rights obtained from the earlier purchase of the W&ER (which had long-intended an extension of the EH&LR Edgware route towards Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
). This also provided the potential for further extension in the future if required; indeed, Bushey
Bushey
Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. Bushey Heath is situated to the south east of Bushey on the boundary with the London Borough of Harrow.-History:...
's town planners reserved space in Bushey village for a future station and Bushey Heath station's design was revised several times to ensure this option would remain available in the future.
The project involved electrification
Railway electrification in Great Britain
Railway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
of the surface lines (operated by steam trains at the time), the doubling of the original single-line section between Finchley Central
Finchley Central tube station
Finchley Central tube station is a London Underground station in the Church End area of Finchley, North London.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between West Finchley and East Finchley stations and is the junction for the short branch to Mill Hill East station...
and the proposed junction with the Edgware branch of the Northern line, and the construction of three new linking sections of track: a connection between Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station on the surface; an extension from Archway to the LNER line near East Finchley
East Finchley tube station
East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:...
via new deep-level platforms below Highgate station
Highgate tube station
Highgate tube station is a London Underground station on Archway Road, Highgate, not far from Highgate Village in north London. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Archway and East Finchley, in Travelcard Zone 3....
; and a short diversion from just before the LNER's Edgware station to the Underground's station of the same name.
Intended service levels
The peak hour service levels would have seen 21 trains an hour each way on the Barnet branch north of Camden Town, 14 via the Charing Cross branch and seven via the Bank branch. 14 would have continued on beyond Finchley Central, seven each on the High Barnet and Edgware branches. An additional seven trains an hour would have served the Barnet branch, but continued via Highgate High-Level and Finsbury Park to Moorgate, a slightly shorter route to the City. It does not seem to have been intended to run through trains to the ex-Northern City branch from Edgware via Finchley Central. Seven trains an hour would have served the Alexandra Palace branch, to/from Moorgate via Highgate High-level. In addition to the 14 through trains described, the ex-Northern City branch would have had 14 4-car shuttle trains an hour.Progress of works
Work began in the late 1930s, and was in progress on all fronts by the outbreak of World War II. The tunneling northwards from the original Highgate station (now ArchwayArchway tube station
Archway tube station is a London Underground station in north London, underneath the Archway Tower, at the intersection of Holloway Road, Highgate Hill and Junction Road in the area known as Archway....
) had been completed and the service to the rebuilt surface station at East Finchley
East Finchley tube station
East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:...
started on 3 July 1939, but without the opening of the intermediate (new) Highgate Station, at the site of the LNER's station of the same name. Further progress was disrupted by the start of the war, though enough had been made to complete the electrification of the High Barnet
High Barnet tube station
High Barnet tube station is a London Underground station located in High Barnet in North London. The station is the terminus of the High Barnet branch of the Northern line and is in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the northernmost station on the Northern line and is situated 10.2 miles north north-west...
branch onwards from East Finchley over which tube services started on 14 April 1940; the new (deep-level) Highgate
Highgate tube station
Highgate tube station is a London Underground station on Archway Road, Highgate, not far from Highgate Village in north London. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Archway and East Finchley, in Travelcard Zone 3....
station finally opened on 19 January 1941. The single track LNER line to Edgware was electrified as far as Mill Hill East
Mill Hill East tube station
Mill Hill East tube station is a London Underground station in Mill Hill in North London.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, and is the terminus, and only station, of a branch from Finchley Central station...
, including the Dollis Brook Viaduct
Dollis Brook Viaduct
The Dollis Brook Viaduct, also known as the Dollis Road Viaduct, Dollis Viaduct, Mill Hill Viaduct and Finchley Viaduct, is a railway viaduct in Finchley, North London, United Kingdom. It currently carries the London Underground's Northern line from Mill Hill East station to Finchley Central station...
, opening as a tube service on 18 May 1941 to serve the barracks there, thus forming the Northern line as it is today. The new depot at Aldenham had already been built and was used to build Halifax
Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
bombers. Work on the other elements of the plan was suspended late in 1939.
Preparatory work including viaducts and a tunnel had been started but not completed on the Bushey extension pre-war. After the war, however, the area beyond Edgware was made part of the Metropolitan Green Belt
Metropolitan Green Belt
The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It includes designated parts of Greater London and the surrounding counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey in the South East and East of England regions.-History:The...
largely preventing the anticipated residential development in the area and the potential demand for services from Bushey Heath thus vanished. Available funds were directed towards completing the eastern extension of the Central line
Central Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
instead, and the Northern Heights plan was dropped on 9 February 1954. Aldenham depot was converted into an overhaul facility for buses.
