Moorgate station

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Template:London stations Moorgate station is a London Underground and mainline station in the City of London, located on Moorgate, the street of the same name, north of London Wall. The station was named at one time "Moorgate Street". It is a terminus for suburban First Capital Connect services to Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth. It is famous for the Moorgate tube crash of 1975 in which 43 people were killed.

The station is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line between Old Street and Bank and also on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, between Barbican and Liverpool Street. National Rail services are provided by First Capital Connect. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.

Moorgate temporarily became the terminus for the Metropolitan Line in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings when the line between Moorgate and Aldgate was closed off.

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Sub-surface station

All parts of the station are sub-surface. The Circle Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Metropolitan Line and some Capital Connect platforms are located in a cut and cover section. First Capital Connect trains from the west terminate here using platforms parallel to the east and westbound through platforms shared by the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. First Capital Connect trains also use platforms in deep-level tube tunnels above the Northern Line tube tunnels.

Although completely rebuilt and extended to six platforms in the 1960s, the sub-surface part of the station was first opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1865 as the first extension from its original route between Paddington and Farringdon.

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Deep-level station

Image:Picture(19).jpg The Northern Line platforms were originally opened by the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) as "Moorgate Street" in February 1900 as the new northern terminus of its services then running from Stockwell south of the River Thames. The line was further extended to Angel the following year. The original C&SLR station building remains on the west side of Moorgate and the offices above the station were built as the headquarters of the railway.

The Northern City Line platforms served by First Capital Connect were originally opened by the Great Northern & City Railway (GN&CR) in February 1904 providing a service to Finsbury Park. The original hope of the GN&CR was that main line trains would run from the Great Northern Railway's platforms at Finsbury Park directly into the city and the tunnels were constructed at a diameter capable of accommodating main line trains. Disputes and rivalry between the two companies meant that this did not happen and it was not until the 1970s, after the line had changed from the ownership of London Underground to British Rail that a through service began to operate.

From 1934 until 1975 the Northern Line operated the Northern City Line as its City or Highbury Branch. On 28 February 1975, shortly before ownership changed hands, a southbound train crashed into the tunnel end wall beyond the platform, killing 43 people, the second greatest loss of life on the Underground in peacetime. The safety improvements since then have included the introduction of what is known as the Moorgate Control. See Moorgate tube crash.

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