Charing Cross (; sometimes informally abbreviated as Charing +, Charing X, CHX or CH+) 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 ...
station at
Charing Cross
Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...
in the
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...
. 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
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
and
Embankment stations. On the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, it is between
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
and Embankment stations. The station is in
fare zone 1.
Charing Cross was originally two separate stations, known for most of their existence as Trafalgar Square (on the Bakerloo line) and Strand (on the Northern line). The Bakerloo line platforms were opened by the
Baker Street and Waterloo Railway in 1906 and the Northern line platforms by the
Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway
The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), also known as the Hampstead Tube, was a railway company established in 1891 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. Construction of the CCE&HR was delayed for ...
in 1907. In the 1970s, in preparation for the opening of the
Jubilee line
The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in east London, via the West End of London, West End, South Bank and London Docklands, Docklands. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the ...
, the two earlier stations were connected together with new below ground passageways. When the Jubilee line platforms opened in 1979, the combined station was given the current name. Jubilee line services ended in 1999 when the line was extended to
Stratford.
The station has entrances in
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
,
Strand,
Villiers Street, Adelaide Street, William IV Street and in the mainline station. It is close to the
National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
,
Admiralty Arch
The Admiralty Arch is a historic landmark building in London, providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, London, The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Commissioned by King Edward VII in mem ...
,
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
,
Canada House
Canada House () is a Greek Revival building on Trafalgar Square in London. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 1970. It has served as the Chancery (diplomacy), chancery of the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom since 192 ...
,
South Africa House
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...
, the
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 1 ...
,
The Mall,
Northumberland Avenue
Northumberland Avenue is a street in the City of Westminster, Central London, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to the Thames Embankment in the east. The road was built on the site of Northumberland House, the London home of the House ...
and
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...
.
As of , Charing Cross is the station on the London Underground with million passengers using it per year.
History
Planning
From the 1860s to the 1900s numerous schemes for underground railways through central London were proposed, often using similar routes. Many of the schemes submitted to Parliament for approval as
private bill
Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...
s included proposals for lines through the Charing Cross area with stations serving the
South Eastern Railway's (SER's) Charing Cross mainline terminus and the area around Trafalgar Square.
1860s and 1870s
The first proposal came before Parliament in 1864, a year after the opening of the
Metropolitan Railway
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
, the world's first underground railway, and the year the mainline station opened. The
North Western and Charing Cross Railway
The North Western and Charing Cross Railway (NW&CCR) was a railway company established in 1864 to construct an underground railway in London. The NW&CCR was one of many underground railway schemes proposed for London following the opening in 1863 ...
(NW&CCR) proposed a line in a
cut-and-cover tunnel between the
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world.
Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...
's terminus at
Euston and Charing Cross. The was to have its
own station on the north side of Strand before it came to the surface alongside the main line station and connected to the tracks on
Hungerford Bridge. The railway was approved in July 1864.
The following year, the
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway (W&WR) received permission to construct a short railway between
Waterloo station and a station at the western end of
Great Scotland Yard
Great Scotland Yard is a street in Westminster, London, connecting Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall. By the 16th century, this "yard", which was then a series of open courtyards within the Palace of Whitehall, was fronted by buildings used ...
at the junction with Whitehall. The line was to be a
pneumatic railway with the carriages sucked and pushed through the tunnels like a piston by fans at Waterloo. Construction works began for the ends of the cut and cover tunnels on each side of the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
and part of the cast-iron cylinder that was to be sunk into a trench dredged into the bed of the river.
Progress on both railways was halted in the
Panic of 1866, a major crash in the London and international
stock market
A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...
s that led to the collapse of a number of banks and prevented funds being raised to continue the works. The was
liquidated
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...
in 1868, and the plans were abandoned in 1869.
The plans were revived with minor changes by the
Euston, St Pancras and Charing Cross Railway in 1870. A station was planned at the same location as the . Parliamentary approval was granted in 1871 and the company changed its name to the
London Central Railway, but the scheme was again unable to raise sufficient funds. It was abandoned in 1874.
