The Central line is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

line that runs between or in the west, and or Woodford via Hainault in the north-east, via the West End, the City, and the East End. Printed in red on the

Tube map The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was des ...

, the line serves 49 stations over , making it the network's longest line. It is one of only two lines on the Underground network to cross the

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

boundary, the other being the

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in London Borough of Hillingdon, Hillingdon. Printed in mage ...

. One of London's deep-level railways traversing narrow tunnels, Central line trains are smaller than those on British main lines. The line was opened as the Central London Railway in 1900, crossing central London on an east–west axis along the central shopping street of

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

to the financial centre of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. It was later extended to the western suburb of

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

. In the 1930s, plans were created to expand the route into the new suburbs, taking over steam-hauled outer-suburban routes to the borders of London and beyond to the east. These projects were mostly realised after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when construction stopped and the unused tunnels were used as air-raid shelters and factories. However, suburban growth was limited by the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

: of the planned expansions one (to , Buckinghamshire) was cut short and the eastern terminus of ultimately closed in 1994 due to low patronage; part of this section between Epping and Ongar later became the

Epping Ongar Railway The Epping Ongar Railway is a heritage railway in south-west Essex, England, run by a small number of paid staff and a team of volunteers. It was the final section of the Great Eastern Railway branch line, later the London Underground's Centra ...

. The Central line has mostly been operated by automatic train operation since a major refurbishment in the 1990s, although all trains still carry drivers. Many of its stations are of historic interest, from turn-of-the-century Central London Railway buildings in west London to post-war modernist designs on the West Ruislip and Hainault branches, as well as Victorian-era Eastern Counties Railway and

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

buildings east of , from when the line to Epping was a rural branch line. In terms of total passengers, the Central line is the third busiest on the Underground. In 2019, over 300 million passenger journeys were recorded on the line. As of 2013, it operated the second-most frequent service on the network, with 34 trains per hour (tph) operating for half-an-hour in the westbound direction during the morning peak, and between 27 and 30 tph during the rest of the peak. The

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

, which began most of its core operation from 24 May 2022, provides interchanges with the Central line at Stratford, , ,

Ealing Broadway Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

, and , relieving overcrowding.

History

Central London Railway

Oxford Circus tube station - Central Line Entrance

The Central London Railway (CLR) was given permission in 1891 for a tube line between

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

and a station at Cornhill, and the following year an extension to Liverpool Street was authorised, with a station at

Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

instead of at Cornhill. The line was built following the streets above rather than running underneath buildings, because purchase of wayleave under private properties would have been expensive. While the tracks in opposite directions mostly run side-by-side, in some places one line runs above another due to lack of space, with platforms at different levels at St Paul's,

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street that forms part of the City of London#Boundary, western boundary of the City of London. The east side of the street is entirely within the City,Notting Hill Gate stations. The tunnels were bored with the nominal diameter of , increased on curves, reduced to near to stations. The tunnels generally rise approaching a station, to aid braking, and fall when leaving, to aid acceleration. The Central London Railway was the first underground railway to have the station platforms illuminated electrically. All the platforms were lit by Crompton automatic electric

arc lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...

s, and other station areas by

incandescent lamp An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a filament until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb that is eith ...

s. Both the

City and South London Railway 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 Railway electrification in Great Britain, electric traction. The railway was originally i ...

and the Waterloo and City Railway were lit by gas lamps, primarily because the power stations for these lines had been designed with no spare capacity to power electric lighting. With the white glazed tiling, all underground Central London Railway platforms were very brightly lit. The use of electric lighting was further made possible because the Central London was also the first tube railway to use AC electrical distribution and the substation

transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

s, not compatible with DC, were able to reduce the voltage to the level required for lighting. Earlier tube lines used DC power generators at the 500 volts required to run the trains. The line between Shepherd's Bush and Bank was formally opened on 30 June 1900, public services beginning on 30 July. With a uniform fare of 2 d the railway became known as the "Twopenny Tube". It was initially operated by

