Piccadilly Line

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Template:Infobox TfL line

The Piccadilly Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is a deep-level line running from the north-east to the west of London, albeit with significant surface running sections in its outer parts.

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History

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The beginnings

The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (GNP&BR) (its original title) was one of several controlled by the Underground Electric Railways Co of London Ltd, whose chief director was Charles Tyson Yerkes, although he himself died before any of his schemes could come to fruition. There had been, in 1902, 26 Bills before Parliament to construct tube railways in London, and it required a Parliamentary Committee to decide on the most worthy of them as far as the Piccadilly Line was concerned.

The scheme eventually agreed involved the amalgamation of two of the planned tube railways: the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR) and the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B&PCR) and the taking over of a District Railway scheme for a deep-level tube line between South Kensington and Earl's Court (approved in 1897 but not built). When the GNP&BR was formally opened on 15 December 1906, the line ran from Great Northern & City Line terminus at Finsbury Park to Hammersmith.

On 30 November 1907 the short branch from Holborn to the Strand (later renamed Aldwych) was opened. This had originally been the last section of the GN&SR before the amalgamation with the B&PR was made; in 1905 (and again in 1965) plans were made to extend it the short distance south under the River Thames to Waterloo, but this was never to come about. Although built with twin tunnels, single-line shuttle working became the norm from 1918, and the eastern tunnel closed to traffic.

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Later changes

On 1 July 1910 the GNP&BR became part of the London Electric Railway. The Act approving the change also applied to the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway.

On 10 December 1928 a new Piccadilly Circus tube station, which included a sub-surface booking hall and eleven escalators was opened. This was the start of a considerable development over the whole of the Railway, which included a comprehensive programme of station enlargement on the same design as at Piccadilly Circus. From the 1920s onwards there had been severe congestion at the line's northern terminus, Finsbury Park, where travellers had to change on to trams and buses for destinations in outer North and North East London. There had also been deputations made to Parliament, asking for an early extension of the line either towards Tottenham and Edmonton or towards Wood Green and Palmers Green. The early 1930s was a time of recession, and in order to relieve unemployment Government capital was made available. The chief features of the scheme were:

These extensions are notable for the Art Deco architecture of many of their stations, often designed by Charles Holden.

In 1975 a new tunnel section was opened to Hatton Cross from Hounslow West. Hounslow West became an tunnel section station. In 1977, the branch to was extended to Heathrow Central. This station was renamed Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 in 1984, with the opening of a further extension via Heathrow Terminal 4. On the 7 January 2005 this further extension (via Heathrow Terminal 4) closed again, in preparation for works to extend the Piccadilly line to the future Heathrow Terminal 5 station.

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2005 terrorist attack

On July 7 2005, a Piccadilly Line train was attacked by a suicide bomber. The blast occurred at 08:50 BST while the train was travelling between King's Cross St. Pancras and Russell Square. It was part of a co-ordinated attack on London's transport network, and was synchronised with three other attacks — two on the Circle Line and one on a bus at Tavistock Square. A relatively small high explosive device, concealed in a rucksack, was used; the bomber died in the explosion.

The Piccadilly Line bomb resulted in the largest number of fatalities, with 21 people reported killed. Evacuation of the Piccadilly Line proved to be more difficult as it is a deep level line, and it was more difficult for the emergency services to reach. The entire line remained closed for the rest of the day. Parts of the line re-opened on July 8, with no service between Hyde Park Corner and Arnos Grove, and full through running was restored on August 4, exactly 4 weeks after the initial bomb. Template:Further

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Infrastructure

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Rolling stock

Image:Plineraynerslane.JPG Like virtually all Underground lines, the Piccadilly Line is operated by a single type of rolling stock, in this case the 1973 tube stock, in the standard London Underground livery of blue, white and red. 76 trains out of a fleet of 88 are needed to run the line's peak time service, although one unit is now severely damaged as a result of the terrorist attacks of 7th July 2005. While the stock was recently refurbished, it is due for replacement within the next decade.

In the past, the line has been worked by the 1959 stock, 1956 stock, 1938 stock, standard tube stock and 1906 gate stock.

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Signalling

The line is controlled from the control centre at Earl's Court, which it shares with the District Line. The line is in need of resignalling, and this work is planned to be carried out by 2014.

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Service pattern

The current service pattern is:

12tph Cockfosters - Heathrow Airport
3tph Cockfosters - Uxbridge
3tph Cockfosters - Rayners Lane
6tph Arnos Grove - Northfields

(tph = trains per hour e.g. 3tph is a train every 20 minutes)

Half of the Uxbridge trains turn back at Rayners Lane - a 10 minute service runs between Acton and Rayners Lane, with a 20 minute service to Uxbridge (this section is supplemented by the Metropolitan line, however).

Other services operate at times, especially at the start and towards the end of the traffic day.

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Map

Image:Piccadilly Line.svg

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Stations

(In order from east to west.)

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Cockfosters branch

Tunnel section commences

Tunnel section ends

The line splits here into two branches — the Heathrow branch and the Uxbridge branch.

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Heathrow branch

(Continuing from Acton Town.)

Tunnel section recommences


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Uxbridge branch

(Continuing from Acton Town.)

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See also

Leslie Green - architect of the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway's early stations

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Closed stations

Aldwych opened on the 30 November 1904 as Strand station. It was at the end of a branch line from the main line at Holborn. From 1917 onwards it was only served by a shuttle from Holborn. In 1917 it also changed its name to 'Aldwych'. It was temporarily closed in 1940 during World War II to be used as an air-raid shelter. It re-opened again in 1946. The service continued until 30 November 1994 when it was discontinued: the level of use was too low to justify the costs of replacing lift machinery.

Brompton Road opened 15 December 1906 - closed 30 July 1934. It is located between Knightsbridge and South Kensington.

Down Street opened 15 December 1906 - closed 21 May 1932. It is located between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner.

Park Royal & Twyford Abbey opened 23 June 1903 - closed 5 July 1931. Although on the route of the current Piccadilly Line a short distance north of the present Park Royal station, this station was never served by Piccadilly Line trains. Park Royal & Twyford Abbey station was opened by the District Line, the original operator of the line between Ealing Common and South Harrow, but was closed and replaced by the present Park Royal station before the Piccadilly Line started running trains to South Harrow in 1932.

York Road opened 15 December 1906 - closed 19 September 1932. It is located between King's Cross St Pancras and Caledonian Road. It has been suggested [1] that this station may be reopened to serve new developments on the nearby King's Cross railway lands, although the number of passengers expected to use the station may not be high enough to justify the cost of refitting it to modern standards.

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External links

nl:Piccadilly Line no:Piccadilly-linjen

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