1880s

In 1881, the Central Metropolitan Railway proposed a cut-and-cover line running from
Parliament Square to
St Pancras. At the southern end, the line was to run under Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and
St Martin's Lane
St Martin's Lane is a street in the City of Westminster, which runs from the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it is named, near Trafalgar Square northwards to Long Acre. At its northern end, it becomes Monmouth Street, London, Mo ...
, though the location of the station was not recorded. The section under Whitehall was opposed by the government and it was removed so that the line was to terminate at Charing Cross, but the whole scheme was rejected by Parliament in 1882.
Another proposal in 1881 was the
Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway (CC&WER). The proposal was similar to the 17 years earlier; a short line running in iron pipes sunk into the river bed connecting Waterloo station to the north side of the river, this time to a station under Trafalgar Square. The scheme was the first in the UK to propose the use of
electric traction for its trains and was supported by
Sir William Siemens whose electrical engineering company
Siemens Brothers was to provide the electrical equipment. The was approved in August 1882. A proposal to extend the route to 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 ...
was submitted to Parliament later that year, but was withdrawn the following year as the company struggled to raise funds. In 1883, the London Central Electric Railway, proposed an extension of the ; this time from the Charing Cross end with the line running to the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...
at
St Martin's Le Grand
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty (division), liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate, Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of ...
. The plan was rejected. William Siemens died in 1883 and the plan was abandoned in 1885.
In 1884, proposals were made for two cut-and-cover lines to link Charing Cross with one of the northern terminals. The first proposal, the Charing Cross and Euston Railway, proposed a line between those two stations. At Charing Cross a terminal station was to be provided under Villiers Street which was to be closed to allow a separate branch to rise to the surface to cross the river on a new bridge adjacent to Hungerford bridge before connecting to the tracks south of the river. The bill was withdrawn in February 1885. The second proposal, the London Central Subway, proposed connecting Charing Cross and
King's Cross. The station at Charing Cross was to be beneath the south side of Trafalgar Square below ground. The government's
Office of Works
The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences.
In 1832 it be ...
objected to the proposed alignment on the north side of Trafalgar Square because it believed the tunnels would compromise the foundations of the National Gallery. The bill was withdrawn in April 1885.
Also in 1884, the King's Cross, Charing Cross and Waterloo Subway submitted a proposal to construct a line linking the three mainline terminals in its name. Unlike the earlier schemes and those of the Charing Cross and Euston Railway and London Central Subway, the company planned to construct its line at a deeper level with the tunnels constructed using a
tunnelling shield
A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used during the excavation of large, human-made tunnels. When excavating through ground that is soft, liquid, or otherwise unstable, there is a potential health and safety hazard to workers and the pr ...
and lined with cast-iron segments. The stations were to be constructed using the cut-and-cover technique with one platform above the other. Two stations were to be constructed close to Charing Cross: one to the south at the junction of Northumberland Avenue and Northumberland Street and one to the north in St Martin's Place. The bill was withdrawn in May 1885.
In 1889, the North and South London Subway was proposed. It was to connect
Camden Town
Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Laid out as a residential distri ...
and
Elephant & Castle
Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The nam ...
, and proposed a station north of the National Gallery at the junction of
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...
and Green Street (now Irving Street). The bill was announced, but was not submitted to parliament.
1890s

Following the successful opening in 1890 of 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 ...
(C&SLR), the first deep-level tube railway and the first underground railway using electric traction, a number of railways were proposed in London to be constructed and operated by similar means. In 1891, two bills were submitted for tube railways that were to serve Charing Cross: the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the
Hampstead, St Pancras & Charing Cross Railway (HStP&CCR).
The was to connect
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises.
