Colour on map | Corporate Grey (Pantone 430) |
Year opened | 1979 |
Line type | Deep Level |
Rolling stock | 1996 Tube Stock 7 carriages per trainset |
Stations served | 27 |
Length | 36.2 km (22.5 mi) |
Depots | Neasden, Stratford Market[1] |
Journeys made | 127,584,000 |
Rail lines of Transport for London
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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 larger and have special safety features, both aspects being attempts to future-proof the line. Thirteen of the 27 stations served are below ground.
The Jubilee line is coloured silver/grey on the Tube map.
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In 1932, the Metropolitan Railway built a branch from its main line at Wembley Park to Stanmore. The line, as with many others in the northwest 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 of London to the West End of London.
At first the Metropolitan had advocated a new underground line roughly following the line of the Edgware Road between the tube 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 London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) and the subsequent absorption of the Metropolitan. The solution was now an extension of the Bakerloo line from Baker Street to serve St John's Wood and Swiss Cottage, thereby rendering the existing stations of 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 (Metropolitan) 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 wartime 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 Metropolitan 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.
The planning for the Tube network immediately before and after World War II considered several new routes. The main results of this study concerned two major routes: the south-to-northeast "line C" (later constructed as the Victoria line) and lines 3 and 4, new cross-town routes, linking the northeast 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 southeast London.[2]
Line C opened as the Victoria line, in stages, from 1968 to 1972. Work on the northeast–southwest route continued.
In 1971 construction began on the new 'Fleet line'. Economic pressure, 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 2.5-mile (4 km) 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[3] after the River Fleet (although it would have only crossed under the Fleet at Ludgate Circus; the central-London section mostly follows the Tyburn). In 1975, when plans were under way to introduce the London Transport Silver Jubilee Bus fleet, the then Sales Manager of London Transport Advertising proposed to the Chairman of LTE, Kenneth Robinson, that the Fleet line should be renamed the Jubilee line. However, this idea was rejected because of the additional costs involved. Nevertheless, the project was subsequently 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.[4][5]
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.
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, Millwall (near to South Quay DLR station), North Greenwich, Custom House, Silvertown, Woolwich Arsenal, and thence to Thamesmead. The depot would have been at Beckton, roughly on the site of the current Docklands Light Railway depot. 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 (though 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.
There have been other proposals to extend the line serving the docks.[6]
The Jubilee line closed for a scheduled five-day period starting on 26 December 2005 in order to add an extra car to each of the six-car trains.[7] 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. The signalling system was also modified to work with the longer trains.
Previously, an extra four complete 7-car trains were added to the fleet, bringing the total to 63. This enabled the period during which a full service could not be run to be reduced. The full fleet will not be required to be available until full advantage is taken of the new signalling system.
The result of the 7th-car upgrade was a 17% increase in capacity, allowing 6,000 more passengers per day to use the line. Work was completed and the line reopened two days ahead of schedule, on 29 December 2005.
With the exception of the two-stop Waterloo and City Line, the Jubilee line is the newest line of the London Underground network. The trains were upgraded in 1997 to the 1996 stock.
The original Jubilee line stations north of Baker Street were not built specifically for the Jubilee line, because St. Johns' Wood and Swiss Cottage were opened in 1939 on the Bakerloo line; causing them to have traditional tube station features, and the stations north of Finchley Road by the Metropolitan Railway (now the Metropolitan line), causing the Jubilee line to be a slow Metropolitan line service between Finchley Road and Wembley Park. The only 'new' stations built for the original Jubilee line were a westbound Baker Street platform (eastbound was also opened in 1939), Bond Street, Green Park and the now closed Charing Cross.
Stations on the Jubilee Line Extension feature:
The platform-edge doors were primarily introduced to prevent draughts underground and to assist in air flow. They also prevent people from falling or jumping on to the track.
Against these improved features, the Jubilee Line Extension stations have been heavily criticised for very longwinded and poorly planned (although expensive to build) connection facilities with other Underground lines, compared for example to the Victoria line, the previous cross-London line built. However, the opportunity for convenient interchange simply was not present owing to alignment issues and the larger running tunnels. The more extensive stations do have the benefit of being able to accommodate the crowds that sometimes build up and do mean that the line is expected to be fit for purpose for many years to come, whereas other lines (notably the Victoria line at Victoria) now require extensive remedial schemes to rectify this.
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 rolling 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. The 1996 stock uses a different motor to the 1995 stock and has a motor design similar to Class 465 Networker trains. Subsequent modifications also made the text scroll across the internal display instead of just appear in it.
The Jubilee line has been converted to automatic train operation, using the Thales S40 moving-block system. The new system will enable London Underground to run more trains, increase capacity by a further 33 per cent, and cut journey times by around 22 percent.[8] Equipment installation and testing for the new systems began in late 2006, and the line upgrade work required the closure of sections of the Jubilee line each weekend during 2009. Although the project was due for completion in March 2010, the Jubilee line closures continued throughout 2010. Transport for London reported on 4 November 2010 that the upgrade would not now be finished until spring 2011. These delays were due to Tube Lines not meeting their deadlines, and when TfL took it over in June 2010 it realised how much work still had to be done. The new signalling system finally came into full operation on 26 June 2011.
