The
Northern line is an underground railway in
London, coloured black on the
London
Underground Tube map. The line's two
branches carry 206.734 million passengers per year—the highest
on the London Underground system. For most of its length it is
built as a deep-level tube line. Despite its name, the Northern
line does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground
network, although it does serve the
southernmost station
and calls at 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 a 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.
History
Formation
- See City and South
London Railway and Charing Cross,
Euston and Hampstead Railway for detailed histories of these
companies
City & South London Railway train, 1890
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
.
Formation of the Northern line (Northern Heights extensions not
shown)
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 line and the District line. In 1913, the
Underground Electric
Railways Company of London Limited (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 Kennington
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.
Extensions
In
conjunction with the works to integrate the two lines, two major
extensions were undertaken: northwards to Edgware
in Middlesex
(now in the London Borough of Barnet
) and southwards to Morden
in Surrey
(now in the
London Borough
of Merton
).
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
Central
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.
Morden extension
The
engineering of the Morden extension of the C&SLR from Clapham
Common to Morden was more demanding, running in tunnel to a point
just north of Morden
station
, 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.
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 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.
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 Railway (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.
The Northern Heights plan
- See Edgware, Highgate and
London Railway for a detailed history of that company
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.
Intended service levels
The peak hours service levels would have seen 21 trains an hour
each way on the Barnet branch north of Camden Town, 14 via the
Leicester Square 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
Archway) 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
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.
The rural railway heritage of the High Barnet branch beyond
Highgate can be seen in the design of many of the stations.
Infrastructure
Rolling Stock
A Northern line train
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. The 1995 stock is
quite comfortable when compared to the older stock used on other
lines. 1995 stock sports automated announcements and quick-close
doors. Bicycles are allowed on trains to High Barnet only after
East Finchley (including the Mill Hill East branch). They are also
allowed between Golders Green and Edgware, but not between Hendon
Central and Colindale.
Close-up of 1995 Stock cab
Map
The
Transport for London (TfL) line diagram is
available online.
Stations
.png/250px-Step-free_access_notification_(Northern_line).png)
Notice explaining about step-free
access.
This can be found inside every Northern line train.
High Barnet branch
Edgware branch
Camden Town
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.)
Southbound trains on this branch often terminate at Kennington,
which has a terminal loop.
Bank branch
(Also known as the City Branch.)
Morden branch
Closed Stations
Resited Stations
- Stockwell
- new platforms resited immediately to the south of
its predecessor with the 1922-1924 upgrade of the line.
- Euston - Northbound platform resited on new alignment,
with previous island platform converted to a single
platform
- Angel
- old island platform converted into a single
platform, and a new alignment opened in 1992, along with a new
entrance.
Abandoned Plans
Northern Heights stations not transferred from
LNER
Bushey Extension stations not constructed
Gallery
Image:Mill Hill East stn building.JPG|GNR
station at Mill Hill East opened in 1867Image:Kennington Tube
Station.jpg|C&SLR station at Kennington opened in 1890Image:Tufnell Park
tube station 2005.jpg|CCE&HR station Tufnell
Park
opened in 1907Image:Northern Line carriage -
internal - night - London - 240404.jpg|Inside a Northern line
carImage:Bank underground station - northern line - platform -
London - 240404.jpg|A typical Northern line platform, at
Bank
Image:Dollis brook viaduct.JPG|The Dollis Brook
Viaduct, carrying the Mill Hill East spur.
Recent developments
In 1975, the
Northern City Line,
known by that time as the Highbury branch, became part of
British Rail; it is now served by
First Capital Connect.
In the 1980s and 1990s the line was nicknamed the "Misery Line",
but its reputation has improved somewhat 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 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 the 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 the Northern line from the
London Bombings on that day.
Three trains on the Circle and Piccadilly lines were not so lucky.
The fourth 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. A reduced service
was reintroduced on 17 October 2005, and 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
has been suspended for two non-consecutive weekends every month,
with service on the Edgware branch suspended for the other two
weeks. This is 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 includes refurbishment of all High
Barnet branch stations running from West
Finchley tube station
down to Camden Town tube station.
Future
The Northern line is scheduled to switch to
automatic train operation in 2011,
using the same
SelTrac system being
introduced on the
Jubilee line in 2009,
and that is already in use on the
Docklands Light Railway. The
Thameslink Programme upgrade
should relieve congestion on the Northern Line by transferring
passengers to heavy rail services.
TfL's
Transport 2025 - Transport vision for a growing
world confirms their ambition to split the Northern line into
two segregated routes. Running trains between all combinations of
branches, as is currently done, means only 22-25 trains an hour can
run on each of the central sections, because merging trains have to
wait for each other at the junctions. Segregating the routes will
allow 30 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)
have, however, had problems gaining planning permission for the
redevelopment plans.
Splitting the line operationally in two could lead to one or both
being renamed and given a different colour on the
tube map. All trains on the Charing Cross branch
would terminate at Kennington, and it has long been suggested that
the line could be extended from there to points southeast.
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.
If approved and funded, 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 signifcant 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.
Notes and References
- A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a
cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below
ground level.
- The seven companies were 1. the City & South London
Railway, 2. the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, 3.
the Edgware, Highgate & London Railway, 4. the Edgware &
Hampstead Railway, 5. the Watford & Edgware Railway, 6. The
Wimbledon & Sutton Railway and 7. the Great Northern & City
Railway.
See also
External links
)
( Waterloo Pier
, Festival
Pier)
( Trains to Gatwick and Luton
)
( Trains to Gatwick and Luton) (
London
Bridge City Pier
)
(closed 1922)
(closed 1924)
(never opened work stopped 1906)
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