Elephant & Castle | |
---|---|
Location | Elephant and Castle, Newington |
Local authority | London Borough of Southwark |
Managed by | London Underground |
Owner | London Underground |
Number of platforms | 4 |
Accessible | Yes (Northern line southbound only) [1] [2] |
Fare zone | 1 and 2 |
OSI | Elephant & Castle [3] |
London Underground annual entry and exit | |
2019 | 19.75 million [4] |
2020 | 8.56 million [5] |
2021 | 7.88 million [6] |
2022 | 13.30 million [7] |
2023 | 14.24 million [8] |
Key dates | |
18 December 1890 | Opened (C&SLR) |
5 August 1906 | Opened (BS&WR) |
Other information | |
External links | |
Coordinates | 51°29′40″N0°05′59″W / 51.4944°N 0.0997°W |
London transportportal |
Elephant & Castle is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Southwark in south London. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern line between Borough and Kennington stations. It is also the southern terminus of the Bakerloo line and the next station towards north is Lambeth North. The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2. [9] The Northern line station was opened in 1890 by the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) while the Bakerloo line station was opened sixteen years later by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR). There is an out-of-station interchange with the nearby Elephant & Castle National Rail station. [3]
A girl born at the station in 1924 was the first baby to be born on the Underground network. [10] The Bakerloo line building remains much as originally constructed and is a typical Leslie Green structure. [11] The Northern line building was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis, [12] and was rebuilt several times until the current structure opened in 2003. Transport for London (TfL) is currently planning a major upgrade to the station. A Bakerloo line extension south to Camberwell was planned and approved in 1931 but construction never started. Similar proposals have been revived on several occasions; in 2014 TfL ran a consultation on an extension to Hayes and Beckenham Junction, which is still under consideration.
Elephant & Castle is located in the Elephant and Castle area of Newington in the London Borough of Southwark in central London. [13] The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2 [9] and is on the Bank branch of the Northern line between Kennington and Borough stations, and is the southern terminus of the Bakerloo line, the next station being Lambeth North. [9] The station has two surface buildings, separated by a large traffic intersection. [13] [note 1] The northern building provides the most direct access to the Bakerloo line, while the southern one is linked more directly to the Northern line. [14]
Access to the more northerly (Bakerloo) part of the station is via the original building, while the exit is via a new extension next to Skipton House. Between the entrance and two shops is the entrance to South London House, an office block above the station. [15] [16] The BS&WR station building remains much as originally constructed and is a typical Leslie Green structure. [11] The main alteration is a modern glass-sided and glass-topped flat-roofed extension abutting the original western elevation, giving access to three of the six arches. These arches, in a classic deep-red faience style, [15] formed the original perimeter: two are infilled with street-facing shops. As the station also functions as a drivers' depot, London Underground uses the offices above the station for administration and drivers' accommodation. [15]
The C&SLR station was designed by Thomas Phillips Figgis [12] in a similar style to Kennington station. [17] It was partially rebuilt in the 1920s [18] when the C&SLR tunnels were modernised, and was rebuilt during the construction of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre and roundabout in the 1960s. [12] [19] This Northern line ticket hall was rebuilt at the start of the 21st century, reopening on 12 December 2003 following 2 years of upgrade work. [20]
Neither the Northern line nor Bakerloo line ticket halls have escalators. [21] [22] To get from either ticket hall to the platforms it is necessary to use the lifts or spiral stairs. [23] [note 2] The southern (Northern line) building has lifts from street level down to the level of the southbound Northern line platform, the only step-free platform at the station. [1] [2] From inside the station, the northern exit is labelled "London South Bank University" [24] and emerges at the southern tip of the triangular campus. [13] [note 3] The southern exit is labelled "Shopping Centre" and also leads to the National Rail station [24] where there is an out-of-station interchange, allowing Oyster card and contactless payment card users to interchange while paying a single fare for their journey. [3]