The street is ...
and Waterloo station and the was to connect
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
with Charing Cross with a branch to Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross. The former company's station was to be under Trafalgar Square and the latter's was to be at the junction of King William Street (now William IV Street) and Agar Street with a pedestrian subway under Strand to the forecourt of the mainline station. After a committee sat to consider these and the various other railways being proposed, the BS&WR was approved in March 1893 and the , renamed to the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), was approved in August 1893. The and the would become the first two lines through Charing Cross to be completed, though it was several years before construction began on either line.
In 1896, the City and West End Railway proposed a route running between
Cannon Street
Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the north of the City.
It is the site of the ancient London S ...
in the City of London and
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 ...
via the
West End and
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
. A station for Charing Cross was to be provided at King William Street. The company's east–west route would have been competition for a number of other lines that had been permitted but which had not yet opened: the under construction
Central London Railway (CLR), the
Metropolitan District Railway's (MDR's) proposed
deep level line and the
Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway's (B&PCR's) line. Lobbying from these companies led to the City and West End Railway bill being rejected in April 1897.
The final new scheme of the 1890s was the Paddington and Charing Cross Railway's proposal in 1897 to link these two mainline stations. Its station at Charing Cross was to be under and parallel with
Craven Street on the south side of the main line station. When the bill was first considered in January 1898, the promoters failed to attend Parliament to support it and the bill was declared "dead".
Also in 1897, the submitted a bill to change the route of the final section of its line. Instead of turning east at the end of Charing Cross Road to Agar Street and Strand, the route was revised to run south past Trafalgar Square to end at a station under Craven Street. The change was approved in July 1898 and the previous routing was abandoned.
1900s
Like the opening of the ten years earlier, the successful opening of the in 1900 spurred another set of proposals for new lines with routes criss-crossing London.
=1901
=

Proposals for the 1901 parliamentary session that planned to serve Charing Cross included three new lines and the extension of one already approved.
The Charing Cross, Hammersmith and District Railway (CCH&DR) proposed a line from just north of Charing Cross to Hammersmith via Knightsbridge and
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
. Two stations were planned around Trafalgar Square: one to the north-east at Bedfordbury with its entrance probably to be located at the junction of Agar Street and Strand; the other on the south side of the Square.
The
Piccadilly and City Railway (P&CR) proposed a line from
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
to Cannon Street. It planned to connect to other companies' lines at each end. The P&CR's station at Charing Cross was to be on the east side of Adelaide Street at the junction with Strand.
The Victoria, City and Southern Electric Railway proposed a line from
Pimlico
Pimlico () is a district in Central London, in the City of Westminster, built as a southern extension to neighbouring Belgravia. It is known for its garden squares and distinctive Regency architecture. Pimlico is demarcated to the north by Lon ...
to
Peckham Rye
Peckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark, London, England. The roughly triangular open space lies to the south of Peckham and consists of two contiguous areas, Peckham Rye Common to the north and Peckham Rye Park t ...
connecting Victoria with
the City, Southwark and south-east London. Its tunnels would have run between Whitehall and Strand with a station to the south-west of the mainline station. The promoters failed to appear before the parliamentary committee and the bill was declared "dead" in January 1901.
The submitted a bill for an extension of its approved route south from Charing Cross to Westminster and Victoria.
To review all these bills and the others submitted for underground lines in London, Parliament established a joint committee under
Lord Windsor. By the time the committee had produced its report, the 1901 parliamentary session was almost over so the promoters of the bills were asked to resubmit them for the 1902 session.
=1902
=

The 1902 session saw an increase in the number of bills submitted for tube railways in London. The , and bills from 1901 were resubmitted along with new bills from the , the and the and from a newcomer, the London United Electric Railway (LUER). To manage the workload of reviewing all of the bills, two joint committees were established, one under Lord Windsor and the other under
Lord Ribblesdale.
The Ribblesdale Committee considered the bills and rejected the extension to Victoria as being not in compliance with
Commons standing orders. The new bill proposed a short extension of the line southwards beneath the station to the Charing Cross station (now
Embankment) to provide an interchange with that line and the . It was approved in November 1892.