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

s, with motor armatures built directly on the axles to eliminate noise-producing gearboxes, hauling carriages. This did not allow springing, and the locomotives' considerable unsprung weight caused much vibration in the buildings above the line, so that the railway rebuilt the locomotives to use geared drives. This allowed higher-speed and lighter motors to be used, which reduced the unsprung, and total, weight of the locomotive. The railway also tried an alternative approach: it converted four coaches to accommodate motors and control gear. Two of these experimental motor coaches were used in a 6-coach train, the control gear being operated by the system used on the Waterloo and City Railway. The modified locomotives were a considerable improvement, but lighter purpose-designed motor coaches were even better. The CLR ordered 64 new motor cars designed to use Sprague's recently developed traction control system. The CLR was exclusively using the resulting electric multiple units by 1903. In July 1907, the fare was increased to 3d for journeys of more than seven or eight stations. The line was extended westwards with a loop serving a single platform at Wood Lane for the 1908

Franco-British Exhibition The Franco-British Exhibition was a large public fair held in London between 14 May and 31 October 1908. It was the first in the series of the White City Exhibitions. The exhibition attracted 8 million visitors and celebrated the Entente Cordial ...

. A reduced fare of 1d, for a journey of three or fewer stations, was introduced in 1909, and

season ticket A season ticket, or season pass, is a ticket that grants privileges over a defined period of time. History The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' has illustrative quotations which show the term ''season ticket'' used in the United States in 18 ...

s became available from 1911. The extension to Liverpool Street opened the following year, providing access to the

station and the adjacent Broad Street railway station by escalators. The Central London Railway was absorbed into the Underground Group on 1 January 1913. In 1911, the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

won permission for a line from

to a station near to the CLR's Shepherd's Bush station, with a connection to the West London Railway, and agreement to connect the line to the Central London Railway, and for the CLR to run trains to Ealing Broadway. Construction of the extension from the CLR to Ealing Broadway started in 1912, but opening was delayed by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The CLR purchased new rolling stock for the extension, which arrived in 1915 and was stored before being lent to the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs par ...

. The rolling stock returned when the extension opened in 1920. In 1912, plans were published for a railway from Shepherd's Bush to

Turnham Green Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Littl ...

and

Gunnersbury Gunnersbury is an area of West London, England. Toponymy The name "Gunnersbury" originally meant "Gunner's (Gunnar's) fort", and is a combination of an old Scandinavian personal name + Middle English -''bury'', meaning, "fort", or "fortified ...

, allowing the Central London Railway to run trains on London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) tracks to Richmond. The route was authorised in 1913, but work had not begun by the outbreak of war the following year. In 1919, an alternative route was published, with a tunnelled link to the disused L&SWR tracks south of their Shepherd's Bush station then via Hammersmith (Grove Road) railway station. Authorisation was granted in 1920, but the connection was never built, and the L&SWR tracks were used by the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a Deep level underground, deep-level London Underground line running between the west and the north of London. It has two western branches which split at Acton Town tube station, Acton Town and serves 53 stations. The li ...

when it was extended west of

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

in 1932.

London Transport and the Second World War

On 1 July 1933, the Central London Railway and other transport companies in the London area were amalgamated to form the

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Londo ...

, generally known as London Transport. The railway was known as the "Central London Line", becoming the "Central line" in 1937. The 1935–40

New Works Programme The New Works Programme of 1935–1940 was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolle ...

included a major expansion of the line. To the west new tracks were to be built parallel with the