The multi-coloured platform tiles on the Northern line were reconstructed in the 1920s in conjunction with an extension to Morden station. [12] The tiles were carefully replicated in 2006 to replace the originals, which were in poor condition. [12] The original C&SLR tiles dating from 1890 remain on the tunnel roofs of the Northern line platforms, albeit now covered over by the new cable-management system. [12] [note 4] The station was refurbished in 2007. [25] The original maroon and cream tiling on the Bakerloo line platforms has been covered over. [25] Because of the arrangement of the lighting, cabling and public address loudspeakers, it was not possible to arrange the new roundels at alternate 'low' and 'high' positions, all being at the lower level. [12] [25] [26] [note 5]
The station is the southern terminus of the Bakerloo line, with northbound trains terminating at either Queen's Park, Stonebridge Park or Harrow & Wealdstone. [27]
The typical service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is: [28]
On this line, the station is on the Bank or City branch; the next stations are Borough to the north and Kennington to the south. [9] The typical off-peak service (as of January 2015) in trains per hour (tph) is 10tph northbound to each of High Barnet [29] [30] and Edgware [29] [30] and 20tph southbound to Morden. [29] [31]
A large number of London Buses routes serve the station day and night, stopping outside the station at either Newington Butts (Northern line entrance) or London Road (Bakerloo line entrance). [32] [33]
Between 1883 and 1886, a route was planned by the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), then known as the City of London & Southwark Subway (CL&SS), from King William Street via Elephant & Castle [34] to Stockwell [35] [36] and Clapham Common. [37] The entire route was approved on 25 July 1890 [38] [note 6] and the station opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the first successful deep-level tube railway. It ran between King William Street and Stockwell. [29]
In November 1891, the C&SLR recognised the deficiencies of the section between Borough station and King William Street. A new route was chosen with a different pair of tunnels, avoiding this section. [39] Near Borough, the new tunnels would branch off to London Bridge to form an interchange with the mainline station and then north through the City of London to Angel. [39] The plan was approved on 24 August 1893 [40] following a delay. [41] The Act also incorporated another bill of 1893 [42] to grant more time to build the southern extension to Clapham. [41] [note 7] The new route and the first section of the northern extension from Borough to Moorgate opened on 25 February 1900, and the King William Street diversion was closed. [43] The southern extension to Clapham Common opened on 3 June 1900. [44] Work continued on the rest of the northern extension and it opened on 17 November 1901. [44]
In 1912, the C&SLR submitted another bill to increase its capacity by enlarging its tunnels to the larger diameter used for the tunnels of the more recently built railways to allow larger, more modern rolling stock to be used. [45] [note 8] Together, the works proposed in these bills would enable the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR)'s trains to run over the C&SLR's route and vice versa, effectively combining the two separate railways. Tunnel enlargement works only restarted after World War I when an extension of time was granted in February 1919. [47] [note 9] The Moorgate to Clapham Common section reopened on 1 December 1924, approximately eight months after the rest of the line. [49] [note 10]
In November 1891, a private bill was presented to Parliament for the construction of the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR). [50] The railway was planned to run entirely underground from Marylebone [51] to Elephant & Castle [52] via Baker Street and Waterloo [50] and was approved in 1900. [53] [54] Construction commenced in August 1898 [55] under the direction of Sir Benjamin Baker, W.R. Galbraith and R.F. Church [56] with building work by Perry & Company of Tredegar Works, Bow. [56] [note 11] Test trains began running in 1905. [60] The first section of the BS&WR was between Baker Street and Lambeth North. [61] The BS&WR station opened on 5 August 1906, almost five months after the rest of the line. [61]
On the morning of 27 November 1923, a slight misjudgement at the end of the tunnel enlargement work left the tunnel unstable near Borough. [29] A collapse on the same day, caused when a train hit temporary shoring near Elephant & Castle, filled the tunnel with wet gravel. [29] [48] Later a gas main exploded, causing a water main to break and leaving a water-filled crater in the middle of the street. [29] The line was briefly split in two, but was completely closed on 28 November 1923. [29] [48]
A girl born at the station on 13 May 1924 was the first baby to be born on the Underground network. [62] [63] According to initial press reports, she had been named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would be T.U.B.E.) but this later proved false: her actual name was Mary Ashfield Eleanor Hammond. [62] [63] Her second name Ashfield was from Lord Ashfield, chairman of the railway, who agreed to be the baby's godfather, but said that "it would not do to encourage this sort of thing as I am a busy man." [62] [63]
