King's Cross St Pancras (also known as King's Cross & St Pancras International) is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

station on

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston Hall, the family ...

in the Borough of Camden, Central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It serves King's Cross and main line stations in fare zone 1, and is an interchange between six Underground lines. The station was one of the first to open on the network. As of , it is the station on the network for passenger entrances and exits combined. The station opened in 1863 as part of the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

, subsequently catering for the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines. It was expanded in 1868 with the opening of the

City Widened Lines The Widened Lines (also known as the City Widened Lines; formerly known as the Moorgate Line) is a double-track railway line forming part of the Thameslink route between St Pancras and within Central London. For most of their life the Widen ...

, and the Northern and

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

platforms opened in the early 20th century. During the 1930s and 1940s, the station was restructured and partially rebuilt to cater for expanded traffic. The

Victoria line The Victoria line is a London Underground line that runs between in south London and in the north-east, via the West End. It is printed in light blue on the Tube map and is one of the only two lines on the network to run completely undergr ...

connection opened in 1968. The 1987

King's Cross fire The King's Cross fire was a 1987 fire in a London Underground station with 31 fatalities, after a fire under a wooden escalator suddenly spread into the underground ticket hall in a flashover. The fire began at approximately 19:30 on 18 Novembe ...

that killed 31 people is one of the deadliest accidents to occur on the Underground and resulted in widespread safety improvements and changes throughout the network. The station was extensively rebuilt in the early 21st century to cater for

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

services that moved from Waterloo to St Pancras, reopening in 2007.

History

The first underground station at King's Cross was planned in 1851, during construction of the mainline station. The intention was to connect the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

(GWR) at

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

with the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at King's Cross. The line was opened as part of the original section of the

(MR) on 10 January 1863. It was reorganised in August 1868 to accommodate the

which allowed GNR and Metropolitan traffic to run along the line simultaneously. The same year, the Metropolitan built a link to the newly opened station. The

Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London.A "tube" railway is an underground rail ...

(GNP&BR, now part of the Piccadilly line) platforms opened with the rest of the line on 15 December 1906, while the

City & South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...

(C&SLR, now part of the Northern line) opened on 11 May 1907. In 1927, this part of the station was renamed as King's Cross for St Pancras. In 1933, the station was formally renamed King's Cross St Pancras, except for the Metropolitan line station, which continued to use the old name until 16 October 1940, when it was also renamed. During this time, major rebuilding work took place, including a direct connection to St Pancras and a circular ticket hall. The main concourse opened on 18 June 1939, and the subway link to St Pancras opened two years later. The total cost of the work was £260,000. The Metropolitan line platforms were closed between 16 October and 9 December 1940 due to bomb damage during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

. Further bomb damage to the Metropolitan line platforms occurred on 9 March 1941 when a train, the station roof, the signal box and the platforms were damaged and two railway staff were killed. New sub-surface platforms had been under construction as part of the station improvements begun in the 1930s and these were opened in an unfinished condition on 14 March 1941 to the west. These were decorated with cream tiles featuring pale green edges. A subway was built between the sub-surface lines, running below

and joining with the tube lines, making interchanging between the various lines easier. The 1868 platforms later became station. The Victoria line platforms were opened on 1 December 1968 as part of the line's second phase from Highbury & Islington to

Warren Street Warren Street is a street in the London Borough of Camden that runs from Cleveland Street in the west to Tottenham Court Road in the east. Warren Street tube station is located at the eastern end of the street. History The street is crossed b ...

. Unlike some other interchange stations on the line, it was not possible to put the platforms on the same level with other lines. Two new escalators were constructed, connecting the Northern / Piccadilly ticket hall with an expanded concourse. A further subway and staircase connected the new platforms to this. The station was refurbished in 1986, in conjunction with several others on the tube network. The Northern and Piccadilly platforms were decorated with multi-coloured tiles featuring the letters "K" and "X" by the artist

Paul Huxley Paul Huxley RA (born 12 May 1938) is a British painter. Biography Huxley was born in London. He attended Harrow School of Art from 1951 to 1956, and the Royal Academy Schools from 1956 to 1960. His first solo exhibition was in 1963 at the Row ...

. These tiles were removed during the substantial upgrade and expansion of the station in the mid 2000s.