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
and the City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. This appears to have undermined traffic on the Alexandra Palace branch still run with steam haulage to Kings Cross
King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
King's Cross St. Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden, on the London Underground network, serving both King's Cross and main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is the fourth busiest station on the system and serves more lines than any other...
via Finsbury Park, as Highgate (low-level) was but a short bus ride away and car traffic was much lighter than it would become later. Consequently, the line from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill and Alexandra Palace via the surface platforms at Highgate was closed altogether to passenger traffic in 1954. This contrasts with the decision to electrify the Epping-Ongar branch of the Central line, another remnant of the New Works programme, run as a tube train shuttle from 1957. A local pressure group, the Muswell Hill Metro Group, campaigns to reopen this route as a light rail service. So far there is no sign of movement on this issue: the route, now the Parkland Walk, is highly valued by walkers and cyclists and suggestions in the 1990s that it could, in part, become a road were met with fierce opposition. Another pressure group has proposed using the track bed further north, as part of the North and West London Light Railway. The connection between Drayton Park
Drayton Park railway station
Drayton Park railway station is on the Network Rail Northern City Line which carries First Capital Connect services between Moorgate and Welwyn Garden City or Hertford via Finsbury Park...
and the surface platforms at Finsbury Park was eventually opened in 1976, the Northern City Line becoming part of British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
.
The rural railway heritage of the High Barnet branch beyond Highgate can be seen in the design of many of the stations.
Rolling stock
London Underground 1995 Stock
The London Underground's 1995 stock is used in daily service on the Northern Line. There are 106 six car trains in operation; they entered service between 12 June 1998 and 10 April 2001....
and are in the distinctive Underground livery of red, white and blue. In common with the other deep-level lines, the trains are the smaller of the two sizes used on Underground. 1995 stock sports automated announcements and quick-close doors. Should the proposed split of the line take place (estimated for 2018), then 19 new additional trains will be delivered alongside the existing fleet.
Tunnels
Although other London Underground lines operate fully underground, the Northern line is unusual in that it is a deep-level tube line that serves the outer suburbs of South London yet there is only one station above ground (Morden tube station) while the rest of this part of the line is deep below ground. The short section to Morden depot is also above ground. This is partly because its southern extension into the outer suburbs was not done by taking over an existing surface line as was generally the case with routes like the CentralCentral Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
, Jubilee
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects...
and Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
s. Apart from the core central underground tunnels, part of the section between Hendon
Hendon Central tube station
Hendon Central tube station is a London Underground station in North West London on the A41.The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Colindale and Brent Cross stations, and is on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 3 and Zone 4. Its postcode is NW4 2TE...
and Colindale
Colindale tube station
Colindale tube station is a London Underground station in Colindale, a suburb of north London. The station is on the north-south Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Burnt Oak and Hendon Central stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4.-History:...
is also underground. As bicycles are not allowed in tunnel sections (even if no station is in that section) as they would hinder evacuation, they are limited to High Barnet – East Finchley, the Mill Hill East branch, Edgware – Colindale and Hendon – Golders Green. There are also time-based restrictions.
The tunnel from Morden to East Finchley via Bank, 17 miles 528 yards (27.841 km)., was for a time the longest in the world. The Seikan Tunnel
Seikan Tunnel
The Seikan Tunnel is a railway tunnel in Japan, with a long portion under the seabed. Track level is about below seabed and below sea level. It travels beneath the Tsugaru Strait—connecting Aomori Prefecture on the Japanese island of Honshu and the island of Hokkaido—as part of the Kaikyo Line...
is now longer.