's New North Main Line as far as Denham. To the east, new tunnels would run to just beyond Stratford station, where the line would be extended over the London & North Eastern Railway suburban branch to Epping and Ongar in Essex, as well as a new underground line between Leytonstone and Newbury Park mostly under Eastern Avenue so as to serve the new suburbs of north Ilford and the Hainault Loop. Twenty two level crossings would also be removed, grade separating the line. Platforms at central London stations would also be lengthened to allow for 8-car trains. Construction started, the tunnels through central London being expanded and realigned and the stations lengthened, but it proved impossible to modify Wood Lane station to take 8-car trains and a new station at White City was authorised in 1938. The line was converted to the London Underground four-rail electrification system in 1940. The positive outer rail is higher than on other lines, because even after reconstruction work the tunnels are slightly smaller. Most of the tunnels for the extensions to the east of London had been built by 1940, but work slowed due to the outbreak of the Second World War until eventually being suspended in June. The unused tunnels between Leytonstone and Newbury Park were equipped by the

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

Company as an aircraft components factory, opening in March 1942 and employing 2,000 people. Elsewhere, people used underground stations as night shelters during air raids. The unopened Bethnal Green station had space for 10,000 people. In March 1943, 173 people died there in a

crowd crush Crowd collapses and crowd crushes are catastrophic incidents that can occur when a body of people becomes dangerously overcrowded. When numbers are up to about five people per square meter, the environment may feel cramped but manageable; when nu ...

when a woman entering the shelter fell at the bottom of the steps and those following fell on top of her.

Post war

Construction restarted after the war, and the western extension opened as far as Greenford in 1947 and West Ruislip in 1948. The powers to extend the line to Denham were never used due to post-war establishment of the

Green Belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

around London, which restricted development of land in the area. The eastern extension opened as far as Stratford in December 1946, with trains continuing without passengers to reverse in the cutting south of Leyton. In 1947, the line opened to Leytonstone, and then Woodford and Newbury Park. Stations from Newbury Park to Woodford via Hainault and from Woodford to Loughton were served by tube trains from 1948. South of Newbury Park, the west-facing junction with the main line closed in the same year to allow expansion of Ilford carriage depot. The extension transferred to London Underground management in 1949, when Epping began to be served by Central line trains. The single line to Ongar was served by a steam autotrain operated by British Rail (BR) until 1957, when the line was electrified. BR trains accessed the line via a link from Temple Mills East to Leyton. On 8 April 1953, 12 people were killed and 46 were injured as a result of a

rear-end collision A rear-end collision, often called rear-ending or, in the UK, a shunt, occurs when a forward-moving vehicle crashes into the back of another vehicle (often stationary) in front of it. Similarly, rear-end classification of railway accidents, ra ...

in a tunnel just to the east of Stratford station, caused by driver error after a

signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

failure. The Central line stations east of Stratford kept their goods service for a time, being worked from Temple Mills, with the Hainault loop stations served via Woodford. The BR line south of Newbury Park closed in 1956 and Hainault loop stations lost their goods service in 1965, the rest of the stations on the line following in 1966. Early morning passenger trains from Stratford (Liverpool Street on Sundays) ran to Epping or Loughton until 1970. The single-track section from Epping to Ongar was electrified in 1957 and then operated as a shuttle service using short tube trains. However, carrying only 100 passengers a day and losing money, the section closed in 1994, and is now used by the heritage

. The entire Central line was shut between January and March 2003, after 32 passengers were injured when a train derailed at Chancery Lane due to a traction motor falling on to the track. The line was not fully reopened until June. In 2003, the infrastructure of the Central line was partly privatised in a

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

, managed by the Metronet consortium. Metronet went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in 2007, and

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

(TfL) took over its responsibilities.

Route

Map

Railway line

The Central line is long and serves 49 stations. The line is predominantly double-track, widened to three tracks for short sections south of Leytonstone and west of White City; no track is shared with any other line, though some sections run parallel to other routes. Total track length is , of which is in tunnel; this track is electrified with a four-rail DC system: a central conductor rail is energised at −210 V and a rail outside the running rail at +420 V, giving a potential difference of 630 V. The single-track line north of Epping, which closed in 1994, is now the Epping Ongar

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

. Shuttle services operate, mostly on some weekends and for special events, between North Weald and Ongar and North Weald and Coopersale. These do not call at Blake Hall, as the station platform was removed by London Transport after the station closed, and the remaining building is now a private residence. The section between

