Holborn Viaduct railway station
Encyclopedia
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
History
London, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
was suffering financial problems, and so was unable to raise capital to expand the station. So, a separate company was set up to construct a 330 yards (301.8 m) branch from the Ludgate-Farringdon line that would terminate at a new station located on Holborn Viaduct
Holborn Viaduct
Holborn Viaduct is a bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it . It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street in the City of London, passing over Farringdon Street and the now subterranean River Fleet.It was built between 1863 and 1869, at a cost of over two million...
, which would have a new hotel forming its frontage.
Holborn Viaduct opened on 2 March 1874 with the intention that it be used as a terminus for main line and continental trains: these services were intended to operate to both the City
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and the West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. Trains would travel as far as where they would split, with one portion going to Holborn Viaduct and the other to Victoria. Local services carried on through the Snow Hill Tunnel
Snow Hill tunnel
Snow Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the northern edge of the City of London between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations. The tunnel runs beneath the Smithfield meat market and was constructed using the cut and cover method immediately prior to the building of the market...
to join the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
at Farringdon
Farringdon station
Farringdon station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Clerkenwell, just north of the City of London in the London Borough of Islington...
, with a pair of low-level platforms just north of Holborn Viaduct to allow interchange with the main line services. Opened on 1st August 1874, these platforms were briefly named Snow Hill, before being renamed Holborn Viaduct Low Level in 1912.
Passenger traffic through the Snow Hill tunnel
Snow Hill tunnel
Snow Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the northern edge of the City of London between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations. The tunnel runs beneath the Smithfield meat market and was constructed using the cut and cover method immediately prior to the building of the market...
ceased in 1916, which saw the low-level platforms closed, and Holborn Viaduct become a terminus for passenger services from the south of London into the City. The short distance between Holborn Viaduct and Blackfriars
Blackfriars station
Blackfriars station, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. Its platforms will eventually span the River Thames a short distance downstream from Blackfriars Bridge. The current entrance is located on the...
(660 yards (603.5 m)) also led to the intermediate station at Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill railway station
Ludgate Hill railway station was a station in the City of London opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway as its City terminus on 1 June 1865...
being closed in 1929. The route was electrified in 1925 for services from and .
Following the end of the Second World War, services to Holborn Viaduct began to be withdrawn. The electrification of the Kent Coast route led to two basic services operating all day from the station: to and West Croydon
West Croydon station
West Croydon station is a transport interchange for National Rail and Tramlink services, as well as London Buses. It is in the London Borough of Croydon and Travelcard Zone 5...
, with peak time services to a number of other destinations. In 1963 the hotel, which had been heavily damaged during the Second World War, was demolished and redeveloped, a new 10-storey office building replacing it.
In the mid 1980s, Snow Hill tunnel was restored as a north-south rail link through central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
. Services to and from Holborn Viaduct were gradually run down as part of this plan. In 1988, passenger trains began running through the Snow Hill Tunnel again, and Holborn Viaduct was reduced to operating only Monday-Friday during peak hours. The Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...
plan was to build a new underground station in the vicinity, to be called St Paul's Thameslink. Its construction required the demolition of the bridge to Holborn Viaduct from Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill
Ludgate Hill is a hill in the City of London, near the old Ludgate, a gate to the City that was taken down, with its attached gaol, in 1780. Ludgate Hill is the site of St Paul's Cathedral, traditionally said to have been the site of a Roman temple of the goddess Diana. It is one of the three...
. Holborn Viaduct eventually closed on 26 January 1990. The frontage of the station buildings were incorporated into the new City Thameslink station, which formed part of a new development funded by a commercial property company.
Layout
Holborn Viaduct was constructed as a six-platform terminus, with two island platformIsland platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...
s and two side platform
Side platform
A Side platform is a platform positioned to the side of a pair of tracks at a railway station, a tram stop or a transitway. A pair of side platforms are often provided on a dual track line with a single side platform being sufficient for a single track line...
s, covered by a three-roof train shed. The redevelopment that began in 1963 saw the replacement of the train shed with shorter platform canopies, while a new concourse was constructed within the new office building on the ground floor level - the platforms were located at the first floor level.
See also
- List of closed railway stations in London
- Broad Street