The interchange between the Bakerloo and Northern lines has long been criticised by local residents for its lack of escalators, its winding passageways and its two separate station entrances. [64] Given the increased demand on the Underground station from proposed and under-construction residential development, Southwark Council has called for the expansion and redevelopment of the station, noting in 2008 that it was the "final hurdle" of a deal to redevelop the Shopping Centre. [65] In 2018, the redevelopment of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre was approved, with a new station entrance as part of the proposal. [66]
The upgrade and expansion work will include a new station entrance and ticket hall facing Elephant Square, three new escalators, and lifts providing step-free access to the Northern line platforms. [67] The new entrance would also improve the interchange between the Underground and Elephant & Castle railway station, with a more direct route through the new development. [68] The shell of the new ticket hall will be constructed by the developer Delancey; TfL and Southwark Council will share the £15m cost of connecting the shell to the existing platforms and to "fit out" the new ticket hall with escalators and lifts. [69] The Shopping Centre closed in September 2020, allowing construction work to begin. [70] The new ticket hall is scheduled to open in 2028/9. [71]
The new ticket hall has been designed to accommodate the proposed Bakerloo line extension. New Bakerloo tunnels would be dug along with new platforms to accommodate the increase in demand if the Bakerloo line extension comes into service. [72] [73]
An extension to Camberwell from Elephant & Castle was planned and approved in 1931. [74] [75] Elephant & Castle was also to be reconstructed with a third platform to provide the additional reversing capacity, along with a new ticket hall and escalators. Due to the need to prioritise the extension from Baker Street to Finchley Road, to relieve congestion on the Metropolitan line, as well as financial constraints and the outbreak of the Second World War, no work was carried out on the extension. [76] [note 12] In the 1950s there was a brief revival of the plan, in which it was proposed that Elephant & Castle would not be altered and the additional turn-round capacity would be provided by making Camberwell a three-platform terminus. The project was ultimately unaffordable owing to post-war austerity, reduced demand, and the disproportionately high cost of the project with a three-platform deep-level terminus and the requirement for new trains and a depot. [80]
During 2005–06, a Bakerloo extension was proposed with three route options. [81] The options were extensions to Hayes via Peckham Rye, Beckenham Junction via Camberwell, or Hayes via New Cross. [82] In July 2011, Network Rail recommended an extension of the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham, where it would take over the line to Hayes. [83] [84] [note 13] In September 2014, Transport for London ran a consultation on the Bakerloo extension to Hayes and Beckenham Junction with options via Lewisham and Camberwell or Old Kent Road, taking over Network Rail's Hayes line. [87] The cost of the extension is estimated at around £2–3 billion with construction expected to take place between the mid-2020s and early 2030s. [88] [note 14] A February 2017 consultation indicates that the line could extend to Lewisham via Old Kent Road with future extension options later on. [90]
The Bakerloo line is a London Underground line that runs from Harrow & Wealdstone in suburban north-west London to Elephant & Castle in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over 23.2 kilometres (14.4 mi). It runs partly on the surface and partly through deep-level tube tunnels.
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground line – around 340 million in 2019 – making it the busiest tube line in London. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two southern branches and two northern branches. Despite its name, it does not serve the northernmost stations on the Underground, though it does serve the southernmost station at Morden, the terminus of one of the two southern branches.
Waterloo is a London Underground station located beneath Waterloo National Rail station. As of 2023, it is the 2nd busiest station on the London Underground, with 70.33 million users. It is served by four lines: Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo & City.
Charing Cross is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster. The station is served by the Bakerloo and Northern lines and provides an interchange with Charing Cross mainline station. On the Bakerloo line, the station is between Piccadilly Circus and Embankment stations. On the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, it is between Leicester Square and Embankment stations. The station is in fare zone 1.
Baker Street is a London Underground station at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road in the City of Westminster. It is one of the original stations of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), the world's first underground railway, opened on 10 January 1863.