The other bills affecting Charing Cross were considered by the Windsor Committee. Several of these involved tunnels between Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus and, either independently or in conjunction with other companies' proposals, formed parts of routes connection Charing Cross to Hammersmith. Although it did not plan a station in the vicinity of Strand or Trafalgar Square, the proposal for a short line to connect its planned station at Piccadilly Circus and the planned deep-level platforms at its Charing Cross station would have required tunnels to run one above the other, south under Adelaide Street and Craven Street on the south-west side of the mainline station before turning east into Northumberland Avenue and north under
Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment (the other section is the Chelsea Embankment), a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London, England. Built in the 1860s, it runs from the Palace of Westminster to ...
to connect to the planned tunnels. The link was rejected on engineering grounds.
The proposal was for a second line to connect its two existing termini at
Shepherds' Bush and Bank via a more southerly route to form a deep-level loop. At Charing Cross, the new line would have run under Strand, then north-west past Trafalgar Square towards Piccadilly Circus. The bill reintroduced its Charing Cross to Hammersmith scheme from the previous year and proposed an additional connection to the at Agar Street. The entirety of the scheme and the majority of the scheme, including all of the southern loop line, were rejected by parliament.
The proposal was amended from the previous year to run beyond Piccadilly Circus to Hammersmith. This required its platforms at Charing Cross to be deeper than in its previous scheme. The was promoted by the
London United Tramways
London United Tramways Company Limited was an operator of trams and trolleybuses in the western and southern suburbs of London, UK, from 1894 to 1933, when it passed to the London Passenger Transport Board.
Origins
The company was formed in 189 ...
(LUT) and also planned to run between Hammersmith and Charing Cross. Approaching from the west beneath
The Mall, at Charing Cross the line was to form a loop running from the
Duke of York Column at the south end of Waterloo Place, under Trafalgar Square to the corner of Duncannon Street and Strand before turning south to run under the mainline station to the junction of Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall Place before running west to complete the loop. Its station would have been located on the loop.
Mergers and amalgamations led to the and the routes being joined into a combined scheme, the London Suburban Railway (LSR). The proposals were modified in a number of ways before bills were ready at the end of July 1902 for a
third and final reading. At Charing Cross, a station building to be shared with the was to be located on the north side of Strand at the junction with Adelaide Street with a pedestrian subway under Strand connecting to the mainline station. While the bills were awaiting their final readings, the was taken over by
Speyer Brothers, the financiers of the rival
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London, Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an un ...
(UERL). The planned route was similar to that of the -owned . Under Speyer Brothers' control, the withdrew the bill and the remainder of the proposals failed.
=1903–1906
=
Fewer tube railway bills were proposed for the 1903 parliamentary session. Three bills included Charing Cross in their plans and were submitted by the , the and the
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR). The bill provided for the purchase of additional land for its station. The resubmitted its previous loop line bill unaltered expecting that the collapse of the plans would improve its chance of success.
The proposed a modification of the previous year's for a branch southwards from Piccadilly Circus. This time the branch would run under Leicester Square with platforms under King William Street and a station building at the junction of Agar Street and Strand. The tunnels would then turn eastwards under Strand to continue to
Mansion House in the City of London where it would connect to the deep-level line. Between Piccadilly Circus and Ludgate Circus, the route was similar to the loop line proposal.
Neither of the bills proceeded as the
Royal Commission on London Traffic was established on 10 February 1903 to consider future development of transport in London. During its deliberations consideration of any new proposals was suspended. After the Commission issued its report on 17 July 1905, an attempt was made to revive a bill that had been submitted too late for the 1903 session and had been waiting parliament's consideration since February 1903. The Hammersmith, City & North East London Railway (HC&NELR) was a re-presentation of the and schemes running from Hammersmith to Palmers Green. A station was planned between Agar Street and Bedford Street. The bill was rejected for not complying with standing orders in 1905, and resubmitted for the 1906 session with the station moved to the junction of Agar Street and Strand. Again the bill was rejected for procedural reasons and it was not presented again.