Stations
High Barnet branch
| High Barnet branch | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Barnet High Barnet tube station High Barnet tube station is a London Underground station located in High Barnet in North London. The station is the terminus of the High Barnet branch of the Northern line and is in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the northernmost station on the Northern line and is situated 10.2 miles north north-west... |
 |
1 April 1872 | First Northern line train was 14 April 1940 |
| Totteridge and Whetstone Totteridge and Whetstone tube station Totteridge and Whetstone tube station is a London Underground station in north London. The station is the penultimate one on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Woodside Park and High Barnet stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4... |
1 April 1872 | First Northern line train was 14 April 1940 | |
| Woodside Park Woodside Park tube station Woodside Park tube station is a London Underground station in Woodside Park, north London.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between West Finchley and Totteridge and Whetstone stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4... |
 |
1 April 1872 | First Northern line train was 14 April 1940 |
| West Finchley West Finchley tube station West Finchley tube station is a London Underground station in the Finchley area of north London in the London Borough of Barnet.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Finchley Central and Woodside Park stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4.-History:The station was... |
 |
1 March 1933 | First Northern line train was 14 April 1940 |
| Mill Hill East Mill Hill East tube station Mill Hill East tube station is a London Underground station in Mill Hill in North London.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, and is the terminus, and only station, of a branch from Finchley Central station... (shuttle trains to and from Finchley Central) |
 |
22 August 1867 | Closed 11 September 1939, reopened 18 May 1941 |
| Finchley Central Finchley Central tube station Finchley Central tube station is a London Underground station in the Church End area of Finchley, North London.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between West Finchley and East Finchley stations and is the junction for the short branch to Mill Hill East station... |
22 August 1867 | First Northern line train was 14 April 1940 | |
| East Finchley East Finchley tube station East Finchley is a London Underground station in East Finchley in north London. The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Highgate and Finchley Central stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-History:... |
 |
22 August 1867 | First Northern line train was 3 July 1939 |
| Highgate Highgate tube station Highgate tube station is a London Underground station on Archway Road, Highgate, not far from Highgate Village in north London. It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Archway and East Finchley, in Travelcard Zone 3.... |
 |
22 August 1867 | First Northern line train was 19 January 1941 |
| Archway Archway tube station Archway tube station is a London Underground station in north London, underneath the Archway Tower, at the intersection of Holloway Road, Highgate Hill and Junction Road in the area known as Archway.... |
 |
22 June 1907 | Originally named Highgate |
| Tufnell Park Tufnell Park tube station Tufnell Park tube station is a London Underground station in Islington close to its boundary with Camden . It is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, between Archway and Kentish Town, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It has distinctive Edwardian red tiling and has two lifts between the street... |
22 June 1907 | ||
| Kentish Town Kentish Town station Kentish Town station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden. It is at the junction of Kentish Town Road and Leighton Road... |
1868 | First underground station 22 June 1907 | |
Edgware branch
| Edgware branch | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgware Edgware tube station Edgware tube station is a London Underground station in Edgware, in the London Borough of Barnet, in North London. The station is the terminus of the Edgware branch of the Northern Line and the next station towards central London is . Edgware is in Travelcard Zone 5.-Location:The station is in... |
 |
18 August 1924 | |
| Burnt Oak Burnt Oak tube station Burnt Oak tube station is a London Underground station in Burnt Oak, north London, on Watling Avenue, off the A5... |
 |
27 October 1924 | |
| Colindale Colindale tube station Colindale tube station is a London Underground station in Colindale, a suburb of north London. The station is on the north-south Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Burnt Oak and Hendon Central stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4.-History:... |
 |
18 August 1924 | |
| Hendon Central Hendon Central tube station Hendon Central tube station is a London Underground station in North West London on the A41.The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Colindale and Brent Cross stations, and is on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 3 and Zone 4. Its postcode is NW4 2TE... |
19 November 1923 | ||
| Brent Cross Brent Cross tube station Brent Cross tube station is a London Underground station located on Highfield Avenue in the Golders Green area of north west London. The station is a Grade II listed building.... |
 |
19 November 1923 | Opened as Brent, renamed 20 July 1976 |
| Golders Green Golders Green tube station Golders Green tube station is a London Underground station in Golders Green, north London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line between Hampstead and Brent Cross... |
 |
22 June 1907 | Originally a terminus |
| Hampstead Hampstead tube station Hampstead tube station is a London Underground station in Hampstead, north London NW3 1QG. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Golders Green and Belsize Park stations, and on the boundary between Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3.... |
 |
22 June 1907 | |
| Belsize Park Belsize Park tube station Belsize Park tube station is a London Underground station in Belsize Park, North-West London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line, between Chalk Farm and Hampstead stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It is located at the northern end of Haverstock Hill... |
 |
22 June 1907 | |
| Chalk Farm Chalk Farm tube station Chalk Farm tube station is a London Underground station near Camden Town in London. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, between Camden Town and Belsize Park stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station stands at the junction of Chalk Farm Road/Haverstock Hill and Adelaide... |
22 June 1907 | ||
Camden Town
| Camden Town | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camden Town Camden Town tube station Camden Town tube station is a major junction on the Northern Line and one of the busiest stations on the London Underground network... |
 |
22 June 1907 | |
