Hammersmith & City line

Hammersmith & City Line
Official 'Hammersmith & City Line' Transport for London Roundel
Hammersmith & City Line S7/S8 Rolling Stock
Overview
Line Colour	Pink
No. of Stations	29
Opened	10 January 1863 renamed as H&C Line in 1990
Service Information
Line Type	Sub-Surface
Rolling Stock	S7/S8 Stock
Length	25.5 km (15.8 miles)
Depot(s)	Hammersmith
Passenger Usage	114.6 million per year

The Hammersmith & City line is a subsurface London Underground line, coloured salmon pink on the London Underground Map, connecting Hammersmith in west London and Barking in east London. Formerly part of the Metropolitan line, it includes the oldest underground railway in the world. The section between Paddington and Farringdon, which opened on 10 January 1863, was the initial part of the London Underground.

The original Hammersmith & City line opened on 13 June 1864, although Hammersmith station itself moved to a different location in 1868. With the exception of the two-stop Waterloo & City line and the East London Line (which is now a London Overground service), it has been the least used line on the Underground. It ranks 10th of the 11 lines in passenger numbers. Out of the 29 stations served, 10 have Hammersmith & City line platforms that are wholly or almost wholly below ground, all in1 cut-and-cover, while those at Paddington, Edgware Road, Farringdon, Barbican and Whitechapel are in cuttings or under train-sheds albeit below street level.

Since December 2009 the route between Hammersmith and Liverpool Street has been supplemented by the Circle line. With this change, the Hammersmith & City line no longer has any stations unique to it.

History

The current Hammersmith & City line was originally a branch of the Metropolitan line until 1988, though in later years it was usually operated as a separate line, with the sections not used by regular Metropolitan line trains (from Hammersmith to Baker Street and from Liverpool Street to Barking) not included on the main Metropolitan line maps. This is also reflected in the line's use of C Stock as opposed to the A Stock used on the 'main' Metropolitan line.

The name Hammersmith & City derives from the Hammersmith and City Railway (H&CR), the 5km section between Hammersmith (Grove Road) railway station and Westbourne Park that opened in 1864, which was built and operated jointly by the Metropolitan and Great Western Railways until 1868. Though now part of the Underground network, this section is an elevated railway, largely built on brick arches and bridges.

Because the name change of the route to the separate identity of the Hammersmith & City line is relatively recent, there are many stations with tiling or enamel maps that still show that they are served by the Metropolitan line, e.g. Bromley-by-Bow station, shared by the H&C and the District line. The Metropolitan line no longer has any interchange with the District.

Rolling stock

All Hammersmith & City line trains are in the distinctive London Underground livery of red, white and blue and are formed of C Stock. The line shares trains with the Circle and District (Wimbledon-Edgware Road branch) lines. Starting in 2011, the C Stock used on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines will be replaced by new S Stock trains, which will also replace the District line's D Stock and the Metropolitan line's A Stock.

Map

Stations

Station	Zone	Local Authority	Opened	Interchange
Hammersmith	2	Hammersmith and Fulham	1 December 1868	Circle Line, Piccadilly Line, District Line
Goldhawk Road	2	Hammersmith and Fulham	1 April 1914	Circle Line
Shepherd's Bush Market	2	Hammersmith and Fulham	1 April 1914	Circle Line
Wood Lane	2	Hammersmith and Fulham	12 October 2008	Circle Line
Latimer Road	2	Kensington and Chelsea	16 December 1868	Circle Line
Ladbroke Grove	2	Kensington and Chelsea	13 June 1864	Circle Line
Westbourne Park	2	Kensington and Chelsea	1 February 1866	Circle Line
Royal Oak	2	Westminster	30 October 1871	Circle Line
Paddington	1	Westminster	1 December 1913	Circle Line, Bakerloo Line, District Line, National Rail Services
Edgware Road	1	Westminster	1 October 1863	Circle Line, Bakerloo Line, District Line
Baker Street	1	Westminster	10 January 1863	Circle Line, Bakerloo Line, Jubilee Line, Metropolitan Line
Great Portland Street	1	Westminster	10 January 1863	Circle Line, Bakerloo Line, Metropolitan Line
Euston Square	1	Camden	10 January 1863	Circle Line, Bakerloo Line, Metropolitan Line
King's Cross St Pancras	1	Camden	10 January 1863	Circle Line, Metropolitan Line, Northern Line, Piccadilly Line, Victoria Line, National Rail Services
Farringdon	1	Islington	10 January 1863	Circle Line, Metropolitan Line, National Rail Services
Barbican	1	City of London	23 December 1865	Circle Line, Metropolitan Line
Moorgate	1	City of London	23 December 1865	Circle Line, Metropolitan Line, Northern Line
Liverpool Street	1	City of London	1874	Circle Line, Metropolitan Line, Central Line, Elizabeth Line, London Overground, National Rail Service
Aldgate East	1	Tower Hamlets	1884	District Line
Whitechapel	2	Tower Hamlets	10 April 1876	District Line, London Overground
Stepney Green	2	Tower Hamlets	11 June 1902	District Line
Mile End	2	Tower Hamlets	2 June 1902	Circle Line, District Line
Bow Road	2	Tower Hamlets	11 June 1902	District Line
Bromley-by-Bow	2/3	Tower Hamlets	31 March 1858	District Line
West Ham	2/3	Newham	1 February 1901	District Line, Jubilee Line, DLR, National Rail Services
Plaistow	3	Newham	31 March 1858	District Line
Upton Park	3	Newham	1 September 1877	District Line
East Ham	3/4	Newham	31 March 1858	District Line
Barking	4	Barking and Dagenham	13 April 1854	District Line, London Overground, National Rail Services

Depots

There is one depot, Hammersmith, which is located close to the Hammersmith station. However, that depot can only do minor work and other work may be done at the Neasden Depot.

See also

• London Underground

External links

• TfL Hammersmith & City Line
• Hammersmith & City Line Timetable