Construction and opening
Construction of the began in August 1898, with the boring of the tunnels under the River Thames beginning in February 1899. At the end of 1900, the collapse of the parent company, London & Globe Finance Corporation, put the railway company in financial difficulties. Tunnelling stopped in May 1901 with most of the running tunnels complete between Waterloo and the south end of Regent Street. At Trafalgar Square, the station tunnels had been excavated. In March 1902, the was taken over by a consortium of investors led by
Charles Yerkes
Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London.
Philadelphia
Yerkes was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Libertie ...
. Works restarted under the new owners and 80 per cent of the tunnels were complete by March 1903.
Construction of the began in September 1903. Tunnelling under the mainline station was done in compressed air to prevent any damage from
ground movements. The railway had permission to construct the underground station's ticket hall under part of the station's forecourt, but it was to be done from below to avoid disrupting the station. In December 1905,
the roof of the mainline station collapsed and the station closed for three months for rebuilding. During this period, the was given permission to excavate the forecourt for six weeks. Works to construct a lift shaft and form the walls around the ticket hall were carried out with a grid of steel beams placed across the site onto which the forecourt surface was reconstructed. Excavation of the ticket hall and a second lift shaft were carried out from the roofed-over space.
Trafalgar Square station was provided with two long platforms. There was nowhere to place a surface building, so the station had a sub-surface ticket hall under the square. The ticket hall had three entrances: one at the south-east corner of the central area of the square, one on the corner of Strand and one on the east side of the square.
Lifts manufactured by the
Otis Elevator Company
Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) styled as OTIS is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets
elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment.
...
and a spiral stair connected the platforms and ticket hall. Platform tiling at Trafalgar Square station was started in early 1904. The station had two long platforms with the lifts again provided by Otis.
Trafalgar Square station opened when the opened between Baker Street and
Kennington Road on 10 March 1906. Charing Cross station opened as the southern terminus of the on 22 June 1907.
Extension and modifications
The and stations were not connected below ground. To make interchanging between the lines easier, on 6 April 1914, the was extended south under the mainline station to provide an interchange with the and the . For the opening of the extension, the station was renamed ''Charing Cross (Strand)'' with the new station to the south being named ''Charing Cross (Embankment)''. On 9 May 1915, these were changed again with the former Charing Cross station becoming ''Strand'' (causing a nearby station of the to change its name from ''Strand'' to ''
Aldwych
Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End of London, West End West End Theatre, Theatreland. T ...
'') and the other becoming ''Charing Cross''.
Beginning in 1924, a number of central London stations were modernised with escalators being provided to replace lifts. At Trafalgar Square, two Otis escalators came into use on 13 April 1926, doubling the capacity of the station.
The ticket hall was modernised and extended to use the space previously occupied by the lifts and a passage was constructed to a new entrance in Cockspur Street on the south side of the square.
[ The improvements to the ticket hall included the installation of automatic ticket machines.] Strand station retained its lifts.
War and new plans
In September 1938 during the Sudeten Crisis, when it appeared that war with Germany was imminent, the tunnels of the Bakerloo and Northern lines under the River Thames were closed and sealed with concrete to protect the system from flooding that might be caused by a bomb falling in the river and breaching the tunnels. As a consequence, between 27 September 1938 and 8 October 1938 both Trafalgar Square and Strand stations were closed. After the crisis was resolved and the concrete seals were removed, works began on installing flood gates to protect the lines each side of the river. Following Germany's ultimatum to Poland on the Polish Corridor, the Northern line tunnels were again plugged on 1 September 1939 and were not reopened until 17 December 1939, once the flood gates had been installed.
On 12 October 1940, a German bomb fell on Trafalgar Square station killing seven people sheltering from the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
.
In 1944, The ''County of London Plan
The County of London Plan was an urban planning proposal prepared for the London County Council in 1943 by John Henry Forshaw (1895–1973) and Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (1879–1957), with foreword from Charles Latham, leader of ...