| The junctions connecting the two northern branches of the Northern line to the two central branches are just south of Camden Town station. The station has a pair of platforms on each of the two northern branches, and southbound trains can depart toward either Charing Cross or Bank from either of the two southbound platforms. | |||
Charing Cross branch
| also known as the West End branch | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information and transfers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mornington Crescent Mornington Crescent tube station Mornington Crescent is a London Underground station in Camden Town in north west London, named after the nearby street. The station is on the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, between and... |
 |
22 June 1907 | |
| Euston Euston tube station Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.... |
 |
12 May 1907 | Change for Northern line service via Bank and Victoria line Victoria Line The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map... |
| Warren Street Warren Street tube station Warren Street tube station is a London Underground station, located at the intersection of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road. It is on the branch of the Northern Line, between and , and the Victoria Line between and Euston. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and is the nearest tube station to... |
 |
22 June 1907 | Change for Victoria line Victoria Line The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map... |
| Goodge Street Goodge Street tube station Goodge Street is a London Underground station on Tottenham Court Road. It is on the Northern Line between Tottenham Court Road and Warren Street, and is in Travelcard Zone 1.-History:... |
 |
22 June 1907 | Opened as Tottenham Court Road, renamed 3 September 1908 |
| Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road tube station Tottenham Court Road is a London Underground station in central London. It is an interchange between the Central line and the branch of the Northern line.On the Central line it is between and , and on the Northern line it is between and... |
30 July 1900 | Change for Central line Central Line The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground... |
|
| Leicester Square Leicester Square tube station Leicester Square is a station on the London Underground, located on Charing Cross Road, a short distance to the east of Leicester Square itself.... |
15 December 1906 | Change for Piccadilly line Piccadilly Line The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with... |
|
| Charing Cross Charing Cross tube station Charing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand. The station is served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines and provides an interchange with the National Rail network at station... |
10 March 1906 | Northern line platforms opened 22 June 1907, change for Bakerloo line Bakerloo Line The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground... |
|
| Embankment Embankment tube station Embankment is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known by various names during its history. It is served by the Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines. On the Northern and Bakerloo lines, the station is between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations; on the Circle and... ( Embankment Pier Embankment Pier Embankment Pier is a pier on the River Thames in London, UK. It is located on the North Bank of the river, immediately next to the Hungerford Bridge and directly outside the river entrance to Embankment tube station... ) |
 |
30 May 1870 | Northern line extension opened 13 September 1926, change for Bakerloo Bakerloo Line The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground... , Circle and District line District Line The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground... s |
| Waterloo Waterloo tube station Waterloo tube station is a London Underground station located at Waterloo station. It is the second busiest station on the network and is served by the Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and the Waterloo & City lines... ( Waterloo Pier Waterloo Millennium Pier London Eye Pier is a pier on South Bank of the River Thames in Central London, UK, located directly in front of the London Eye.... , Festival Pier Festival Pier Festival Pier is a stop for river boat services on the River Thames, London, UK. It is immediately in front of the Royal Festival Hall and National Film Theatre, and serves the South Bank complex... ) |
 |
8 August 1898 | Northern line began 1926, change for Bakerloo Bakerloo Line The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground... , Jubilee Jubilee Line The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects... and Waterloo & City line Waterloo & City Line The Waterloo & City line is a short underground railway line in London, which was formally opened on 11 July 1898. It has only two stations, Waterloo and Bank... s |
| Southbound trains on this branch often terminate at Kennington, which has a terminal loop | |||
Bank branch
| also known as the City branch | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Euston Euston tube station Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.... |
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12 May 1907 | Change for Northern line service via Charing Cross and Victoria line Victoria Line The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map... |
| King's Cross St. Pancras King's Cross St. Pancras tube station King's Cross St. Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden, on the London Underground network, serving both King's Cross and main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is the fourth busiest station on the system and serves more lines than any other... ( Trains Gatwick and Luton London Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway... ) |
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1863 | Northern line May 1907, change for Circle, Hammersmith & City Hammersmith & City Line The Hammersmith & City line is a subsurface London Underground line. It connects Hammersmith in the west with Barking in the east, running through the northern part of central London. It is coloured salmon pink on the Tube map... , Metropolitan Metropolitan Line The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863... , Piccadilly Piccadilly Line The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with... and Victoria line Victoria Line The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map... s |
| Angel Angel tube station Angel tube station is a London Underground station in The Angel, Islington. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line, between Old Street and King's Cross St. Pancras stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The tube stop serves as a portal to several Off West End, or fringe theatre, venues,... |
1901 | ||
| Old Street Old Street station Old Street station is a central London National Rail and London Underground station located at the junction of Old Street and City Road just north of the City of London. It lies close to the border between the boroughs of Islington and Hackney... |
