King's Cross St. Pancras Tube Station Article Index for
King's Cross
Website Links For
Kings
 

Information About

King's Cross St. Pancras Tube Station




King's Cross St Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both King's Cross and St Pancras main line stations in the London Borough Of Camden . It is in Travelcard Zone 1 .


INTERCHANGE

It is a main interchange, with platforms on the Victoria , Piccadilly , Northern , Circle , Hammersmith & City , and Metropolitan lines.



DEVELOPMENT


The underground part of the station is currently undergoing extensive remodelling works to increase throughflow of passengers, expected when the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens. The ticket offices in the main Ticket Hall are currently closed, and passengers are instead required to purchase tickets above ground opposite the W H Smith store in front of King's Cross Station . The expanded station will have three ticket halls, being built in two distinct phases and expected to be completed by 2006 and 2009 , respectively.

  • The existing ticket hall (sometimes referred to as the "Tube Ticket Hall"): this is being expanded.

  • The Western Ticket Hall (Phase 1): this is being constructed under the forecourt of St Pancras Station, adjacent to Euston Road . It will provide access to St Pancras Station via the new passenger facilities which are being created in St Pancras's undercroft.

  • The Northern Ticket Hall (Phase 2): this will be to the west of King's Cross station, underneath its new main concourse. Both of these projects are due to be completed by 2009, which is two years later than the rest of the work. This hall will be convenient for the proposed King's Cross Central development.


Phase 2 has now been given the go-ahead by the Secretary of State and is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2009 .


HISTORY

]]
The first underground station at King's Cross opened as part of the original section of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863 , and was rearranged in 1868 and 1926 . New platforms for the sub-surface lines of the Underground were opened about 400 m to the west in 1941 to make interchanging between the sub-surface lines and the deep tube lines easier; part of what remains of the old station is now King's Cross Thameslink , though that is to become wholly disused when the Thameslink station eventually moves to St Pancras. One of the long-disused original Underground platforms may be seen from Underground trains travelling between the present station and Farringdon.

The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) (Piccadilly Line) platforms opened with the rest of the line in December 1906 , while the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) (Northern Line) arrived in May 1907 . The Victoria line platforms came into use on 1 December 1968 with the opening of the second phase of the line. The Victoria line Escalator s cut through the location of the original Piccadilly line Lifts .

On 18 November 1987 the station was the scene of the devastating King's Cross Fire which killed thirty-one people. The cause was attributed to a lighted match falling into, and setting fire to, an Escalator machine room. As a result, fire safety procedures on the Underground were tightened, staff training was improved and escalators with wooden steps were replaced. Smoking was also prohibited throughout the London Underground network.

On 7 July 2005 , in a Co-ordinated Bomb Attack , an explosion in a Piccadilly Line train travelling between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square resulted in the deaths of at least 26 people.


SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS