Coordinates: 51°31′12″N 0°06′19″W / 51.520, -0.1053
Farringdon station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Clerkenwell, just north of the City of London in the London Borough of Islington.
Services
It is on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between King's Cross St. Pancras station and Barbican. The station is served by First Capital Connect trains which run from Brighton to Bedford, calling en route at Gatwick Airport, or from Luton to Sutton. Some First Capital Connect trains also run into Moorgate and terminate there rather than continuing south via City Thameslink. Farringdon is in Transport for London's Travelcard Zone 1.
History
The station was opened on 9 January 1863 as the terminus of the original Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground metro line. The station, initially named Farringdon Street, was originally located a short distance from today's building. The line ran from Farringdon to Paddington, a distance of 4 miles (6 km). The station was relocated on 23 December 1865 when the Metropolitan Railway opened an extension to Moorgate. It was renamed Farringdon and High Holborn on 26 January 1922, and its present name on 21 April 1936.[3]
The lines from Farringdon to King's Cross stations run alongside the now culverted Fleet River, which was above ground here until 1812. The station building is an unusually well-preserved piece of early 20th-century London Underground architecture; it still has its original signage (with the name "Farringdon and High Holborn" on the facade) and other indications of the Metropolitan Railway's ambitions to be like the main line companies, with a sign for a "Parcel Office" surviving on the exterior wall.
Plans
The station drastically requires expansion and is very busy at peak times. There have been plans to increase the station's passenger capacity for several years, as part of the Thameslink Programme, and as a consequence of these works through First Capital Connect services to Moorgate will cease from March 2009.
The station is due to become one of the most important transport interchanges in central London, when the Crossrail 1 project is developed. Under current plans, the Crossrail station will be located between Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Square, south of the existing ticket hall. The Farringdon ticket hall will be located at the junction of Farringdon Road and Cowcross Street. The area between the current and new stations is intended to be pedestrianised. A further ticket hall will be located to provide an additional interchange with Barbican tube station[4]. Work, although authorised, has yet to start and completion of Crossrail is not anticipated until 2017[5].
Dual supply
Farringdon Station is also notable because the First Capital Connect trains, whilst standing at the platform, switch between the 25kV AC overhead supply used to the north of London, and the 750V DC third rail supply used to the south, though the trains travelling to Moorgate use 25kV AC throughout.
The Underground trains use the four-rail 630V DC system.
Nearest places
Gallery
The station was named Farringdon & High Holborn from 1922-36 [3]
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Platforms looking north, Underground (Circle/Met/H&C) on the right
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View from north. The building on the right is built on the site of the Metropolitan Railway goods depot
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Thameslink platforms looking north
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Thameslink platforms looking south
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Third rail ends at the northern end of the Thameslink platforms
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Just south of the Thameslink platforms, the Moorgate branch veers left, shadowing the Underground route, whilst the City Thameslink branch veers to the right before heading due south.
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Roundel on westbound Underground platform (Circle/Met/H&C)
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Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City line platforms looking clockwise
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Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City line platforms looking anticlockwise
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References
- ^ Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Farringdon station from Office of Rail Regulation statistics
- ^ a b Transport for London - London Underground performance update
- ^ a b Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground: A diagrammatic history. Capital Transport Publishing. ISBN 1854142194.
- ^ Crossrail - Farringdon (PDF). 28 October 2006
- ^ Crossrail website accessed 09 Dec 2007
External links
Future Development
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