'' recommended replacing the mainline station with one below ground served by two routes: Route A, running between Clapham
Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Ea ...
and New Cross
New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the London_postal_district#List_of_London_postal_districts, SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, London, St Jo ...
via Victoria station, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and Wapping
Wapping () is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between Tower Bridge to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This posit ...
and Route B, a loop line linking Waterloo, Charing Cross, Blackfriars, Cannon Street and London Bridge
The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...
. The location of the station was not specified.
A post-war report in 1946 rejected the idea of moving the mainline station entirely underground, but did propose several new lines running in tunnels within the central area including two serving Charing Cross. Route 5 (running between Hither Green
Hither Green is a district in south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It forms the southern part of Lewisham, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian.
Growing extensively with ...
and Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common is a semi-industrial area of London, between Harlesden and Acton, London, Acton. The area is traditionally known for its railway traction maintenance depot, depots, particularly Old Oak Common TMD which was decommissioned in 2021. ...
) and Route 9 (running between Raynes Park
Raynes Park is a residential suburb, railway station and local centre near Wimbledon, London, and is within the London Borough of Merton. It is situated southwest of Wimbledon Common, to the northwest of Wimbledon Chase and to the east of Ne ...
and Clapton) were mainline routes proposed to connect to existing surface lines to allow main line trains to cross London without using the terminals. A third route, Route 12A, was a London Underground route running between Golders Green and Waterloo. It was to run beneath the existing Northern line tunnels to relieve congestion on the line.
None of these proposals were developed by the mainline railway companies, 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 ...
or their successor organisations.
In 1956, the London County Council
The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...
planned to construct pedestrian subways from the ticket hall of Strand station under Strand to Duncannon Street and Adelaide Street with a travelator
A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...
in the main passage from the station and escalators from the subways to street level. A separate subway from the north side of Strand to the ticket hall and another to connect to the subways from Trafalgar Square station were also proposed. The works were not carried-out.
Reconstruction and integration for the Jubilee line
Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s consideration was given to various routes connecting north-west and south-east London via the West End and the City of London including proposals to extend the Bakerloo line south-east from Elephant & Castle to Camberwell and beyond. Planning of 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 ...
had the greater priority and it was not until after construction of that line started that detailed planning began for the new line, first called the Fleet line in 1965 as it was planned to run in an east–west direction along Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
to the City of London and then south of the River Thames to Lewisham
Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...
. Lack of funding meant that only the first stage of the proposed line, from Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises.
The street is ...
to Charing Cross, received royal assent in July 1969; funding was agreed in August 1971.
Tunnelling began in February 1972 and was completed by the end of 1974. In 1977, during construction of the stations, the name of the line was changed to the Jubilee line, to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee that year.
At Charing Cross, the tunnels for the Jubilee line were aligned east–west beneath Strand with the running tunnels passing under the Bakerloo line and Northern line tunnels and the new Jubilee line platforms between the two. A cross-over junction to the west of the platforms enabled trains to terminate and start from both platforms. In preparation for the second stage of the line continuing to Aldwych and beyond, the running tunnels were continued east of the new platforms at Charing Cross, running beneath Strand to end at Wellington Street. The original Strand station ticket hall beneath the forecourt of the mainline station was enlarged under the forecourt and under Strand itself. To enable this, piles were installed in the forecourt in January 1973 to support a steel umbrella structure erected over the area during the Easter weekend in 1973. The foundations of the Eleanor cross in the station forecourt also needed to be underpinned to avoid it being damaged during the excavations. With the enlargement of the ticket hall, linking subways were constructed to new entrances in Villiers Street, on the north side of Strand, in Adelaide Street and in William IV Street.
