King's Cross St. Pancras tube station

infobox London station
name = King's Cross St. Pancras


manager = London Underground
zone = 1
locale = Kings Cross
borough = Camden
years = 1863
1906
1907
1968
events = Opened (MR)
Opened (GNP&BR)
Opened (C&SLR)
Opened (Victoria)
platforms = 8
tubeexits05 = 71.503
tubeexits07 = 66.359
livedepline = Metropolitan
livedepstation = KXX
livedepline2 = Northern
livedepstation2 = KXX
livedepline3 = Victoria
livedepstation3 = KXX

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 St Pancras main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.

Interchange

King's Cross St. Pancras is the biggest interchange station on the London Underground, with six lines on four pairs of tracks:
*On the Hammersmith & City / Circle / Metropolitan lines, between Euston Square (to the west) and Farringdon (east). The three lines share common tracks in this area.
*On the Northern line it is on the Bank branch, between Euston (to the north) and Angel (south).
*On the Piccadilly line it is between Russell Square (to the south-west) and Caledonian Road (north-east).
*On the Victoria line it is between Euston (to the south) and Highbury & Islington (north).

Development

The underground part of the station underwent extensive remodelling works to increase throughflow of passengers resulting from the opening of High Speed 1. The ticket offices in the main ticket hall were closed for a long period until May 2006. The expanded station will have four ticket halls, with the fourth expected to be completed in 2009.

*The main existing ticket hall (sometimes referred to as the "Tube Ticket Hall") in front of King's Cross station: this has been expanded and refurbished.
* The Pentonville Road ticket hall: this used to be the ticket hall to King's Cross Thameslink station and had underground passageway connections to the tube station. It was taken over by London Underground when the Thameslink platforms closed. It is not open at weekends.
*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. The Ticket Hall, which was built by a Costain / Taylor Woodrow Construction joint venture [ [http://www.arup.com/unitedkingdom/newsitem.cfm?pageid=8497 New Western Ticket Hall opens] ] , opened on 28 May, 2006.
*The Northern Ticket Hall (Phase 2): this will be 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.

Phase 2 has now been given the go-ahead by the Secretary of State and is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2009.

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 convert|400|m|yd|abbr=on|sigfig=2 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 located at the former King's Cross Thameslink station, which has been wholly disused since 9 December 2007 when the Thameslink service moved to St Pancras International. One of the long-disused original platforms may be seen from Underground trains travelling between the present station and Farringdon.

The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now part of the Piccadilly line) platforms opened with the rest of the line in December 1906, while the City & South London Railway (C&SLR, now part of the 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 7 July 2005, in part of 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.

Past and future lines

Between 1906-1932, Piccadilly line trains would call at York Road as the next stop when travelling to, or from, stations north of King's Cross. Since its closure in 1932 (since 1918 on weekends), tube trains now continue directly to Caledonian Road, passing through the closed York Road platforms without stopping. The York Road surface building remains, standing approximately convert|600|m|yd|abbr=on|sigfig=2 to the north of Kings Cross building; this short distance having contributed to York Road's low patronage and closure.

Since 1991, a route for a potential Crossrail 2 has been safeguarded, including a connection at King's Cross St. Pancras. [London Borough Islington, http://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/Planning/MajorSchemes/Railway/457.asp Crossrail 2: Scheme description] , retrieved 2008-03-16] . Such a proposed scheme would offer a second direct rail connection between King's Cross and Victoria in addition to the existing Victoria line. The locations for any new stations on the route will depend on the loading gauge of the final scheme. In the 2007 safeguarded route, the next stations would be Tottenham Court Road and Angel.

References

ee also

*List of London Underground stations
*7 July 2005 London bombings

External links

* [http://www.ltmcollection.org/photos/ London Transport Museum photographic collection]
**ltmcollection|93/9858793.jpg|Piccadilly line station in 1906
**ltmcollection|71/9884871.jpg|Metropolitan line station in 1910
**ltmcollection|8n/i0000e8n.jpg|Metropolitan line platforms in 1934 before being moved to the west
**ltmcollection|yd/i0000dyd.jpg|Piccadilly line platform in early 20th century
*See How They Run
** [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/ltkxplan.gifPlan of station layout after Victoria Line was constructed]
** [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/ltkxiso.gifIsometric plan of the same]
* [http://www.abandonedstations.org.uk/Kings_Cross_station.html London's Abandoned Tube Stations - Kings Cross] The disused station.

Gallery