Oxford Circus is a London Underground station serving Oxford Circus at the junction of Regent Street and Oxford Street, with entrances on all four corners of the intersection. The station is served by three lines: Bakerloo, Central and Victoria. As of 2023, it was the fourth-busiest station on the London Underground., and as such access to the station is frequently restricted at peak times. On the Bakerloo line the station is between Regent's Park and Piccadilly Circus stations, on the Central line it is between Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road stations, and on the Victoria line it is between Green Park and Warren Street stations. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Euston is a London Underground station. It directly connects with its National Rail railway station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Borough is a London Underground station in the Borough area of the London Borough of Southwark in central London. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern line between London Bridge and Elephant & Castle stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.
Kennington is a London Underground station on Kennington Park Road in Kennington within the London Borough of Southwark. The station is served by the Northern line and is at the junction of the Charing Cross and Bank branches to the north and the Morden and Battersea Power Station branches to the south. Northbound, the next stations are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch. Southbound, the next stations are Oval towards Morden and Nine Elms towards Battersea Power Station respectively. The station is in both Travelcard Zones 1 and 2.
Morden is a London Underground station in Morden in the London Borough of Merton. It is the southern terminus of the Northern line, and is the most southerly station on the Underground network. It is located on London Road, and is in Travelcard Zone 4. Nearby are Morden Hall Park and Morden Park.
The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing to the bankruptcy of the cable contractor during construction, a system of electric traction using electric locomotives – an experimental technology at the time – was chosen instead.
Tooting Broadway is a London Underground station in Tooting in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South London. The station is on the Northern line, between Tooting Bec and Colliers Wood stations and is in Travelcard Zone 3.
The Bromley North line is a less than 2-mile (3.2 km) long branch line in Greater London that connects at Grove Park with the South Eastern Main Line operated by Southeastern. Since the 1990s, the line which has two stations of its own has been served almost exclusively by shuttle services to and from Grove Park railway station in the London Borough of Lewisham, where passengers can change trains for onward journeys towards Central London, as well as towards Kent. Network Rail records the line as route SO350.
Elephant & Castle railway station is a National Rail station in Newington, south London. Along with the London Underground station of the same name, it is located in the London Borough of Southwark and is in both Travelcard Zone 1 and 2. The station is managed by Thameslink, with services operated by both Thameslink and Southeastern. There is out-of-station interchange with the nearby Elephant & Castle tube station.
The railway infrastructure of the London Underground includes 11 lines, with 272 stations. There are two types of line on the London Underground: services that run on the sub-surface network just below the surface using larger trains, and the deep-level tube lines, that are mostly self-contained and use smaller trains. Most of the lines emerge on the surface outside the Central London area.
Camberwell is a closed railway station in Camberwell, South London, England. It opened in 1862 but was closed to passengers in 1916 and closed to all traffic in 1964. The possibility of the station's re-opening has been raised in recent years.
The Bakerloo line extension is a proposed extension of the London Underground Bakerloo line in South London from its current terminus at Elephant & Castle to Lewisham station.
The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that built a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The company struggled to fund the work, and construction did not begin until 1898. In 1900, work was hit by the financial collapse of its parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, through the fraud of Whitaker Wright, its main shareholder. In 1902, the BS&WR became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors.
There were a number of proposals to build an underground railway along the Edgware Road in north-west London, England, at the end of the 19th century. Each scheme envisaged building some form of rail tunnel under Edgware Road towards Victoria railway station.
The transport system now known as the London Underground began in 1863 with the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Over the next forty years, the early sub-surface lines reached out from the urban centre of the capital into the surrounding rural margins, leading to the development of new commuter suburbs. At the turn of the nineteenth century, new technology—including electric locomotives and improvements to the tunnelling shield—enabled new companies to construct a series of "tube" lines deeper underground. Initially rivals, the tube railway companies began to co-operate in advertising and through shared branding, eventually consolidating under the single ownership of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), with lines stretching across London.
Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Lambeth North towards Harrow & Wealdstone | Bakerloo line | Terminus | ||
Borough | Northern line Bank Branch | Kennington towards Morden |