Old Street station

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Old Street
Old Street
Location
Place Old Street
Local authority Islington
Operations
Managed by London Underground
Platforms in use 4
Transport for London
Zone 1
2004 annual usage 13.791 million †
2007 annual usage 17.927 million †
History
Key dates Opened 1901 (C&SLR)
Opened 1904 (GN&CR)
Transport for London
List of London stations: Underground | National Rail
† Data from Transport for London [1]

Old Street station is a London Underground and National Rail station located at the junction of Old Street and City Road just north of the City of London. It lies on the border between the boroughs of Islington and Hackney, but is located completely within the former.

The station is on the Bank branch of London Underground's Northern Line, between Moorgate and Angel stations. It is also between Moorgate and Essex Road stations on National Rail's Northern City Line, operated by First Capital Connect. However, trains do not serve the Northern City Line during late evenings and at weekends, being diverted to London Kings Cross instead. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.

The station was originally opened in November 1901 by the first deep-level tube railway, the City & South London Railway, as part of an extension of its line from Moorgate to Angel. The Northern City Line platforms were opened in February 1904 by the Great Northern & City Railway which built its tunnels to a larger diameter capable of accommodating main line trains in the hope of carrying trains from its northern terminus at the Great Northern Railway's Finsbury Park station to Moorgate. This eventually happened in the 1970s, with the line becoming a BR route, with through services to Hertford and Welwyn Garden City. During the 1920's the station was rebuilt when escalators (1 & 2) replaced the lift shaft in accessing the platform tunnels. Between 1967 and 1969 the station was once again modified, the surface building was replaced with the current sub-surface structure situated in the centre of the roundabout and an additional escalator shaft (3) was added.

At the surface, the station is situated under the eastern edge of the busy Old Street roundabout, where Old Street crosses City Road. There is no ground-level station building, access being by ramps and stairs to a modern station entrance which is part of a small shopping parade beneath the roundabout. The original ground-level buildings were removed when the roundabout was constructed. The station has toilets, but they are not open late into the evening.

During the 1990s the effects of corrosion caused by excessive soil acidity required a section of the cast iron running tunnel lining in the Northern Line, south of Old Street, to be re-lined with stainless steel tunnel segments.

On the Northern Line between Old Street and Angel stations is the disused tube station City Road.

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Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
Northern line
towards Morden
First Capital Connect
Terminus
Northern City Line

 

Coordinates: 51.52581° N 0.08709° W