Leyton Leyton ( ) is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the Ri ...

and just south of

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

is the oldest railway alignment in use on the current London Underground system, having been opened on 22 August 1856 by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). Loughton to Epping was opened on 24 April 1865 by the ECR's successor, the

(GER), along with the section to Ongar. The Hainault Loop was originally the greater part of the Fairlop Loop opened by the GER on 1 May 1903. The line has three junctions: * Woodford Junction is a flat junction * north of Leytonstone the branch to Newbury Park descends into tube tunnels under the older route to Woodford * west of North Acton there is another burrowing junction separating the lines to Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip. The line has the shortest escalator on the London Underground system, at Stratford (previously at Chancery Lane), with a rise of and, at Stratford and Greenford, the only stations where escalators take passengers ''up'' to the trains. The escalator at Greenford was the last one with wooden treads on the system until it was replaced in March 2014. They were exempt from fire regulations because they were outside the tunnel system. The line has the shallowest underground Tube platforms on the system, at Redbridge, just below street level, and the sharpest curve, the Caxton Curve, between Shepherds Bush and White City.

List of stations

Open stations

Former stations

*On the Denham extension, aborted due to its location in a sparsely populated area within the Metropolitan Green Belt: ** Denham; it was never connected. ** Harefield Road; it was never opened. * Wood Lane; closed 22 November 1947, replaced by White City. *

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

; closed 24 September 1933, replaced by two new platforms at the Piccadilly line's Holborn station. *On the shuttle service from Epping to Ongar, closed in September 1994: ** North Weald; it was first served by the Central line on 25 September 1949, taking over the Great Eastern Railway (GER)'s services. It closed on 30 September 1994. ** Blake Hall; it was first served by the Central line 25 September 1949. The station closed on 31 October 1981. ** Ongar; it was first served by the Central line, which took over the GER services, on 25 September 1949. It was closed on 30 September 1994

Rolling stock

Former rolling stock

Central London Railway 1903 stock motor car

When the railway opened in 1900, it was operated by

electric locomotives An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a Battery (electricity), battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime mover (locomotive), ...

hauling carriages with passengers boarding via lattice gates at each end. The locomotives had a large unsprung mass, which caused vibrations that could be felt in the buildings above the route. After an investigation by the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, by 1903 the carriages had been adapted to run as trailers and formed with new motor cars into

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

s. The Central London Railway trains normally ran with six cars: four trailers and two motor-cars, although some trailers were later equipped with control equipment to allow trains to be formed with 3 cars. Work started in 1912 on an extension to

, and new more powerful motor-cars were ordered. These arrived in 1915, but completion of the extension was delayed because of

, and the cars were stored. In 1917, they were lent to the

, where they ran on the newly opened extension to Watford Junction. Returning in 1920/21, and formed with trailers converted from the original carriages, they became the Ealing Stock. In 1925–28, the trains were rebuilt, replacing the gated ends with air-operated doors, allowing the number of guards to be reduced to two. After reconstruction of the Central London Railway tunnels, the trains were replaced by Standard Stock transferred from other lines and the last of the original trains ran in service in 1939. Epping Station auto-train geograph-2988854-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Epping Station auto-train geograph-2988854-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The Standard Stock ran as 6-car trains until 1947, when 8-car trains became possible after Wood Lane was replaced by a new station at White City. More cars were transferred from other lines as they were replaced by 1938 Stock. In the early 1960s, there was a plan to re-equip the Piccadilly line with new trains and transfer its newer Standard Stock to the Central line to replace the older cars there, some of which had been stored in the open during the Second World War and were becoming increasingly unreliable. However, after the first deliveries of 1959 Stock were running on the Piccadilly it was decided to divert this stock to the Central line, together with extra non-driving motor cars to lengthen the trains from 7-car to 8-car. 1962 Stock was ordered to release the 1959 Stock for the Piccadilly line. The last Standard Stock train ran on the Central line in 1963, and by May 1964 all 1959 Stock had been released to the Piccadilly line. The single track section from Epping to Ongar was not electrified until 1957, prior to which the service was operated by an autotrain, carriages attached to a steam locomotive capable of being driven from either end, hired from British Railways, and an experimental AEC three-car lightweight diesel multiple unit operated part of the shuttle service Monday-Friday in June 1952. Upon electrification, 1935 Stock was used, until replaced by four-car sets of 1962 Stock specially modified to cope with the limited current. The section closed in 1994, and is now the heritage

