DfT category E Opened 1901 Number of platforms 4 | Local authority Station code OLD Fare zone 1 Phone +44 343 222 1234 | |
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Address St. Agnes Well, London EC1Y 1BE, United Kingdom Similar London Underground, Moorgate station, Angel tube station, King's Cross St Pancras t, Archway tube station | ||
Old street station escalators tube improvements
Old Street station is a National Rail and London Underground interchange station in Islington, London, at the junction of Old Street and City Road, just outside of the City of London. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.
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On the National Rail network it is on the Northern City Line, 45 chains (0.91 km) down-line from Moorgate, and is served by Great Northern. Although a through-station on this route, for ticketing purposes Old Street is considered a central London terminus. On the Underground, it is on the Bank (eastern) branch of the Northern line, between Moorgate and Angel.
At the surface, the station is under the eastern edge of the Old Street Roundabout. There is no street-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. Expanding its catchment, on the Northern line between Old Street and Angel is a disused station named City Road.
The National Rail station was previously only open on weekdays, but Great Northern introduced a weekend service in 2015.
History
The station was 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 British Rail route, with through-services to Hertford and Welwyn Garden City.
During the 1920s the station was rebuilt when escalators 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 was added. During the 1990s the effects of corrosion caused by excessive soil acidity 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.
In 2014 the station underwent a redevelopment program around the entrance with a number of pop-up retail spaces provided as part of a drive to increase its revenue.
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.