Under automatic operation, the on-train computer instructs the train operator what to do. The underlying protection system is called TBTC, which stands for Transmission-Based Train Control. Full ATO (with the computer doing everything except opening and closing the doors, starting the train at every station, mending faults and dealing with passengers) should be in operation by summer 2011. If ATO fails but TBTC is still operational the trains can still be manually driven at line speed. If TBTC fails on an individual train then it would be put into Restricted Manual mode, which means that the train operator can drive the train at 5–10 mph (8-16 km/h) to the next station, where the train would be taken out of service until the fault is mended by technicians. This type of fault cannot be fixed by the train operator.
The programme of closures had been criticised by local politicians,[9] as well as by the management of venues such as Wembley Stadium and The O2 because visitors to major concerts and sporting events have had to travel by rail replacement bus.[10][11] The management of the project by Tube Lines has been criticised by London TravelWatch for its delayed delivery date,[12] and a report by the London Assembly referred to the weekly line closures as "chaotic".[13][14]
When North Greenwich was opened, it was built to enable a branch extension to be built eastwards 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 owing to uncertainty over the North London Line rail franchise.[15]
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Legend
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Station | Image | Opened | Additional information |
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Stanmore | 10 December 1932 | map 1 | |
Canons Park | 10 December 1932 | Opened as Canons Park (Edgware); renamed 1933map 2 | |
Queensbury | 16 December 1934 | map 3 | |
Kingsbury | 10 December 1932 | map 4 | |
Wembley Park | 14 October 1893 | Change for the Metropolitan Linemap 5 | |
Neasden* | 2 August 1880 | map 6 | |
Dollis Hill* | 1 October 1909 | map 7 | |
Willesden Green* | 24 November 1879 | map 8 | |
Kilburn* | 24 November 1879 | Opened as Kilburn & Brondesbury; renamed 25 September 1950map 9 | |
West Hampstead* | 30 June 1879 | map 10 | |
Finchley Road | 30 June 1879 | Change for the Metropolitan Linemap 11 | |
Swiss Cottage | 20 November 1939 | map 12 | |
St John's Wood | 20 November 1939 | map 13 | |
Baker Street | 1 May 1979 | Change for the Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan Linesmap 14 | |
Bond Street | 1 May 1979 | Change for the Central Linemap 15 | |
Green Park | 1 May 1979 | Change for the Piccadilly and Victoria Linesmap 16 | |
Westminster | 22 December 1999 | Change for the Circle and District Linesmap 17 | |
Waterloo | 24 September 1999 | Change for the Bakerloo, Northern and Waterloo & City Linesmap 18 | |
Southwark ( Waterloo East) | 20 November 1999 | map 19 | |
London Bridge ( Trains to Gatwick) | 7 October 1999 | Change for the Northern Linemap 20 | |
Bermondsey | 17 September 1999 | map 21 | |
Canada Water | 17 September 1999 | Change for the London Overground East London Linemap 22 | |
Canary Wharf | 17 September 1999 | Change for the Docklands Light Railwaymap 23 | |
North Greenwich | 14 May 1999 | map 24 | |
Canning Town- | 14 May 1999 | Change for the Docklands Light Railwaymap 25 | |
West Ham- | 14 May 1999 | Change for the District and Hammersmith & City lines, and Docklands Light Railwaymap 26 | |
Stratford- | 14 May 1999 | Change for the Central Line, the London Overground North London Line, and Docklands Light Railwaymap 27 | |
*Between Finchley Road and Wembley Park, the Jubilee line right of way widens to four tracks. Jubilee line trains run on the two inner tracks. Flanking the Jubilee line are tracks used by the Metropolitan line. Metropolitan line trains run non-stop from Finchley Road to Wembley Park, skipping West Hampstead, Kilburn, Willesden Green, Dollis Hill, and Neasden stations. Willesden Green and Neasden stations have platforms on the Metropolitan line tracks, but Metropolitan line trains call there only during emergencies, or when there are major operating issues with either the Metropolitan or Jubilee lines. | |||
-From Canning Town to Stratford low level, the Jubilee line right-of-way widens to four tracks. The Jubilee line trains use the two western tracks. Directly parallel to the line is the Docklands Light Railway Stratford International extension. Jubilee line trains make stops at Canning Town and West Ham, but bypass Star Lane, Abbey Road and Stratford High Street stations. |
Station | Opened | Closed |
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Charing Cross | 1 May 1979 | 19 November 1999, and October 12, 2002 - December 31, 2009 |
The Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross are still used during service suspensions. For example - when the service is suspended between Green Park and Stratford, trains will terminate and detrain at Green Park before going to Charing Cross and using a scissors crossover to reverse back westbound. The platforms are a popular set for films and television because the platforms are contemporary and the trains used are current ones that appear in normal passenger service.
The Jubilee line is currently served by Stratford Market Depot map 29 between the Stratford and West Ham stations.[16]
Trains can also be stabled in Neasden Depot - sharing it with the Metropolitan line.
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Additional images are available from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) case studies for the stations at Canary Wharf,[17] North Greenwich,[18] Southwark,[19] and Stratford.[20]
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West: | Crossings of the River Thames | East: |
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Westminster Bridge | Between Westminster and Waterloo |
Bakerloo line between Embankment and Waterloo |
Rotherhithe Tunnel | Between Canada Water and Canary Wharf |
Greenwich foot tunnel |
Docklands Light Railway between Island Gardens and Cutty Sark |
Between Canary Wharf and North Greenwich |
Blackwall Tunnels |
Blackwall Tunnels | Between North Greenwich and Canning Town |
Thames Barrier |
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