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Jubilee Line
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The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground ("the Tube"), in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections - initially to Charing Cross in Central London, and later extended in 1999 to Stratford in East London. The later stations are notable for their larger size and safety features (both being attempts to future-proof the line). Out of 27 stations served, 13 are below ground. Each platform is 130 metres long.
The Jubilee line is coloured silver/grey on the Tube map.
932, the Metropolitan main line was extended from Wembley Park to Stanmore.
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Encyclopedia
The Jubilee line is a line on the London Underground ("the Tube"), in the United Kingdom. It was built in two major sections - initially to Charing Cross in Central London, and later extended in 1999 to Stratford in East London. The later stations are notable for their larger size and safety features (both being attempts to future-proof the line). Out of 27 stations served, 13 are below ground. Each platform is 130 metres long.
The Jubilee line is coloured silver/grey on the Tube map.
Up to 1939
In 1932, the Metropolitan main line was extended from Wembley Park to Stanmore. The line, as with many others in the north-west London area, was designed to absorb commuter traffic from the new and rapidly expanding suburbs. The line presented the Metropolitan with a problem — so successful was the suburban traffic that by the early 1930s, the lines into Baker Street were becoming overloaded, a problem which was exacerbated by the post-war flight from the City to the West End.
At first the Metropolitan had advocated a new underground line roughly following the line of the Edgware Road between its Edgware Road station and a point near Willesden Green. Indeed, construction advanced as far as the rebuilding of Edgware Road station to accommodate 4 platforms of 8 car length. Things changed though with the formation of the LPTB and the subsequent absorption of the Metropolitan. The solution now presented was an extension of the Bakerloo line, north from Baker Street to serve St. John's Wood and Swiss Cottage, thereby rendering the existing stations (Lord's, Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage) on the parallel route redundant, and negating the need for the Met's extension from Edgware Road station (it should be noted, however, that Swiss Cottage Met was proposed to remain open during peak hours for interchange with the Bakerloo, and that Lord's station would further open for special Cricketing events. In the event, both closed permanently as war time economies). The line would rise between the Metropolitan tracks at Finchley Road, providing cross-platform interchange with the Metropolitan line. Continuing north to Wembley Park, the Bakerloo was to provide intermediate service on the Metropolitan line, allowing Metropolian Line trains to run Wembley Park to Finchley Road non-stop, cutting seven minutes from journey times. At Wembley Park, the Bakerloo would run on to serve Kingsbury, Queensbury, Canons Park and Stanmore. The Bakerloo extension, built as above, opened in 1939.
1939 to 1979
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The immediately pre- and post-war planning for the Tube network considered a series of new routes. The main results of this study concerned two major routes: the south to north-east "line C" (later constructed as the Victoria line) and lines 3 and 4, new cross-town routes, linking the north-east suburbs to Fenchurch Street, Wapping and variously Lewisham and Hayes.
The Fleet Line was mentioned in a 1965 Times article, discussing options after the Victoria line had been completed — suggesting that the Fleet Line could take a Baker Street-Bond Street-Trafalgar Square-Strand-Fleet Street-Ludgate Circus-Cannon Street route, then proceeding into south-east London.
Line C opened as the Victoria line, in stages, between 1968 and 1972. Work on the north-east - south-west route continued.
In 1971 construction began on the new 'Fleet line'. Economic pressures, and doubt over the final destination of the line, had led to a staged approach. Under the first stage, the Baker Street to Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo Line was joined at Baker Street to a new segment into central London, with intermediate stops at Bond Street and Green Park and terminating at a new station at Charing Cross, thereby relieving pressure on the West End section of the Bakerloo Line between Baker Street and Charing Cross and also allowing increased frequencies on the section north of Baker Street.
The new tube was to offer cross-platform interchange between the Bakerloo and Fleet at Baker Street, as pioneered on the Victoria line. The work was completed in 1979. As part of the works, Trafalgar Square (Bakerloo) and Strand (Northern) stations were combined into a single station complex, Charing Cross. The existing Charing Cross station on the sub-surface District and Circle lines was renamed Embankment.
The new line was to have been called the Fleet line after the River Fleet (although it would have only crossed under the Fleet at Ludgate Circus; the Central London section mostly follows the Tyburn). The project was renamed the Jubilee Line for Queen Elizabeth II's 1977 Silver Jubilee following a pledge made by the Conservatives in the Greater London Council election of 1977. The original choice of battleship grey for the line's colour was based on the naval meaning of the word fleet; this became a lighter grey, representing the silver colour of the Jubilee itself.
The line was officially opened by the Prince of Wales on 30 April 1979, with passenger services operating from 1 May 1979,
1979 to 1999
The Jubilee line of 1979 was to be the first of four phases of the project, but lack of funds meant that no further progress was made until the late 1990s.
- Phase 3 would have seen the line continue under the river to Surrey Docks tube station with a branch to both Lewisham via New Cross, and to New Cross Gate Station.