November 1901 | Northern line platforms February 1904 | |
| Moorgate Moorgate station Moorgate station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station on Moorgate in the City of London; it provides National Rail services by First Capital Connect for Hertford, Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth and also serves the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan Lines and... |
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1865 | |
| Bank | 25 February 1900 | Linked with Monument by escalator 18 September 1933, change for Central Central Line The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground... and Waterloo & City line Waterloo & City Line The Waterloo & City line is a short underground railway line in London, which was formally opened on 11 July 1898. It has only two stations, Waterloo and Bank... s. |
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| London Bridge London Bridge station London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the... ( Trains to Gatwick and Luton London Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway... ) ( London Bridge City Pier London Bridge City Pier The London Bridge City Pier is situated on the south bank of the River Thames in London, UK, close to London Bridge... ) |
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25 February 1900 | Original station opened 14 December 1836, change for Jubilee line Jubilee Line The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects... |
| Borough Borough tube station Borough tube station is a London Underground station in The Borough area of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line between Elephant & Castle and London Bridge stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.... |
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18 December 1890 | |
| Elephant and Castle Elephant & Castle tube station Elephant & Castle tube station is a station on the London Underground system. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2... |
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18 December 1890 | Change for Bakerloo line Bakerloo Line The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground... |
Morden branch
| Morden branch | |||
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kennington Kennington tube station Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Newington/ Walworth on Kennington Park Road, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station... |
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18 December 1890 | |
| Oval Oval tube station Oval tube station in Kennington is a station on the Northern line of the London Underground between Stockwell and Kennington stations. It is the only station on the Morden branch of the Northern line whose name begins with a vowel and is one of only two stations on the London Underground with only... |
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18 December 1890 | |
| Stockwell Stockwell tube station Stockwell tube station is a London Underground station in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern Line between Oval and Clapham North, and on the Victoria Line between Brixton and Vauxhall. It is the southernmost station on the London Undergound that serves more... |
4 November 1890 | Change for Victoria line Victoria Line The Victoria line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the south to the north-east of London. It is coloured light blue on the Tube map... |
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| Clapham North Clapham North tube station Clapham North tube station is an Underground station in Clapham, London. It is on the Northern Line between Clapham Common and Stockwell. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2 and is close to Clapham High Street railway station, although there is no direct interchange link... |
June 1900 | ||
| Clapham Common Clapham Common tube station Clapham Common tube station is a station on London Underground's Northern Line. It lies between Clapham North and Clapham South stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2.-History:... |
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June 1900 | Original terminus until 1926 |
| Clapham South Clapham South tube station Clapham South tube station is a station on London Underground's Northern Line between and Balham stations. The station is located at the corner of Balham Hill and Nightingale Lane... |
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13 September 1926 | |
| Balham Balham station Balham station consists of two adjacent stations located in the Balham area of south London, England... |
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6 December 1926 | |
| Tooting Bec Tooting Bec tube station Tooting Bec is a London Underground station in Tooting, South London. The station is on the Northern line, between Balham and stations. It is located on the junction of Trinity Road , Upper Tooting Road , Balham High Road , Tooting Bec Road and Stapleton Road... |
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13 September 1926 | Opened as Trinity Road, renamed 1 October 1950 |
| Tooting Broadway Tooting Broadway tube station Tooting Broadway is a London Underground station in Tooting, South London. The station is on the Northern Line, between and stations. It is located on the corner of Tooting High Street and Mitcham Road... |
13 September 1926 | ||
| Colliers Wood Colliers Wood tube station Colliers Wood is a London Underground station in South London. The station is on the Northern Line, between and stations. It is located at the corner of Merton High Street and Christchurch Road... |
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13 September 1926 | |
| South Wimbledon South Wimbledon tube station South Wimbledon, originally South Wimbledon , is a London Underground station in South London. The station is on the Northern Line, situated between Colliers Wood and Morden stations. The station is the southernmost station on the London Underground network with platforms below ground. It is... |
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13 September 1926 | |
| Morden Morden tube station Morden is a London Underground station in Morden in the London Borough of Merton. The station is the southern terminus for the Northern line and is the most southerly station on the Underground network. The next station north is... |
13 September 1926 | Terminus | |
Depots
The Northern line is serviced by four depots. The main one is at Golders GreenGolders Green
Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in London, England. Although having some earlier history, it is essentially a 19th century suburban development situated about 5.3 miles north west of Charing Cross and centred on the crossroads of Golders Green Road and Finchley Road.In the...
and is located adjacent to Golders Green tube station, while the second, at Morden, is south of Morden tube station and is the larger of the two. The other two are located at Edgware and Highgate. The depot at Highgate is on the former LNER branch that used to run to Alexandra Palace. There was originally a depot at Stockwell but it closed in 1915.There are stabling sidings at High Barnet for storing trains overnight.
