Westminster tube station

Coordinates: 51°30′04″N 0°07′30″W / 51.501°N 0.125°W / 51.501; -0.125
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"Westminster station" redirects here. For the RTD station in Denver, see Westminster station (RTD).

Westminster London Underground
Entrance within Portcullis House
Westminster is located in Central London
Westminster
Westminster
Location of Westminster in Central London
LocationWestminster
Local authorityCity of Westminster
Managed byLondon Underground
Number of platforms4
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone1
OSIWestminster Millennium Pier London River Services
London Underground annual entry and exit
2018Increase 25.93 million[2]
2019Decrease 22.56 million[3]
2020Decrease 6.46 million[4]
2021Increase 7.70 million[5]
2022Increase 17.98 million[6]
Key dates
24 December 1868Opened (DR)
1 February 1872Started "Outer Circle" (NLR)
1 August 1872Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/DR)
30 June 1900Ended "Middle Circle"
31 December 1908Ended "Outer Circle"
1949Started (Circle line)
20 November 1999Opened (Jubilee line)
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°30′04″N 0°07′30″W / 51.501°N 0.125°W / 51.501; -0.125
 London transport portal

Westminster is a

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Supreme Court
.

The station is in two parts: sub-surface platforms opened in 1868 by the

Jubilee line extension from Green Park to Stratford. A variety of underground and main line services have operated over the sub-surface tracks, but the original station was completely rebuilt in conjunction with the construction of the deep level platforms and Portcullis House
, which sits above the station.

History

Circle & District line platforms

Tothill Street
Parliament Square
Construction of the District Railway
near Westminster station, 1866
Ordnance Survey map showing Westminster station in 1878

The station was opened as Westminster Bridge on 24 December 1868 by the steam-operated District Railway (DR) (now the District line) when the railway opened the first section of its line from

St Margaret's church and care was required to avoid undermining their foundations when excavating in the poor ground found there.[9]

The original station building was a temporary structure positioned over the tracks and the platforms were sheltered with individual awnings rather than the all-over glazed roof provided at the DR's other stations. Access to the station was via a passageway from Bridge Street and a pedestrian subway under the road.[8] On 30 May 1870, the railway was extended to Blackfriars.[7]

The DR connected to the

North London Line to Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House – at that time the eastern terminus of the DR.[10]

From 1 August 1872, the

electrified during 1905 and new electric rolling stock was brought into use.[13] In 1907, the station was given its present name, Westminster.[7]

By the mid-1890s the station entrance had been incorporated into a larger building.[14] In 1922, a new entrance and canopy was designed for the Bridge Street entrance by Charles Holden and, in 1924, he designed a plainly rendered replacement elevation for the eastern entrance on to the Embankment.[15] These were the first of many projects by the architect for the London Electric Railway (the main forerunner of London Transport and Transport for London).[15] The station platforms were also refurbished with new wall tiling in the green, blue, black and white tiling scheme used later by Holden on many stations of the period and still visible at neighbouring St James's Park station. In 1949, the Metropolitan line-operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle line.[7]

Between late 1962 and early 1964 the east ends of the platforms were extended to allow longer 8-car trains to be operated. This involved carefully enlarging the tunnels under the Metropolitan Police's original headquarters at New Scotland Yard (now Norman Shaw Buildings).[16] The station was completely rebuilt to incorporate new deep-level platforms for the Jubilee line when it was extended to the London Docklands in the 1990s. During the works, the level of the sub-surface platforms was lowered to enable ground level access to Portcullis House.[17] This was achieved in small increments which were carried out when the line was closed at night.

Jubilee line platforms

Escalators stacked above one another supported on structural columns within the depths of the deep-level station

When the first section of the Jubilee line was planned in the 1970s, the second phase of the project was intended to continue the line eastwards from the terminus at Charing Cross to the City of London, Woolwich and Thamesmead.[18] Westminster station would not have been on this planned route, but the need to provide transport infrastructure for the redevelopment of the London Docklands in east and south-east London led to a redirection of the route to run via Westminster to connect Waterloo and London Bridge stations with the new developments.[19] For the Jubilee Line Extension, the buildings around the station were demolished and the sub-surface station was completely reconstructed together with the erection of a parliamentary office building, Portcullis House, which sits above the station. Both projects were designed by Michael Hopkins & Partners.[20][21]

