Kennington tube station

Kennington

The station entrance
Kennington

Location of Kennington in Central London
Location Kennington
Local authority London Borough of Southwark
Managed by London Underground
Number of platforms 4
Fare zone 2

London Underground annual entry and exit
2008 4.180 million[1]
2009 4.125 million[1]
2010 4.320 million[1]

1890 Opened (C&SLR)
1923 Closed for reconstruction
1925 Reopened
1926 Opened (Charing Cross branch)

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Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Kennington, on Kennington Park Road, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station to the south is Oval. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2. (Journeys from National Rail stations to Kennington and Oval via Waterloo are priced as if these destinations were in Travelcard Zone 1; the add-on amounts are called substandard fares by NR).

Contents

History

The station was opened on 18 December 1890 as part of London's first deep-level tube, the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) (now the Bank branch). Two extra platforms were added in 1926 when the connection via Waterloo to Embankment on the former Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now the Charing Cross branch) was built. At that time the old northbound platform was reconstructed with the track running down the other side of the tunnel (to allow cross-platform interchange), resulting in unusually wide tunnel mouths.

Unlike the other original C&SLR stations at Stockwell, Oval and Elephant & Castle, which were all rebuilt during the 1920s modernisation, and despite the major works taking place underground, Kennington's surface building saw little in terms of a physical update at that time. It is therefore the only station of the C&SLR's original section still in a condition close to its original design. The station has now reopened after its first extensive refurbishment in more than eighty years.

Kennington loop

A loop tunnel south of the station enables southbound Charing Cross branch trains to be terminated at Kennington, leave the station in a southward direction and, traversing the loop, enter the northbound Charing Cross branch platform. Because of the arrangement of junctions, trains using the loop cannot reach the northbound Bank branch platform nor can trains from the southbound Bank branch reach the loop. For southbound Charing Cross branch or Bank branch trains to reach the northbound Bank branch platform a reversing siding between the two running tunnels must be used.

Because of the layout, it is almost always southbound Charing Cross branch trains that terminate at Kennington. One of the station's four platforms is thus mainly used by terminating trains and sees relatively few operational departures.

Transports Links

London Bus routes 133, 155, 333, 415 and Night routes N133 and N155 all serve the station and its surrounding areas.

Platform layout

Kennington is one of three stations that offers interchange with the Edgware branch, High Barnet branch, Charing Cross branch and Bank branch. If the proposed extension to Battersea is built, Kennington will become an interchange for this too.

Gallery

References

External links

Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
towards Morden
Northern line
Terminus