Information AboutCircle Line |
The Circle Line of the and Gloucester Road , and between Tower Hill and Aldgate . The line has interchanges with most of the major London Terminals (all but Marylebone , Euston The Circle Line station Euston Square is commonly designated on maps as having interchange with London Euston within a 'short walk', London Bridge Many, but not all, rail services that call at London Bridge also stop at other stations which interchange with the Circle Line, namely Charing Cross , Cannon Street or Blackfriars and Waterloo ). As the name implies, trains on the line run a continuous circuit. A complete journey around the line would take 45 minutes, but time-tabling constraints mean that each train has a scheduled two-minute stop at High Street Kensington and Aldgate, extending the time required for a full circuit to 49 minutes. This allows the service to operate with seven trains in each direction with a seven-minute service interval. It has 27 stations and 14 Mile s (22.5 Km ) of track. There are usually quicker routes on other lines when travelling from south to north or vice versa. In the north, east and west of central London, the Circle Line approximately outlines Travelcard Zone 1 , but in the south there is a substantial portion of the zone outside the Circle Line. It and the two-stop Waterloo & City Line are the only lines completely within Zone 1. HISTORY : ''see main article'' Metropolitan And Metropolitan District Railways The route now known as the Circle Line was authorised when Acts Of Parliament in 1853 and 1854 empowered the Metropolitan Railway (MR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR) to construct the world's first underground railway in central London. From an initial section between Farringdon and Paddington stations, the route was gradually extended at each end. Financial difficulties in the construction of the section through the City Of London as well as animosity between the two railway companies delayed completion of the full circuit until 6 October 1884 , although it had been known as the Inner Circle since the 1870s . Trains on the route were originally hauled by Steam Engines , but Electrification was started with an experimental section in 1900. A disagreement between the two companies over the method of electrification delayed the exercise, so that the first Electric Trains were introduced gradually over the 11 days to 24 September 1905 . Other circle routes The success of the Inner Circle lead to the operation of a number of other circular routes within the capital, over existing main line routes and sections of the MR's and MDR's Inner Circle tracks:
These routes failed to attract the passenger numbers hoped for and were eventually cut-back or ended - other services on the lines continued. Today parts of the Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle routes are operated by Silverlink trains on the North London Line . Plans to complete an outer rail loop have been relaunched under the name Orbirail .1 7 July 2005 terrorist attack See Also: 7 July 2005 London bombings On , one between Liverpool Street and Aldgate and the other on a train at Edgware Road . Following the attacks, the whole of the Circle Line was closed. While most other lines re-opened on 8 July , the Circle remained closed for several weeks, reopening a little less than a month after the attacks, on 4 August . 14 people were killed by the blasts on the Circle Line trains. A third attack occurred on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square. TRAINS All Circle Line Trains are in the distinctive London Underground livery of red, white and blue and are the larger size of the two sizes used on the network. These trains use C stock, introduced 1969-70, and also in 1978. They are expected to be replaced with S Stock by 2012. ''See London Underground Rolling Stock for more information'' FUTURE The Circle Line could cease to exist in its current form in 2011 and be merged with the Hammersmith & City Line to form a spiral route. The new route would run from Hammersmith to Paddington and then do a complete loop of the current Circle Line, terminating at Edgware Road . |
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