Fire

The underground network had been at risk of fire since opening, and the limited amount of space and means of escape increased the possibility of fatalities. Following a serious fire at

Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...

in February 1976, staff had been trained to be alert for any possible causes of ignition or smouldering. At around 7:30 p.m. on 18 November 1987, a passenger reported a small fire on the Northern / Piccadilly up escalator and alerted staff. The incident was judged as relatively minor, and the Fire Brigade arrived at 7:43 p.m. with four pumps and a ladder. By this time, the ticket hall had filled with smoke, trains passed through the station without stopping, and passengers were being evacuated. At around 7:45 p.m., a fireball erupted from the Northern / Piccadilly escalators and set the ticket hall ablaze. The fire burned for several hours and was not properly contained until around 1:46 a.m. the following morning. It killed 31 people, including a fire officer. The then-unknown fire phenomenon of the

trench effect The trench effect is a combination of circumstances that can rush a fire up an inclined surface. It depends on two well-understood but separate ideas: the Coandă effect from fluid dynamics and the flashover concept from fire dynamics: * The Coa ...

made the fire develop upwards and finally caused it to explode into the station. As a result, fire safety procedures on the Underground were tightened, staff training was improved and wooden steps on escalators were replaced with metal ones. Smoking had already been banned on subsurface areas of the Underground in February 1985; following the King's Cross fire, it was banned throughout the entire network. The fire caused extensive damage, particularly to the old wooden escalators where it had started. Repairs and rebuilding took over a year; the Northern line platforms and the escalators from the ticket hall to the Piccadilly line remained closed until 5 March 1989.

Upgrade and expansion

In the aftermath of the fire, the Fennell Report recommended that London Underground should investigate "passenger flow and congestion in stations and take remedial action". Consequently, a Parliamentary bill was tabled in 1993 to permit London Underground to improve and expand the congested station. In August 2000, work began to upgrade and expand the station in conjunction with the

Channel Tunnel Rail Link High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...

project, in which St Pancras would be the new terminal for

services to continental Europe. The upgrade took almost 10 years to complete at a cost of £810m, doubling the capacity of the station to more than 100,000 people daily. Two new ticket halls were built – the Western Ticket Hall under the forecourt of St Pancras station, and the Northern Ticket Hall under the new King's Cross station concourse. The existing ticket hall in front of King's Cross station was rebuilt and expanded. New passageways and escalators were provided to increase capacity, and ten new lifts were installed to make the station step-free. King's Cross Thameslink station closed on 9 December 2007 after the service moved to St Pancras. The upgraded station was opened by the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, and the

Minister for London The Minister for London is a United Kingdom Government ministerial post in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The officeholder is responsible for policy relating to London including informing Members of Parliament in the ...

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 199 ...

on 29 November 2009. Jowell said that the improvements would be vital to help passenger movement during the

London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. As of 2022, the

tube map The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic ...

has begun referring to the station as King's Cross & St Pancras International.

Ticket halls

Following completion of the station upgrade in 2010, King's Cross St Pancras has eleven entrances and four ticket halls. * The "Tube Ticket Hall" in front of King's Cross station was expanded and refurbished in the station upgrade and is signposted as the 'Euston Road' way out from the Tube lines. * The "Pentonville Road" entrance was the former ticket hall for King's Cross Thameslink station. It has underground passageway connections to the Piccadilly and Victoria lines. It was taken over by London Underground when the Thameslink platforms closed. * The "Western Ticket Hall" is under the forecourt of St Pancras station adjacent to

. It opened on 28 May 2006 providing access to St Pancras Station via the St Pancras

undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...

. * The "Northern Ticket Hall" is west of King's Cross station under the concourse of the mainline station. The new ticket hall and its connections to the Tube lines were opened on 29 November 2009. It is signposted as the "Regent's Canal" exit.

Artwork

King's Cross St Pancras stn Victoria line motif

The stations along the central part of the Piccadilly line, the

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...

and some sections of the Northern line, were financed by the American entrepreneur

Charles Tyson Yerkes Charles Tyson Yerkes Jr. ( ; June 25, 1837 – December 29, 1905) was an American financier. He played a part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London. Philadelphia Yerkes was born into a Quaker family in the Northern Liberties, ...

, and known for the

Leslie Green Leslie William Green (6 February 1875 – 31 August 1908) was an English architect. He is best known for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20t ...