- Phase 4 was the possible continuation of the Lewisham branch to take over suburban services on the Addiscombe and Hayes (Bromley) Branch.
An alternative plan was devised in the 1970s to extend the Jubilee line parallel to the River Thames: this would have taken the line from Fenchurch Street to Thamesmead via St Katharine Docks, Wapping, Surrey Docks North, Canary Wharf, North Greenwich, Custom House, Silvertown, Woolwich Arsenal, thence to Thamesmead. However the 'River Line', as this extension was called, was deemed too expensive and construction of the extension never proceeded.
Changes in land use, particularly the urban renewal of the Docklands area, caused the project to extend the line beyond Charing Cross to change considerably in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The Jubilee Line Extension, as the eventual project became known, opened in three stages in 1999. It split from the existing line at Green Park creating a one-station branch to Charing Cross, which is now closed (although it is still maintained for reversing trains at times of disruption, and for occasional use as a film set). The line extends as far as Stratford, with ten intermediate stations. With the extension in place, the Jubilee line became the only line on the London Underground network that has interchanges with all other lines; it was joined in this distinction by the Central line and the Northern Line when the East London line closed for transfer to London Overground.
There have been various other proposals to extend the line serving the docks.
2005 upgrade
The Jubilee line closed for a scheduled five-day period starting on 26 December 2005 in order to add an extra carriage to each of the six-car trains. The line had to be closed while this work was done as six and seven car trains could not run in service at the same time because the platform edge doors at Jubilee Line Extension stations could not cater for both train lengths simultaneously. Additionally, an extra four complete trains were added to the fleet, bringing the total to 63. The result is a 17% increase in capacity at peak times, allowing 6,000 more passengers per day to use Jubilee Line services. The signalling system was also upgraded. Work was completed and the line reopened two days ahead of schedule, on 29 December 2005.
Rolling stock
When the Jubilee line was opened, it was operated by 1972 stock. In 1984 this was partially replaced by the new 1983 Stock, the displaced 1972 Stock being transferred to the Bakerloo line. The 1983 Stock proved to be unreliable and troublesome in service, with single-leaf doors making passenger loading and unloading a slower process than on other stock with wider door openings. With the construction of the Jubilee line Extension, the opportunity was taken to introduce new trains, and today the line is worked by 1996 stock, which has an exterior similar to the 1995 Stock in use on the Northern line but (in spite of the confusing naming) is technically less advanced. The new stock has internal displays and automated announcements to provide passengers with information on the train's route - at first they simply listed the destination of the train, and subsequently also listing the name of the next station and interchanges there. Subsequent modifications also made the text scroll across the internal display instead of just appear in it.
Future
The line is scheduled to switch to automatic train operation in 2009, using the SelTrac system currently in use on the Docklands Light Railway. Equipment installation and testing for this began in late 2006.
The line was constructed to enable a branch extension to be built eastwards from North Greenwich to Thamesmead. At present there are no plans to construct this branch route.
Plans were put forward in 1974 and again in 2004 for a West Hampstead Interchange, to connect the three West Hampstead stations in one complex, but plans were put on hold in 2007 due to uncertainty over the North London Line rail franchise.
Map
The is available online.
Stations
| Station | Image | Opened | Additional Information |
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| Stanmore | | December 10, 1932 | | | Canons Park | | December 10, 1932 | Opened as Canons Park (Edgware); renamed 1933 | | Queensbury | | December 16, 1934 | | | Kingsbury | | December 10, 1932 | | | Wembley Park | | October 14, 1893 | | | Neasden | | August 2, 1880 | | | Dollis Hill | | October 1, 1909 | | | Willesden Green | | November 24, 1879 | | | Kilburn | | November 24, 1879 | Opened as Kilburn & Brondesbury;renamed September 25, 1950 | | West Hampstead | | June 30, 1879 | | | Finchley Road | | June 30, 1879 | | | Swiss Cottage | | November 20, 1939 | | | St. John's Wood | | November 20, 1939 | | | Baker Street | | May 1, 1979 | | | Bond Street | | May 1, 1979 | | | Green Park | | May 1, 1979 | | | Westminster | | December 22, 1999 | | | Waterloo | | September 24, 1999 | | | Southwark ( Waterloo East) | | November 20, 1999 | | | London Bridge ( Trains to Gatwick) | | October 7, 1999 | | | Bermondsey | | September 17, 1999 | | | Canada Water | | September 17, 1999 | | | Canary Wharf | | September 17, 1999 | | | North Greenwich | | May 14, 1999 | | | Canning Town | | May 14, 1999 | | | West Ham | | May 14, 1999 | | | Stratford | | May 14, 1999 | |
Former stations
The Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross are still used but not for passengers - when the service is suspended between North Greenwich/Canary Wharf and Stratford, one in every 3 trains will terminate at Green Park, go to Charing Cross, reverse, and start a service from Green Park.
Gallery
Additional images are available from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) case studies for the stations at Canary Wharf, North Greenwich, Southwark, and Stratford.
External links
(photo gallery)
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