#bakerloo

Gordon vs. Bakerloo

Charing Cross Jubilee Line Station

In the 1970s, London was awaiting the opening of a new Underground line. Whilst most of the Fleet Line’s route was taken from the Bakerloo’s branch from Baker Street to Stanmore, new tunnels were dug, via Bond Street and Green Park, to Charing Cross – with plans to later extend the line under Fleet Street and then out to Lewisham.

The construction of the new platforms at Charing Cross occurred alongside significant remodelling of the Northern and Bakerloo lines, necessitating the use of a narrow-gauge railway running underneath Trafalgar Square to remove the spoil produced by the excavations. The tunnel’s exit was located behind the National Gallery, but had to be dug with a noticeable curve, due to concerns that a route following a straight line would pass directly beneath Nelson’s Column and cause subsidence.

The Fleet Line was scheduled to open in 1977, in time for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. In an act of patriotism (that would later be repeated when renaming Crossrail the Elizabeth Line), the line was renamed the Jubilee Line – a costly change as much Fleet Line signage had already been produced. However, the opening of the line was delayed until 1979, the delays largely attributed to the construction of new escalators at Charing Cross.

Twenty years later, extension work to the Jubilee Line was completed, but not in the originally planned direction, as new technology allowed for tunnels to be built through the water-bearing gravels of the South Bank and Docklands. Whilst some plans were made to keep Charing Cross on the Jubilee Line’s route, it was ultimately better to abandon the station, diverting the line through Westminster and then on to Waterloo. Charing Cross Jubilee Line Station closed to the public on 20th November 1999.

But this wasn’t the end of the station’s story. It remains connected to the network, being used as a siding for trains either being taken out of service, or stored to provide extra capacity for large public events. Additionally, the platforms, corridors and escalators are used by TfL to test out new technologies that may later be installed in other stations.