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Camden Town
Camden TownLocation of Camden Town in Greater London
Location	Camden Town
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	2
OSI	Camden Road
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	20.50 million
2020	5.51 million
2021	9.12 million
2022	17.34 million
2023	18.81 million
Railway companies
Original company	Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway
Key dates
22 June 1907	Station opened
20 April 1924	Link from Euston (C&SLR) opened
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51°32′22″N 0°08′34″W / 51.5394°N 0.1427°W / 51.5394; -0.1427
London transport portal

Camden Town is a London Underground station on the Northern line. It is a major junction for the line, as it is where the Edgware and High Barnet branches merge from the north, and is also where they split to the south into the Bank and Charing Cross branches for the journey through Central London. It is particularly busy with visitors to the Camden markets at weekends, and is exit-only on Sundays to prevent overcrowding.

Northbound, the next stations are Template:LUL stations on the Edgware branch and Template:LUL stations on the High Barnet branch. Southbound, the next stations are Template:LUL stations on the Charing Cross branch and Template:LUL stations on the Bank branch. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2.

History

Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway

The station was first proposed as part of the original route of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) (now part of the Northern line). Proposals for the line had existed since 1893, but construction did not begin until the American entrepreneur Charles Tyson Yerkes invested in the line in October 1900. Work started in July 1902, and the station was opened on 22 June 1907 by David Lloyd George, then President of the Board of Trade. As the line here branched into two routes, to Hampstead and to Highgate, the design of the station was rather unusual, shaped like a V. The surface building was designed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's (UERL's) architect Leslie Green. The line to Hampstead (now the Edgware branch) is under Chalk Farm Road; the line to Highgate (now the High Barnet branch) is under Kentish Town Road. With the narrowness of the roads above, and the necessity to keep directly beneath them to avoid having to pay compensation to landowners during construction, on both branches the northbound platform is directly above the southbound one.

At the apex of the V was a junction allowing northbound trains to take either of the branches north, and likewise allow the trains south from the branches to join the single southbound track. This resulted in four connecting tunnels. When the CCE&HR and City & South London Railway (C&SLR) lines were joined together after the C&SLR became part of the Underground Group on 1 January 1913, a short extension was planned from the Euston terminus of the City & South London Railway to connect with the CCE&HR south of Camden Town station allowing services to run from both City and West End branches to and from the Hampstead and Highgate branches. City branch services were extended to this station on 20 April 1924. The work required to join the two lines together at Camden Town was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of the Underground, and was undertaken without disrupting any existing services. It added another four tunnels that allows trains to proceed to or from either the Edgware or High Barnet branch on to or off both the City or Charing Cross branch without following conflicting paths. The multiple junction tunnels are effectively located beneath Camden High Street.

The original lifts and emergency stairs to the platforms were inside the vertex of the V, leading to four passageways, one to each of the platforms, with return passageways back to the lifts. With growing patronage and increasing congestion the lifts were later replaced by escalators that came into service on 7 October 1929 with an escalator heading from the station building to a circulating area at the northern end of the platforms. This has only two pairs of parallel passageways, one for each branch (northbound), with a small side passage on each leading to the lower southbound platforms. One set of the original lift passageways became part of the ventilation system, but the remaining one adds to the confusion of the station.

Northern line

The line, known post-merger for many years as the 'Edgware - Morden' line, was formally referred to as the Northern line from 28 August 1937.

The station was damaged by a bomb on 14 October 1940 during the Blitz. One person was killed. Shortly afterwards, Camden Town was chosen as one of eight stations on the Northern line where dedicated air-raid shelters would be constructed alongside the line, capable of accommodating 640,000 people.

2003 derailment

On 19 October 2003 the points at one of these connecting tunnels was the site of a derailment, which caused damage severe enough to close the line for over a week, although no serious injuries resulted. 1995 tube stock carriages 51722 and 52722 were both seriously damaged by the impact. After the accident, trains were restricted to travelling either from the Edgware branch to the Bank branch or from the High Barnet branch to the Charing Cross branch. This continued for some time, and many considered whether it would be permanent (particularly as this would make managing the two branches through central London easier). However, full use of the junction was restored in March 2004.

A joint report by London Underground and its maintenance contractor Tube Lines concluded that poor track geometry was the main cause of the derailment and extra friction arising out of striations (scratches) on a newly installed set of points had allowed the leading wheel of the last carriage to climb the rail and so derail. The track at the derailment site is on a very tight bend in a tight tunnel bore, which prevents canting the track by dipping the height of one rail relative to the other, the normal solution in this sort of situation.

Rebuilding plans

The station is particularly busy at weekends with tourists visiting Camden Market and Camden High Street, to the extent that entry is prohibited on Sunday afternoons to prevent overcrowding on the station's narrow platforms. Congestion at the present station is predicted to get worse and entry may in the future be prohibited on Saturdays too. London Underground has submitted plans for the station to be rebuilt.

