Old Street station

Old Street
Station entrance
Old Street Location of Old Street in Central London
Location	Old Street
Local authority	Islington
Managed by	London Underground
Station code	OLD
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2009	19.60 million[1]
2012	21.88 million[1]
2013	21.86 million[1]
2014	23.28 million[1]
2015	25.14 million[1]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2010–11	1.435 million[2]
2011–12	1.337 million[2]
2012–13	1.396 million[2]
2013–14	1.456 million[2]
2014–15	1.682 million[2]
Key dates
1901	Opened (C&SLR)
1904	Opened (GN&CR)
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°31′33″N 0°05′14″W / 51.52581°N 0.08709°WCoordinates: 51°31′33″N 0°05′14″W / 51.52581°N 0.08709°W
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Old Street is a National Rail and London Underground station at the junction of Old Street and City Road in central London, just north of the City of London. Its wider eponymous area is split between its London Borough of Islington, the City of London and the London Borough of Hackney. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1.

The station is on the Bank (eastern) branch of London Underground's Northern line, between Moorgate and Angel stations. It is between Moorgate and Essex Road on National Rail's Northern City Line, operated by Great Northern. Although a through station on this route, for ticketing purposes it is considered a London terminus.^[3]

At the surface, the station is under the eastern edge of the busy Old Street roundabout, where Old Street crosses City Road. There is no ground-level station building, access being by ramps and stairs to a modern station entrance which is adjacent to a small shopping parade beneath. The original ground-level buildings were removed when the roundabout was constructed. The shopping parade has public toilets, but they are not open late into the evening. Expanding its catchment, on the Northern line between Old Street and Angel stations is a disused tube station, City Road.

Great Northern introduced a weekend service on the Northern City Line in December 2015.^[4]

History

The station was originally opened in November 1901 by the first deep-level tube railway, the City & South London Railway, as part of an extension of its line from Moorgate to Angel. The Northern City Line platforms were opened in February 1904 by the Great Northern & City Railway which built its tunnels to a larger diameter capable of accommodating main-line trains in the hope of carrying trains from its northern terminus at the Great Northern Railway's Finsbury Park station to Moorgate. This eventually happened in the 1970s, with the line becoming a BR route, with through services to Hertford and Welwyn Garden City. During the 1920s the station was rebuilt when escalators (1 & 2) replaced the lift shaft in accessing the platform tunnels. Between 1967 and 1969 the station was once again modified; the surface building was replaced with the current sub-surface structure situated in the centre of the roundabout and an additional escalator shaft (3) was added. During the 1990s the effects of corrosion caused by excessive soil acidity^[5] required a section of the cast iron running tunnel lining in the Northern line, south of Old Street, to be relined with stainless steel tunnel segments.^[6] In 2014 the station underwent a redevelopment program around the entrance with a number of pop-up retail space provided as part of a drive to increase its revenue.^[7]

Connections

London Buses routes 21, 43, 55, 76, 135, 141, 205, 214, 243 and 271, night routes N55, N76 and N205 and non-TFL route 812 serve the station.

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. "Section A" (PDF). National Fares Manual 98. Association of Train Operating Companies. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
4. "Seven-day-a-week service to the City better for late-returning commuters and weekend shoppers" (Press release). Govia Thameslink Railway. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
5. Rainey, T.P. and Rosenbaum, M.S., 1989. The adverse influence of geology and groundwater on the behaviour of London Underground railway tunnels near Old Street station. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 100, 123–134, ISSN 0016-7878.
6. Northern Line tunnel reconstruction at Old Street; authors: N. Burgess; J. Fagents; J. Paterson: Proceedings of the ICE - Transport, Volume 153, Issue 1, 1 February 2002, pages 1 –11, ISSN 0965-092X.
7. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2014/april/pop-up-shops-arrive-at-old-street-tube-station-to-reflect-the-vibrancy-of-tech-city

External links

• Train times for Old Street station from National Rail
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Original Old Street station building
  • Redesigned station building in 1929
• Map sources

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Angel towards Edgware, Mill Hill East or High Barnet		Northern line Bank Branch		Moorgate towards Morden (via Bank)
	National Rail
Essex Road		Great Northern Northern City Line		Moorgate
	Former Service
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
City Road towards Euston		Northern line (1901-22)		Moorgate towards Clapham Common
Essex Road towards Finsbury Park		Northern line Northern City Branch		Moorgate Terminus
	Abandoned Plans
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Essex Road towards Bushey Heath, High Barnet or Alexandra Palace		Northern line		Moorgate Terminus