Closed Stations
- King William StreetKing William Street tube stationKing William Street was the original but short-lived northern terminus of the City & South London Railway , the first deep tube underground railway in London and one of the component parts of the London Underground's Northern Line. It was in the City of London, on King William Street, just south...
(closed 1900) - City RoadCity Road tube stationCity Road is a disused London Underground station in Islington. It was one of the stations built when the City & South London Railway opened its extension from Moorgate to Angel on 17 November 1901...
(closed 1922) - South Kentish TownSouth Kentish Town tube stationSouth Kentish Town tube station is a disused London Underground station which was on the Northern Line between Camden Town and Kentish Town. The surface building still exists on Kentish Town Road, close to the junction with Castle Road, and is currently a retail unit occupied by the Cash Converters...
(closed 1924) - North EndNorth End tube stationNorth End is a never-completed underground station, on the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway...
(never opened – work stopped 1906)
Resited Stations
- Stockwell – new platforms resited immediately to the south of its predecessor with the 1922–1924 upgrade of the line.
- EustonEuston tube stationEuston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1....
– Northbound City branch platform resited on new alignment, with previous island platform converted to a single platform - AngelAngel tube stationAngel tube station is a London Underground station in The Angel, Islington. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line, between Old Street and King's Cross St. Pancras stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The tube stop serves as a portal to several Off West End, or fringe theatre, venues,...
– old island platform converted into a single platform, and a new alignment opened in 1992, along with a new entrance. - London Bridge – the northbound tunnel and platform converted into a concourse, and a new northbound tunnel and platform built in the late 1990s to increase the platform and circulation areas in preparation for the opening of the Jubilee line.
Abandoned Plans
Northern Heights stations not transferred from LNER- Highgate – High-level only
- Stroud GreenStroud Green railway stationStroud Green railway station is a former station in the Stroud Green area of north London. It was located between Finsbury Park station and Crouch End station on the bridge over Stapleton Hall Road...
- Crouch EndCrouch End railway stationCrouch End railway station is a former station in the Crouch End area of north London. It was located between Stroud Green station and Highgate station on Crouch End Hill just north of its junction with Hornsey Lane...
- Cranley GardensCranley Gardens railway stationCranley Gardens railway station was a station in the Muswell Hill area of north London. It was located between Highgate station and Muswell Hill station at the junction of Muswell Hill Road and Cranley Gardens...
- Muswell HillMuswell Hill railway stationMuswell Hill railway station was in the Muswell Hill district of north London just north of the road junction of Muswell Hill and Muswell Hill Place...
- Alexandra PalaceAlexandra Palace railway station (Muswell Hill branch)Alexandra Palace railway station is a former station in the grounds of Alexandra Palace in the Muswell Hill area of north London...
- Mill Hill (The Hale)Mill Hill (The Hale) railway stationMill Hill railway station was a station in Mill Hill, London NW7 on the now-removed railway between Mill Hill East station and Edgware railway station...
Bushey Extension stations not constructed
- Brockley HillBrockley Hill tube stationBrockley Hill tube station is an unbuilt London Underground station in the Brockley Hill area of north London. The planned location was close to Edgwarebury Park and the north side of the junction of the A41 and the A410 roads.-History:...
- Elstree SouthElstree South tube stationElstree South tube station was an unbuilt London Underground station in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It was designed by Charles Holden...
- Bushey HeathBushey Heath tube stationBushey Heath tube station was an unbuilt London Underground station in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire. The planned location of the station was at the junction of the A41 and A411 roads.-History:...
Gallery
Recent developments
In 1975, the Northern City Line, known by that time as the Highbury branch, was transferred from London Underground to British Rail; it is now served by First Capital ConnectFirst Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...
.
In the 1980s and 1990s the line was nicknamed the "Misery Line", but its reputation has improved since the introduction of the 1995 stock.
In 2003, a train derailed at Camden Town. Although no one was hurt, points and signals were damaged, and the junctions there were not used while repairs were under way: trains coming from Edgware worked the Bank branch only, and trains from High Barnet and Mill Hill East worked the Charing Cross branch only. This situation was resolved when the junctions reopened, after much repair work and safety analysis and testing, on 7 March 2004.