The construction of the

diaphragm walls stiffened and braced horizontally for stability. Under Bridge Street, on the south side of the station box, the two Jubilee line platform tunnels are arranged with the westbound platform below the eastbound. The depth of the station box excavation and the proximity of the tunnels represented a significant risk to the stability of the foundation of the Houses of Parliament's clock tower (commonly known as Big Ben), which stands only 34 metres (112 ft) from the edge of the station box. To protect the foundation and manage settlement in the sub-soil, a series of 50-metre (160 ft) long steel tubes were installed horizontally around and beneath the clock tower's 3-metre (9.8 ft) thick foundation. The tubes were provided with a control system through which grout was injected into the ground to compensate for settlement detected from detailed measurements of the clock tower's position. As excavation of the station box and the tunnels took place, grout was injected on 22 occasions between January 1996 and September 1997. The process limited the movement of the clock tower to an acceptable maximum of 35 millimetres (1.4 in). Without the grout injection, the movement would have been at least 120 millimetres (4.7 in) causing cracking to the structure of the tower and the Houses of Parliament.[17] The Jubilee line platforms were opened on 22 December 1999, although trains had been running through the station without stopping since 20 November 1999.[7][22]

Platform edge doors on the eastbound Jubilee line platform

The station's architecture is an austere combination of concrete and stainless steel, with stacked banks of escalators supported from the cross-bracing structures spanning the station box and routes for passengers entering or leaving the station separated from those changing between lines.

RIBA Award for Architecture in 2001.[26] Both projects were jointly short-listed in 2001 for the RIBA's prestigious Stirling Prize.[27]

In July 2003, the Royal Navy unveiled a plaque of HMS Westminster in the station concourse, commemorating the relationship between London Underground and Navy.[28]

Design icon

As part of the Transported by Design programme of activities, on 15 October 2015, after two months of public voting, Westminster tube station was elected by Londoners as one of the 10 favourite transport design icons.[29][30]

Services

The station is in London fare zone 1. On the District and Circle lines, the station is between St James's Park and Embankment, and, on the Jubilee line, it is between Green Park and Waterloo. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally District line trains operate every 2–6 minutes from approximately 05:25 to 00:38 eastbound and 05:49 to 00:37 westbound; they are supplemented by Circle line trains every 8–12 minutes from approximately 05:49 to 00:24 clockwise and 05:36 to 00:19 anticlockwise. Jubilee line trains operate every 2–5 minutes from approximately 05:28 to 00:48 eastbound and 05:38 to 00:31 northbound.[31]

Connections

N381 serve the station.[32][33]

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Because of the depth of the station box, 17 escalators and five lifts are needed to connect the four platforms to each other and to the ticket hall.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rose 1999.
  8. ^ a b Horne 2006, p. 9.
  9. ^ Walford 1878, pp. 224–242.
  10. ^ a b Horne 2006, p. 15.
  11. ^ Horne 2006, p. 30.
  12. ^ Horne 2006, p. 44.
  13. ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 125–126.
  14. ^ Maps of the period show it thus – For example, 1896 OS map Archived 27 May 2012 at archive.today.
  15. ^ a b Karol 2007, pp. 271–272.
  16. ^ Horne 2006, p. 90.
  17. ^ a b Mair & Harris 2001, pp. 23–27.
  18. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 183.
  19. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 201.
  20. ^ "Westminster Underground Station". Hopkins Architects. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  21. ^ "Portcullis House". Hopkins Architects. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  22. ^ "Westminster – New Jubilee Line station opened". London Transport. 22 December 1999. Archived from the original on 1 March 2000. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  23. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 213.
  24. ^ "Westminster Underground Station". Hopkins Architects. November 1999. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  25. ^ Horne 2000, p. 65.
  26. ^ "Awards". Hopkins Architects. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  27. ^ Taylor, David (13 September 2001). "Stirling Prize 2001: seven to fight it out". Architects' Journal. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  28. ^ "The Navy comes to Westminster". tube.tfl.gov.uk. 23 July 2003. Archived from the original on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  29. ^ "London's transport 'Design Icons' announced – London Transport Museum". Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  30. ^ Transported By Design: Vote for your favourite part of London transport
  31. ^ "Timetables". Transport for London. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
  32. ^ "Buses from Westminster" (PDF). TfL. 28 August 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  33. ^ "Night buses from Westminster" (PDF). TfL. July 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westminster tube station.
Preceding station London Underground Following station
St James's Park
towards Edgware Road via Victoria
 Circle line
 Embankment
towards Hammersmith via Tower Hill
St James's Park
towards Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway
 District line
 Embankment
towards Upminster
Green Park
towards Stanmore
 Jubilee line Waterloo
towards Stratford

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