King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
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King's Cross St. Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both King's Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough of Camden. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Interchange
It is a main interchange, with platforms on the Victoria, Piccadilly, Northern, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines.
- On the Northern Line it is between Euston and Angel, on the Bank branch.
- On the Piccadilly Line it is between Russell Square and Caledonian Road.
- On the Victoria Line it is between Euston and Highbury & Islington.
- On the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City lines, it is between Euston Square and Farringdon.
Development
The underground part of the station underwent extensive remodelling works to increase throughflow of passengers, expected when the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens. The ticket offices in the main ticket hall were closed for a long period until May 2006. The expanded station will have three ticket halls, with the third expected to be completed in 2009.
- The existing ticket hall (sometimes referred to as the "Tube Ticket Hall"): this has been expanded and refurbished.
- The Western Ticket Hall (Phase 1): this is under the forecourt of St Pancras Station, adjacent to Euston Road. It provides access to St Pancras Station via the new passenger facilities which are being created in St Pancras's undercroft. It, and the Tube Ticket Hall, opened on May 28, 2006. [link]
- The Northern Ticket Hall (Phase 2): this will be to the west of King's Cross station, underneath its new main concourse. Both of these projects are due to be completed by 2009, which is two years later than the rest of the work. This hall will be convenient for the proposed King's Cross Central development.
History
The first underground station at King's Cross opened as part of the original section of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863, and was rearranged in 1868 and 1926. New platforms for the sub-surface lines of the Underground were opened about 400 m to the west in 1941 to make interchanging between the sub-surface lines and the deep tube lines easier; part of what remains of the old station is now King's Cross Thameslink, though that is to become wholly disused when the Thameslink station eventually moves to St Pancras. One of the long-disused original Underground platforms may be seen from Underground trains travelling between the present station and Farringdon.
The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) (Piccadilly Line) platforms opened with the rest of the line in December 1906, while the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) (Northern Line) arrived in May 1907. The Victoria line platforms came into use on 1 December 1968 with the opening of the second phase of the line. The Victoria line escalators cut through the location of the original Piccadilly line lifts.
On 18 November 1987 the station was the scene of the devastating King's Cross fire which killed thirty-one people. The cause was attributed to a lighted match falling into, and setting fire to, an escalator machine room. As a result, fire safety procedures on the Underground were tightened, staff training was improved and escalators with wooden steps were replaced. Smoking was also prohibited throughout the London Underground network.
On 7 July 2005, in a co-ordinated bomb attack, an explosion in a Piccadilly Line train travelling between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square resulted in the deaths of at least 26 people.
See also
External links
- [London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
- *[Piccadilly line station in 1906]
- *[Metropolitan line station in 1910]
- *[Metropolitan line platforms in 1934 before being moved to the west]
- *[Piccadilly line platform in early 20th century]
- See How They Run
- *[Plan of station layout after Victoria Line was constructed]
- *[Isometric plan of the same]
- [Street Map] of King's Cross St. Pancras station from [Multimap.com]
|- style="text-align: center;"
| rowspan="3" | Euston Square
| style="background:#f7dc00;" |
| Circle Line
(City branch)
| style="background:#;" |
| Angel
|- style="text-align: center;"
| style="background:#0076bd;" |
| Victoria Line
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