London King's Cross railway station
King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to Yorkshire and the Humber, North East England and Scotland. Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined, they form one of the country's largest and busiest transport hubs.
The station was opened in King's Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway on the northern edge of Central London to accommodate the East Coast Main Line. It quickly grew to cater to suburban lines and was expanded several times in the 19th century. As part of the Big Four grouping in 1923, it came under the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway, who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and locomotives such as Mallard. The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, and it became a major terminus for the high-speed InterCity 125., long-distance trains from King's Cross are run by London North Eastern Railway to, and ; other long-distance operators include Hull Trains and Grand Central. In addition, Great Northern runs suburban commuter trains around North London and Hertfordshire, as well as longer distance regional services to Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
In the late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof, and the station became well known for its association with the Harry Potter books and films, particularly the fictional Platform.
Location and name
The station stands on the London Inner Ring Road at the eastern end of Euston Road, next to the junction with Pentonville Road, Gray's Inn Road and York Way, in what is now the London Borough of Camden. The eastern side of the station along York Way runs directly on the boundary with the neighbouring London Borough of Islington. Immediately to the west, on the other side of Pancras Road, is St Pancras railway station. Several London bus routes, including 30, 59, 73, 91, 205, 390 and 476 pass in front of or to the side of the station.King's Cross can be spelled both with and without an apostrophe. King's Cross is used in signage at the Network Rail and London Underground stations, on the Tube map and on the official Network Rail webpage. Kings Cross is used on the National Rail website. The apostrophe rarely featured on early Underground maps, but has been consistently used on them since 1951. Kings X, Kings + and London KX are abbreviations used in space-limited contexts. The National Rail station code is KGX.
Station layout
The station currently has 11 platforms, numbered 0 to 10 from east to west. Platforms 9 and 10 are short platforms and separated from platforms 0 to 8. Until 2021 there were 12 platforms, numbered 0 to 11 from east to west, but following extensive track remodelling, platform 10 was taken out of use, with platform 11 being relabelled 10.History
Early history
The area of King's Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet, originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825. The name "Battle Bridge" is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Celtic British Iceni tribe led by Boudica. According to folklore, King's Cross is the site of Boudica's final battle and some sources say she is buried under one of the platforms. Platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudica's ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, around platforms 8–10.Great Northern Railway (1850–1923)
King's Cross station was built in 1851–52 as the London terminus of the Great Northern Railway, and was the fifth London terminal to be constructed. It replaced a temporary station next to Maiden Lane that had been quickly constructed with the line's arrival in London in 1850, and had opened on 7 August 1850.The station took its name from the King's Cross building, a monument to King George IV that stood in the area and was demolished in 1845. Construction was on the site of a smallpox hospital.
Plans for the station were made in December 1848 under the direction of George Turnbull, resident engineer for constructing the first of the Great Northern Railway out of London. The station's detailed design was by Lewis Cubitt, the brother of Thomas Cubitt, and Sir William Cubitt. The design comprised two great arched train sheds, with a brick structure at the south end designed to reflect the arches behind. Its main feature was a high clock tower that held treble, tenor and bass bells, the last of these weighing 1 ton 9 cwt. In size, it was inspired by the long Moscow Riding Academy of 1825, leading to its built length of. A turret clock exhibited by E. J. Dent & Co. at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was later associated with the station’s timekeeping arrangements.
The station, the biggest in England at that time, opened on 14 October 1852. Originally it had one arrival and one departure platform, and the space between was used for carriage sidings. The platforms have been reconfigured several times. They were numbered 1 to 8 in 1972. In 2010 and 2021 the station was reconfigured again and now has 11 platforms numbered 0 – 10. Suburban traffic quickly grew with the opening of stations at Hornsey in 1850, Holloway Road in 1856, in 1859 and Seven Sisters Road in 1861. Midland Railway services to via and began running from King's Cross on 1 February 1858. More platforms were added in 1862: No. 2 was full-length, but No. 3 was stepped into the northern end of the station. In 1866, a connection was made via the Metropolitan Railway to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway at, with goods and passenger services to South London via. A separate suburban station to the west of the main building, housing platforms 9–11 as of 1972 and known initially as "Kings Cross Main Line Station", opened in August 1875. A platform, later numbered platform 16, was opened on the connection to the Metropolitan Railway on 1 February 1878; previously, trains had had to reverse into the main station. Two platforms were opened on 18 December 1893 to cater for increased traffic demands. An iron footbridge was built halfway down the train shed to connect all the platforms. By 1880, half the traffic at King's Cross was suburban.
