Moorgate station

Moorgate station is a central London National Rail and London Underground station in the City of London, on Moorgate, north of London Wall. At one time the station was named "Moorgate Street". It is the central London railway terminus for suburban First Capital Connect services from Hertford, Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth and was, until March 2009, a terminus for trains on the Thameslink line, also run by First Capital Connect. It is the site of the Moorgate tube crash of 1975 in which 46 people were killed and 74 were injured.

The Underground station is on the Bank branch of the Northern Line between and, and also on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines, between  and.

Sub-surface platforms
The Circle line, Hammersmith & City line, Metropolitan line and First Capital Connect's former Thameslink platforms are in a cut and cover section. When the line from King's Cross was quadrupled, the new route from there to Moorgate became known as the City Widened Lines.

Peak-hour First Capital Connect trains on the Thameslink service from Bedford and Luton formerly terminated here using platforms 5 & 6, parallel to the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan platforms 1 & 2 (through platforms) and 3 & 4 (bays). The Underground lines are electrified on the standard London Underground four rail system, the former Thameslink bays using 25kV AC overhead. The word Thameslink does not appear on any signs within the station; signs to platforms 5 & 6 bear the words "Trains to Bedford".

Completely rebuilt and extended to six platforms in the 1960s, the sub-surface part of the station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway in December 1865 as the first extension from its original route between and, the Widened Lines following in 1868.

Under the Thameslink Programme the platforms at Farringdon are being extended at the southern end of the station to accommodate 12 carriage trains. The proximity of Farringdon Junction to the station itself means that the extended platforms will be over the junction. As a consequence, the junction has been removed, leaving only the route through the Snow Hill tunnel, and the Moorgate branch closed. The closure took effect on 20 March 2009 - the final service having departed Moorgate at 19:54. However, the platforms remained in use as a turnaround for First Capital Connect services that were starting and terminating at Farringdon, and as a stable for extra trains during times of service disruption, until the work to extend Farringdon's platforms began in late 2009.

The British Rail services to Moorgate along this route were originally steam operated, then operated by Cravens-built diesel multiple units, and class 31s hauling non-corridor stock, until the mid 1970s. Services went to both London Midland Region (LMR) destinations (along the Midland Main Line) and to Eastern Region (ER) destinations (via the York Road Curve/Hotel Curve to join the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at King's Cross). The LMR trains along the Midland Main Line were withdrawn circa 1979, but the line was electrified and reopened around 1983. The ECML connections were removed when the deep level line (see below) transferred to British Rail and became the sole route for ER trains. All four bay platforms may have been used by British Rail services until this time.

Deep-level platforms
The Northern line platforms were opened by the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) as "Moorgate Street" in February 1900 as the northern terminus of its services from south of the River Thames. The line was extended to the following year. The original C&SLR station building remains on the west side of Moorgate and the offices above the station were built as the headquarters of the railway. These trains serve platforms 7 & 8.

Directly above those lines are the Northern City Line platforms 9 & 10, now served by First Capital Connect. Direction signs to these platforms bear the words "trains to Stevenage" (and not Northern City Line). The Northern City Line platforms were opened by the Great Northern & City Railway (GN&CR) in February 1904 providing a service to. The original hope of the GN&CR was that main line trains would run from the Great Northern Railway's platforms at Finsbury Park directly into the city and the tunnels were constructed at a diameter capable of accommodating main line trains. Disputes and rivalry between the two companies meant that this did not happen and it was not until the 1970s, after the line had changed from the ownership of London Underground to British Rail, that a through service began to operate replacing the Eastern Region services that had previously run via the Widened Lines. However, trains do not serve the Northern City Line during late evenings and at weekends, being diverted to London Kings Cross instead.

From 1934 until 1975 the Northern line operated the Northern City Line as its Highbury Branch. On 28 February 1975 a southbound a run away train smashed into buffers at Moorgate station, in the tunnel end beyond the platform. The cars sandwiched, killing 46 people with 74 seriously injured. This was the greatest loss of life on the Underground in peacetime Britain. Safety improvements since then have included the introduction of what is known as the Moorgate Control - see Moorgate tube crash.

There was at one point a plan to extend the Northern City Line south to a new station at station, or even to connect it to the Waterloo and City Line at  station.

Future
Under the Crossrail plans, the western ticket hall of station will be situated just east of Moorgate station. An interchange will be built.

Transport links
London bus routes 21, 43, 76, 100, 133, 141, 153, 205, 214, 271 and night routes N21, N76, N133.