-designed red station buildings and distinctive platform tiling. Each station was designed with a unique tile pattern and colours. Like other stations on the line, the

platforms at the station have a tiled motif in the seat recesses. The design by artist

Tom Eckersley Tom Eckersley (30 September 1914 – 4 August 1997) was an English poster artist and teacher of design. Early career Tom Eckersley was born on 30 September 1914 in Lancashire. His artistic training began in 1930 when he enrolled at Salford ...

features a cross of crowns. In the 2000s upgrade,

Art on the Underground Art on the Underground, previously called ''Platform for Art'', is Transport for London's (TfL) contemporary public art programme. It commissions permanent and temporary artworks for London Underground, as well as commissioning artists to create ...

commissioned the first permanent artwork to be installed on the Underground since the 1980s. The stainless steel sculptures, ''Full Circle'' by artist Knut Henrik Henriksen, are located at the end of two new concourses on the Northern and Piccadilly lines.

Future proposals

Crossrail 2

In 1991, a route for a potential Chelsea-Hackney line was safeguarded through the area.Chelsea–Hackney Line Safeguarding Directions, June 2008 Part A
(PDF), Crossrail, accessed 22 December 2010Chelsea–Hackney Line Safeguarding Directions, June 2008 Part B
(PDF), Crossrail, accessed 22 December 2010 This proposal has since evolved into a proposed rail route based on

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway ...

called

Crossrail 2 Crossrail 2 is a proposed hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit route in South East England, running from nine stations in Surrey to three in Hertfordshire, providing a new North–South rail link across Greater London. It would connect the S ...

, which would link both Euston and King's Cross St Pancras, into the station Euston St Pancras. This proposed scheme would offer a second rail link between King's Cross and in addition to the Victoria line. In the 2007 safeguarded route, the next stations would be and .

Docklands Light Railway extension from Bank

In 2011, strategy documents by Transport for London (TfL) and supported by the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

proposed an extension of the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Londo ...

(DLR) Bank branch to Euston and St Pancras to help relieve the Northern line between Euston and Bank, which would offer direct connections to and

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

. TfL have considered a line from via and to the two transport hubs but may not be developed until the full separation of the Northern line happens.

Piccadilly line

In 2005, a business case was prepared to re-open the disused York Road Underground station on the Piccadilly line, to serve the

King's Cross Central King's Cross Central (''KXC'') is a multi-billion pound mixed-use development in the north-east of central London. The site is owned and controlled by thKing's Cross Central Limited Partnership It consists of approximately of former railway la ...

development and help relieve congestion at King's Cross St Pancras. York Road station closed in September 1932 and was around north of King's Cross St Pancras.

Services

The station is in zone 1 of the London fare system. In addition to the two mainline stations, the station services six underground lines. There are the

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan (these three share a single pair of tracks), Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. In , King's Cross St Pancras was the station on the system, with million passengers entering and exiting the station. Several London bus routes serve the station, including 17, 30, 46, 63, 73, 91,

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 '' Ab urbe condita' ...

, 214, 259,

390 __NOTOC__ Year 390 (Roman numerals, CCCXC) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Neoterius (or, less frequen ...

and 476.

Incidents

On 2 January 1885, an

Irish Nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

terrorist planted a bomb on the Metropolitan line just west of the station. There were no injuries and little damage as the bomb exploded in the tunnel rather than on any train. James Cunningham was arrested later that month and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour for causing the attack. On 28 May 1959, the leading car on a Northern line train derailed just after leaving King's Cross St Pancras, heading for Euston. There were no injuries. The

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

were a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks, including an explosion in a Piccadilly line train travelling between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square which killed 26 people. The death toll was the highest of all the incidents, as the Piccadilly line is in a deep tube south of King's Cross and there was nowhere for the blast to escape.

References

Notes Citations Sources * * * * *

External links

* London Transport Museum photographs: ** ** ** ** * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kings Cross Saint Pancras tube station Circle line (London Underground) stations Hammersmith & City line stations Metropolitan line stations Northern line stations Piccadilly line stations Victoria line stations London Underground Night Tube stations Proposed Chelsea-Hackney Line stations London Underground stations located underground Tube stations in the London Borough of Camden Former Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906 Former City and South London Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1907 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1941 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1968 Kings Cross, London St Pancras, London