The new platforms were connected to both of the original stations, forming one new station. Strand station closed on 16 June 1973 so that an escalator shaft could be constructed diagonally through the original lift shafts down to an intermediate concourse. From here passages to and from the Northern line platforms branch off and a second set of three escalators descend to the eastern end of the Jubilee line platforms, which are below street level. At Trafalgar Square station, the existing concourse at the bottom of the 1926 escalator shaft was enlarged to connect to a new passage which ran eastwards towards another concourse at the top of a second set of two escalators and a fixed stair down to the western end of the Jubilee line platforms. To carry out the work on the station and the running tunnels, a site on the north-western corner of Trafalgar Square at Whitcomb Street was used to construct a pair of access shafts deep from which long passages were excavated beneath Trafalgar Square to the existing below ground concourses. Although not originally intended for passenger use, part of one of these became the interchange passage between the Bakerloo and Northern lines. A new electrical sub-station to supply the line was installed at the bottom of one of Strand station's redundant escalator shafts. Once the structural work to enlarge the ticket hall was completed, the umbrella structure was removed in October 1975.
Work on fitting out the tunnels and stations began at the end of 1975, but serious delays in the progress of the work prevented the line from opening in 1978 as intended. Tracks and signals were commissioned and trial running of trains on the line began on 14 August 1978, but work on the station was delayed by industrial action
Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...
at the escalator contractor.
The official opening of the line by Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
took place on 30 April 1979, starting with a train journey from Green Park to Charing Cross. The Jubilee line opened to the public on 1 May 1979. On the same day the Northern line service was reinstated and the combined station was named Charing Cross.
The new Northern line and Jubilee line ticket hall was decorated in lime green and blue moulded plastic panels with black tiles. Lime green was also used for the wall tiling of the Jubilee line platforms which was combined with decorative panels featuring images of Lord Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte ( – 21 October 1805) was a Royal Navy officer whose leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories during the French ...
and Trafalgar Square by David Gentleman
David William Gentleman (born 11 March 1930) is an English artist. He studied art and painting at the Royal College of Art under Edward Bawden and John Nash. He has worked in watercolour, lithography and wood engraving, at scales ranging from ...
. Gentleman also designed the decorative scheme for the Northern line platforms. These have panels featuring a continuous mural illustrating, in the style of black and white woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s, the construction of the Eleanor Cross. The Bakerloo line platforms and ticket hall were not redecorated at the same time as those of the other two lines. This was carried out in 1983 when decorative panels for the platforms featuring artwork from the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery were installed.
Closure of Jubilee line platforms
Although permission had been granted in 1971 and 1972, work on the Fleet line's stages 2 and 3 did not proceed and it was not until 1992 that an alternative route was approved. The Jubilee line extension took the line south of the River Thames via Waterloo. Due to the tightness of the curves required and speed restrictions that would have been needed it was impractical to reach Waterloo from Charing Cross. New tunnels branching from the original route south of Green Park would be constructed, and the line to Charing Cross would be closed. Tunnelling began in May 1994 and the new extension opened in stages starting at Stratford in the east, with services to Charing Cross ending on 19 November 1999 and the final section between Green Park and Waterloo opening the following day. The Jubilee line platforms were closed and walls constructed across the intermediate concourses at the top of the two banks of escalators.
The Jubilee line platforms are still used by Jubilee line trains as sidings to reverse trains from southbound to northbound. To do so southbound trains terminate and disembark passengers at Green Park station and run empty to one of the Charing Cross platforms. In August 2023, a miscommunication resulted in a train being sent down the wrong track. Not all passengers were able to disembark at Green Park before the train arrived at the abandoned platforms. London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of Transport in London, London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the histo ...
also runs guided tours of the disused platforms, corridors, and concourse as part of its Hidden London programme, which takes the public to closed-off parts of the Underground network.
Proposal for connection to Docklands Light Railway
In July 2005, a report, ''DLR Horizon 2020 Study'', for the Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated medium-capacity rail system, light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financi ...