A joint report by the Underground and its maintenance contractor Tube Lines
Tube Lines
Tube Lines Limited, initially known as 'Infraco JNP', has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London since May 2010. Tube Lines is an asset-management company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civil work and...
concluded that poor track geometry was the main cause, and that, because of this, extra friction arising out of striations (scratches) on a newly installed set of points had allowed the leading wheel of the last carriage to climb the rail and so derail. The track geometry at the derailment site is a very tight bend and tight tunnel bore, which precludes the normal solution for this sort of geometry of canting the track by raising the height of one rail relative to the other.
On 7 July 2005 a defective train on the Northern line (causing its subsequent suspension) saved a Northern line train from being blown up as part of a terrorist attack on the London Underground and bus systems
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
. Three trains on the Circle and Piccadilly lines were blown up. The Northern line bomber instead boarded a bus, which he later blew up.
On 13 October 2005 the entire Northern line service was suspended due to maintenance problems with the emergency braking system on the trains. A series of rail replacement buses was used to connect outlying stations with other Underground lines. Full service was restored on 18 October.
In October 2006, off-peak service between Mill Hill East and Finchley Central was cut back to a shuttle, except for a few weekend through trains.
From June 2006, the service between East Finchley and Camden Town was suspended for two non-consecutive weekends every month, with service on the Edgware branch suspended for the other two weeks. This was part of Tube Lines's redevelopment of some Edgware and High Barnet Branch stations, including replacement of track, signals, as well as station maintenance. This included refurbishment of all High Barnet branch stations from West Finchley
West Finchley tube station
West Finchley tube station is a London Underground station in the Finchley area of north London in the London Borough of Barnet.The station is on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line, between Finchley Central and Woodside Park stations, and in Travelcard Zone 4.-History:The station was...
to Camden Town.
On Friday 13 August 2010, a defective maintenance train caused disruption on the Charing Cross branch, after it travelled four miles in 13 minutes without a driver. The train was being towed to the depot after becoming faulty. At Archway tube station
Archway tube station
Archway tube station is a London Underground station in north London, underneath the Archway Tower, at the intersection of Holloway Road, Highgate Hill and Junction Road in the area known as Archway....
, the defective train became detached and ran driverless until coming to a stop at an incline near Warren Street tube station
Warren Street tube station
Warren Street tube station is a London Underground station, located at the intersection of Tottenham Court Road and Euston Road. It is on the branch of the Northern Line, between and , and the Victoria Line between and Euston. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and is the nearest tube station to...
. This caused morning rush-hour services to be suspended on this branch. All passenger trains were diverted via the Bank branch, with several not stopping at stations until they were safely on the Bank branch.
Future
The Northern line was scheduled to switch to automatic train operationAutomatic train operation
Automatic train operation ensures partial or complete automatic train piloting and driverless functions.Most systems elect to maintain a driver to mitigate risks associated with failures or emergencies....
in 2012, using the same SelTrac
SelTrac
SELTrac is a digital signalling technology used to control the movements of rail vehicles originally developed by Standard Elektrik Lorenz . It was originally developed for the Krauss-Maffei Transurban automated guideway transit system developed in the 1970s, and moved to the ICTS vehicle when the...
system due to be commissioned on the Jubilee line
Jubilee Line
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground , in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections—initially to Charing Cross, in central London, and later extended, in 1999, to Stratford, in east London. The later stations are larger and have special safety features, both aspects...
in 2009 and used for a number of years on the Docklands Light Railway
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro or light rail system opened on 31 August 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London...
. Work was originally planned to follow on from the Jubilee line in order to benefit from the experience of installing it there, but that project is not now expected to be complete until spring 2011. Originally work on the Northern line was intended to be completed by the contractually stipulated date, which was before the 2012 Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
. With the work now being taken in-house and no contractual deadlines to meet, a more realistic timetable suggests that it will be complete in 2014.
TfL's Transport 2025 – Transport vision for a growing world confirms its long-term aim of splitting the Northern line into two separate routes. Running trains between all combinations of branches and the two central sections, as is currently done, means only 20–22 trains an hour can run through each of the central sections, because merging trains have to wait for each other at the junctions. Completely segregating the routes will allow 32 trains an hour on all parts of the system. However, Camden Town tube station
Camden Town tube station
Camden Town tube station is a major junction on the Northern Line and one of the busiest stations on the London Underground network...
will need to be rebuilt before this can be implemented, as the current station would not be able to cope with the increased number of passengers changing trains there. London Underground Limited (LUL) had, however, had problems gaining planning permission for the redevelopment plans. All plans for a revised scheme for Camden Town station have been delayed by budgetary cuts.