A significant bottleneck in the early years of operations was at Gas Works tunnel underneath the Regent's Canal immediately to the north of the station, which was built with a single up track and a single down track. Commercial traffic was further impeded by having to cross over on-level running lines to reach the goods yard. Grade separation of goods traffic was achieved by constructing the skew bridge that opened in August 1877, and the second and third Gas Works tunnels opened in 1878 and 1892 respectively.
On 15 September 1881, a light engine and a coal train collided near the mouth of the Copenhagen Tunnel north of the station because of a signalman's error. One person was killed and another was severely injured. Bad weather contributed to occasional flooding in the tunnels. One such incident in July 1901 suspended all traffic from the station for more than four hours, which happened at no other London terminus.
King's Cross sustained no damage during World War I even though large amounts of high explosives were carried to the station in passenger trains during the war. When possible, trains were parked in tunnels in the event of enemy aircraft overhead.
London and North Eastern Railway (1923–1948)
Kings Cross came into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway following the Railways Act 1921. The LNER made improvements to various amenities, including toilets and dressing rooms underneath what is now platform 8. The lines through the Gas Works tunnels were remodelled between 1922 and 1924 and improved signalling made it easier to manage the increasing number of local trains.A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was Mallard, which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at, set in 1938.
King's Cross handled large numbers of troops alongside civilian traffic during World War II. Engine shortages meant that up to 2,000 people had to be accommodated on each train. In the early hours of Sunday 11 May 1941, two bombs fell on the, then, platform 10 at the west side of the station, damaging a newspaper train in that platform and destroying the general offices, booking hall and a bar, and bringing down a large section of roof. Twelve people were killed.
On 4 February 1945, a passenger train to Leeds and Bradford stalled in Gasworks Tunnel, ran back and was derailed in the station. Two people were killed and 25 were injured. Services were not fully restored until 23 February.
British Rail (1948–1996)
Following nationalisation on 1 January 1948, King's Cross came under the management of British Railways' Eastern Region. Diesel services were introduced during the 1950s when steam was being phased out. All main line services were converted to diesel by June 1963. Platform numbers were reorganised in 1972, to run consecutively from 1 to 14. The track layout was simplified in the 1970s by reusing an old flyover for freight near the Copenhagen Tunnels at Holloway, and reducing the number of running lines through the Gas Works tunnels from six to four. At the same time, electrification started with the installation of a 25 kV overhead line to cater for suburban services as part of the Great Northern Suburban Electrification project. The works were completed on 3 April 1977, and electric services began running from King's Cross to Hertford, and.The construction of the Victoria line and its interchange at King's Cross was seen by British Rail as an opportunity to modernise the station. A single-storey extension containing the main passenger concourse and ticket office, designed in-house, was built at the front of the station in 1972. Although intended to be temporary, it was still standing 40 years later, obscuring the Grade I-listed façade of the original station. Before the extension was built, the façade was hidden behind a small terrace of shops. The extension was demolished in late 2012, revealing the Lewis Cubitt architecture. In its place, the King's Cross Square was created, and opened to the public on 26 September 2013.
On 10 September 1973, a Provisional IRA bomb exploded in the booking hall at 12.24 p.m., causing extensive damage and injuring six people, some seriously. The device was thrown without warning by a youth who escaped into the crowd and was not caught.
King's Cross was a London terminus for InterCity 125 high speed services, along with Paddington. By 1982, almost all long-distance trains leaving King's Cross were 125s. The service proved to be popular, and the station saw regular queues across the concourse to board departing trains.
The King's Cross fire in 1987 started in the machine room for a wooden escalator between the main line station and the London Underground station's Piccadilly line platforms. The escalator burned and much of the tube station caught fire, killing 31 people, with smoke spreading to the main line station.
In 1987, British Rail proposed building a new station with four platforms for international trains through the Channel Tunnel, and four for Thameslink trains under King's Cross. After six years of design work, the plans were abandoned, and the international terminal was constructed at St Pancras.
British Rail completed electrification of the East Coast Main Line to and Edinburgh between 1985 and 1991, and electric InterCity 225 rolling stock was introduced to work express services. These began service between King's Cross and Leeds on 2 October 1989, and to Edinburgh on 8 July 1991.