(DLR) examined "pragmatic development schemes" to expand and improve the DLR network between 2012 and 2020. One of the proposals was an extension of the DLR from Bank to Charing Cross. The unused tunnels under Strand would be enlarged to accommodate the larger DLR trains. In 2011, the DLR published a proposal to continue the extension to Victoria via Green Park. No further work has been done on these proposals.
Ticket hall refurbishment and closure of subways
In 2016 and 2017, the two ticket halls were separately closed for refurbishment. In each one, interior finishes and lighting were replaced and new ticket barriers were installed. The Northern line ticket hall closed in September 2016 and was scheduled to reopen in July 2017, but reopened a month earlier. Following its reopening, Northern line 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 ...
services began stopping at the station on 30 June 2017. They had been introduced on the line in November 2016, but did not serve Charing Cross until the Northern line ticket hall reopened.[
In June 2020 a planning approval was granted to close the subways to Adelaide Street, William IV Street and the north side of Strand and convert the space to office and retail use linked to the building above.
]
Use in media
As the Jubilee line platforms and track are maintained by TfL for operational reasons, they can be used by film and television makers requiring a modern Underground station location.
Films, television productions and music videos that have been shot at Charing Cross include:
*'' The Fourth Protocol'' (1987)
*'' Creep'' (2004)
*" Cry" (2004), Alex Parks (music video)
*''28 Weeks Later
''28 Weeks Later'' is a 2007 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rowan Joffé, Enrique López Lavigne and Jesus Olmo. It serves as a standalone sequel to '' 28 Days Later'' (20 ...
'' (2007)
*'' The Bourne Ultimatum'' (2007)
*''Flood
A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
'' (2007)
*'' The Escapist'' (2008)
*'' Spooks'' (2009)
*''Skyfall
''Skyfall'' is a 2012 spy thriller film and the twenty-third in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. The film is the third to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond and features Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, ...
'' (2012)
*'' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013)
*''Paddington
Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...
(2014)
*'' Whisky Story'' (2015), Example
Example may refer to:
* ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, an ...
(music video)
*'' London Has Fallen'' (2016)
*'' The Rook'' (2019)
*''Killing Eve
''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three (streaming service), BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence age ...
'' (2019)
*''Morbius
Morbius (born Michael Morbius, also known as Morgan Michaels, Morbius the Living Vampire and Nikos Michaels) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and originally designed by pen ...
'' (2022)
Services and connections
Services
Bakerloo line
On the Bakerloo line, Charing Cross station is between Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
to the north and Embankment to the south. The typical off-peak service on the Bakerloo line in trains per hour (tph) is as follows:
* 16tph Southbound to Elephant & Castle
Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The nam ...
* 8tph Northbound to Queen's Park
* 4tph Northbound to Stonebridge Park
* 4tph Northbound to Harrow & Wealdstone
Northern line
On its branch of the Northern line, Charing Cross station is between Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
to the north and Embankment to the south. The typical offpeak service on the Northern line in trains per hour (tph) is as follows:
* 20tph Southbound to Kennington
Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...
, of which 10 continues to Battersea
Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park.
Hist ...
* 10tph Northbound to Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...
* 8tph Northbound to High Barnet
Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing C ...
* 2tph Northbound to Mill Hill East
There is also a crossover to the north of the station to allow trains to terminate and turn around.
Connections
* London Buses
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...
routes 9, 12, 15, 24, 26, 29, 87, 88, 91, 139, 159, 176 and 453 and night routes N3, N5, N9, N11, N15, N20, N21, N26, N29, N41, N44, N53, N87, N89, N91, N97, N109, N113, N136, N155, N199, N279, N343, N381, N550 and N551 serve Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross station.
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
The Charing Cross-Embankment-Strand conundrum
explains the various names of the tube stations in this area.
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
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** Note sign pointing way to Bakerloo line.
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** Platform murals
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{{closed london underground stations
Tube stations in the City of Westminster
Former Baker Street and Waterloo Railway stations
Former Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907
Bakerloo line stations
Northern line stations
London Underground Night Tube stations
Strand, London