. A shuttle operated on the section from Hainault to Woodford after a train of 1960 Stock was modified to test the automatic train operation system to be used on the

Victoria line The Victoria line is a London Underground line that runs between in South London, and in the east, via the West End of London, West End. It is printed in light blue on the Tube map and is one of the only two lines on the network to run comp ...

. As each 1967 Stock train was delivered, it ran in test for three weeks on the shuttle service.

Current rolling stock

When the signalling on the Central line needed replacement by the late 1980s, it was decided to bring forward the replacement of the 1962 Stock, due at about the time as the replacement of the 1959 Stock. The signalling was to be replaced with an updated version of the

Automatic Train Operation Automatic train operation (ATO) is a method of operating trains automatically where the driver is not required or is required for supervision at most. Alternatively, ATO can be defined as a subsystem within the automatic train control, which pe ...

(ATO) system used on the Victoria line, the line traction supply boosted and new trains built. Prototype trains were built with two double and two single doors hung on the outside of each carriage of the train, and with electronic traction equipment that gave regenerative and rheostatic braking. In accordance with this plan, the first 8-car trains of 1992 Stock entered service in 1993, and while the necessary signalling works for ATO were in progress, One Person Operation (OPO) was phased in between 1993 and 1995.

Automatic train protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is the generic term for train protection systems that continually check that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects ...

was commissioned from 1995 to 1997 and ATO from 1999 to 2001, with a centralised control centre in West London. The five-year Central Line Improvement Programme (CLIP) to refurbish the 30-year-old trains started in 2023, as it was considered cheaper than replacing the trains. New motors, lighting, doors, and seats will be installed, and the trains will have passenger information displays, wheelchair areas and

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

. The programme is being carried out at a new Train Modification Unit (TMU) in Acton, and had been expected to complete in late 2023. In November 2020 TfL announced that this had been delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with expected completion by the end of 2025. By January 2025, with £160m of the original £500m budget spent, only one refurbished train had entered service with a further 3 expected to be completed by the end of 2025. A timetable that would improve train frequencies, relieving delays and overcrowding, would not be implemented until December 2024. An expert suggested that in hindsight, given the problems with CLIP, it would have been better to buy new trains.

Future rolling stock

In the mid 2010s, TfL began a process of ordering new rolling stock to replace trains on the Piccadilly, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo & City lines. TfL explained that the 1992 Stock used on the Central and Waterloo & City lines was significantly less reliable than more modern rolling stock. A feasibility study into the new trains showed that new generation trains and re-signalling could increase capacity on the Central line by 25%, with 36 trains per hour. In June 2018, the

Siemens Mobility Siemens Mobility GmbH is a division of Siemens. With its global headquarters in Munich, Siemens Mobility has four core business units: Mobility Management, dedicated to rail technology and intelligent traffic systems, Railway Electrification, ...

Inspiro design was selected. These trains would have an open gangway design, wider doorways, air conditioning and the ability to run automatically with a new signalling system. TfL could only afford to order Piccadilly line trains at a cost of £1.5bn. However, the contract with Siemens includes an option for 100 trains for the Central line in the future. This would take place after the delivery of the Piccadilly line trains in the 2030s.