Because the full split is not possible without a rebuilt Camden Town station, and the need to increase capacity remains, the current plan is to achieve a partial split by terminating all Charing Cross branch trains at Kennington during normal service. This would eliminate the need to co-ordinate train paths southbound when they merge at Kennington and would enable the Morden-Bank branch to operate at the maximum capacity that the new signalling system will allow. This will not happen until the line has been resignalled, as it is only then that the full benefits of this plan can be realised.
In June 2008, Treasury Holdings, owners of Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, South London. The station comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built first in the...
, announced proposals for an extension of the Northern line from Kennington to a station in Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
to serve a redeveloped power station site. The plan has been approved by the London Borough of Wandsworth
London Borough of Wandsworth
The London Borough of Wandsworth is a London borough in southwest London, England, and forms part of Inner London.-History:The borough was formed in 1965 from the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea and much of the former area of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth, but...
, and the extension could be opened by 2015 as part of a planned redevelopment of the Battersea Power Station. In October 2009, the proposal received a boost when Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
announced that developers of the area would be exempt from the Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...
levy and instead required to pay towards the proposed Northern line extension. In May 2010 the company proposing the route revealed four options for the route. Option 1 was for a non-stop from to Battersea. Option 2 suggested a station in the middle of Nine Elms
Nine Elms
Nine Elms is a suburb of London, situated in the far north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Wandsworth between Battersea and Vauxhall.It is primarily an industrial area, dominated by Battersea Power Station, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, railway lines, a major Royal Mail sorting office and...
, then a station at Battersea. Option 3 proposed two new platforms at Vauxhall
Vauxhall station
Vauxhall station is a National Rail, London Underground and London Buses interchange station in central London. It is at the Vauxhall Cross road junction opposite the southern approach to Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames in the London district of Vauxhall...
and then to Battersea; and option 4 was for a station near the new U.S. Embassy and then to Battersea. On 11 November 2010 Wandsworth Council approved a version of option 2 with the intermediate station at Wandsworth Road. This was ratified by the Mayor of London on 22 December 2010. See also Northern line extension to Battersea.
In the long term, a full operational split of the line into two distinct non-overlapping routes could lead to one or both being renamed and given a different colour on the Tube map. If the Battersea extension does not get built, there are opportunities to extend from Kennington to other places in south-east London, such as Camberwell
Camberwell
Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
, in line with the Mayor's transport policy to provide greater tube coverage in that area.
See also
- Leslie GreenLeslie GreenLeslie William Green was an English architect known especially for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century....
, architect of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway's early stations - London deep-level sheltersLondon deep-level sheltersThe London deep-level shelters are eight deep-level air-raid shelters that were built under London Underground stations during World War II.-Background:...
, most of which are under Northern line stations - N5 night bus
- N20 night bus
External links
- Muswell Hill Metro Group
- Northern line Route for the freewareFreewareFreeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
train simulatorTrain simulatorA train simulator is a computer based simulation of rail transport operations.-Industrial train simulations:Like flight simulators, train simulators have been produced for railway training purposes...
BVE TrainsimBVE TrainsimBVE Trainsim is a Japanese three-dimensional computer-based train simulator. It is notable for focusing on providing an accurate driving experience as viewed from inside the cab, rather than creating a network of other trains—other trains passed along the route are only displayed as stationary... - Above-ground route of line from Morden to Edgware, constructed from Google StreetView
- Architectural history of London Underground during 1920-30s from the Royal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Institute of British ArchitectsThe Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
| West: | Crossings of the River Thames River Thames The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,... |
East: |
|---|---|---|
| Hungerford Bridges | Charing Cross Charing Cross tube station Charing Cross tube station is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster with entrances located in Trafalgar Square and The Strand. The station is served by the Northern and Bakerloo lines and provides an interchange with the National Rail network at station... branch, between Embankment Embankment tube station Embankment is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, known by various names during its history. It is served by the Circle, District, Northern and Bakerloo lines. On the Northern and Bakerloo lines, the station is between Waterloo and Charing Cross stations; on the Circle and... and Waterloo |
Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge. The name of the bridge is in memory of the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815... |
| London Bridge London Bridge London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London... |
City branch, between Bank and London Bridge London Bridge station London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the... |
Tower Subway Tower Subway The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane to the south... |