Depots

There are three depots:

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

, Hainault and White City. White City depot first opened in 1900 when the initial line went into operation; Ruislip and Hainault depots were completed in 1939. During the Second World War, anti-aircraft guns were made at Ruislip Depot and the U.S. Army Transportation Corps assembled rolling stock at Hainault between 1943 and 1945. As part of the construction of the Westfield London shopping centre, the depot at White City was replaced underground, opening in 2007.

Services

During the off-peak, services on the Central line are grouped by branch lines: trains on the West Ruislip branch run to/from Epping, while trains to/from Ealing Broadway run on the Hainault Loop. Services at peak times are less structured, and trains can run between any two terminus stations at irregular intervals (e.g. from Ealing Broadway to Epping). , the typical off-peak service, in trains per hour (tph), is: *9 tph between and ; *3 tph between and ; *3 tph between and ; *6 tph between Ealing Broadway and (via ); *3 tph between Ealing Broadway and Newbury Park; *3 tph between and Hainault. The above services combine to give a total of 24 trains per hour each way (one every 2 minutes and 30 seconds) in the core section between White City and Leytonstone. At peak times, the frequency increases further, with up to 35 trains per hour each way in the core section. A 24-hour

Night Tube The Night Tube and London Overground Night Service, often referred to simply as Night Tube, is a service pattern on the London Underground ("Tube") and London Overground systems which provides through-the-night services on Friday and Saturday ni ...

service began on the Central line on 19 August 2016, running on Friday and Saturday nights. Night tube services are: *3 tph between Ealing Broadway and Hainault (via Newbury Park) *3 tph between White City and Loughton

Peak-time frequency

In September 2013, the frequency in the morning peak period was increased to 35 trains per hour, giving the line the most intensive train service in the UK at the time. Before that date, the

held the record with 33 trains per hour; it regained it in May 2017 with an increased frequency of 36 trains per hour (one every 100 seconds) during peak periods.

Proposed and cancelled extensions

Hillingdon

The Central crosses over the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines' shared Uxbridge branch near West Ruislip depot, and a single track linking the two routes was laid in 1973. In the 2010s, the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is a London borough in Greater London, England. It forms part of outer London and West London, being the westernmost London borough. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington Urban Distr ...

has lobbied TfL to divert some or all Central trains along this to

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

, as West Ruislip station is located in a quiet suburb and

is a much more densely populated regional centre. TfL has stated that the link will be impossible until the Metropolitan line's signalling is upgraded in 2017.

Additional stations

The Central line runs directly below Shoreditch High Street station and an interchange has been desired locally since it opened in 2010. The station would lie between Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green, one of the longest gaps between stations in inner London. Although there would be benefits to this interchange, it was ruled out on grounds of cost, the disruption it would cause to the Central line while being built and because the platforms would be too close to sidings at Liverpool Street and would not be developed until after the

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

-developed

became fully operational. The developers of the ''First Central'' business park at

Park Royal Park Royal is an area in North West London, England, divided between the London Borough of Ealing and the London Borough of Brent. It is the site of the largest business park in London, but despite intensive existing use, the area is, togethe ...

, west London, were planning a new station between North Acton and

Hanger Lane Hanger Lane is a major road in Ealing, London, England. The majority of the road forms the westernmost part of the A406 North Circular Road, running north from the A4020 Uxbridge Road at Ealing Common to the A40 road in London, A40 Western Avenu ...

. This would have served the business park and provided a walking-distance interchange with Park Royal Piccadilly line station. This is not being actively pursued; London Underground said that the transport benefits of a Park Royal station on the Central line were not sufficient to justify the costs of construction.

Harlow extension

In 2021,

Harlow District Council Harlow District Council is the local authority for Harlow in Essex, England. Harlow is a non-metropolitan district, covering just the town of Harlow itself. The council generally styles itself Harlow Council. The council has been under Conserva ...

proposed extending the line from its eastern terminus in Epping to

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

. They argued this would reduce travel times to Epping and London, and help with efforts to add 19,000 new homes to the town and expand the population to 130,000. However, no funding has been allocated for this proposed extension.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links