Rebuilding the station would ease congestion and allow it to be kept open during normal hours. Step-free access for the disabled would be provided. Rebuilding would allow easier interchange and facilitate the planned segregation of Northern line services in order to increase capacity on the Line as a whole. In addition the general ambience of the station would be much improved.

There were plans to completely rebuild the platform area, demolishing the original liftshaft space and the current circulating area at the foot of the escalators and replacing them with a large two-level atrium, the upper level taking the form of a balcony, with various access points onto the platforms and escalator access between levels. This would be reached by an additional new set of escalators.

According to London Underground, achieving this reduction in congestion would have required them to demolish the old station building. In addition, to provide both a new temporary exit during construction works, and to comply with modern safety standards, London Underground claimed that it would be necessary to demolish Buck Street Market, one of the Camden markets, the Electric Ballroom, a church, and several houses and shops to the north of the station, on the south side of Buck Street.

Apart from complaints about destruction of one of the ox-blood tiled station buildings, there arose a significant controversy over the demolition of the buildings to the north. Complaints particularly centred on London Underground's desire to replace the buildings with modern construction said to be out of place and out of scale with the remainder of Camden Town, together with complaints about the loss of the buildings and market themselves. This led to a public inquiry being held. In January 2004, consultants Arup published plans commissioned by Save Camden, a group of local market traders, for a remodelling that would preserve the majority of the threatened buildings, including the market. In 2005 Transport for London lost its appeal to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the scheme has been cancelled.

In 2013, TfL announced new redevelopment plans, and have scheduled the works to start in 2020 and complete by 2024/5. The revised scheme envisages the new station building being instead on the north side of Buck Street, on the site of the vacated Hawley School, avoiding the need to demolish both the original station and the other previously-threatened buildings.

Consultations were due to continue until 2018, with a public inquiry and government decision in 2019/2020.

Station layout

v t e Track layout
Legend
1907 to 1924
to S Kentish Town to Chalk Farm upper level 1234 Camden Town lower level to Mornington Cres
1924 to present
to Kentish Town to Chalk Farm upper level 1234 Camden Town lower level to Euston to Mornington Cres

As one of only three stations where transfers between the Bank and Charing Cross branches are possible and the northern of the two junctions between them, Camden Town features a complex platform arrangement. Like its sister station of Kennington, the station has four platforms with cross-platform interchanges available between branches.

However, unlike at Kennington, since trains do not terminate at Camden Town, there are no terminus platforms or loop to allow terminating trains to turn around. Instead, all northbound trains headed to the Template:LUL stations branch use platform 1, northbound trains headed to the Template:LUL stations branch use platform 3 and trains headed southbound to either central branch use platforms 2 (Edgware) and 4 (High Barnet) respectively.

Connections

Out-of-station interchange

Camden Road station is located 450m north-east of the station for London Overground services to Stratford, Hackney, Gospel Oak and Richmond.

Buses

London Buses Routes 24, 27, 29, 31, 88, 134, 168, 214, 253, 274, C2 and Night Routes N5, N20, N28, N29, N31, N253, N279 serve the station. Route 46 passes nearby.

Air raid shelter

Camden Town is one of eight London Underground stations with a deep-level air-raid shelter underneath it. The entrances are on Buck Street (near the market) and Underhill Street with the shelter tunnels reaching from just north of Hawley Crescent to south of Greenland Street.

Nearby places

• Camden Town
• Chalk Farm
• Kentish Town
• Regent's Park
• London Zoo
• Somers Town

References

Citations

1. "Out-of-Station Interchanges" (Microsoft Excel). Transport for London. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
2. "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.
3. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
4. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
5. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
6. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
7. "Tube Map" (PDF). Transport for London. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
8. Day & Reed 2010, pp. 76–68.
9. Day & Reed 2010, p. 77.
10. Jackson & Croome 1993, p. 122.
11. Follenfant 1975, pp. 16–17.
12. ^ Leboff 1994, p. 28.
13. Day & Reed 2010, p. 94.
14. Jackson & Croome 1993, p. 144.
15. Jackson & Croome 1993, p. 228.
16. Day & Reed 2010, p. 136.
17. Day & Reed 2010, p. 143.
18. "Camden Town Redevelopment". alwaystouchout. Archived from the original on 11 November 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
19. ^ "Improving capacity at Camden Town station". Transport for London. 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018. Detailed report, with updated timeline etc.
20. ^ "Have your say on a development above the proposed new second entrance for Camden Town Underground station on Buck Street". Transport for London - Citizen Space. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
21. "Transport 2025 - Transport vision for a growing world city" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
22. "New upgrade plan for Camden Town underground station unveiled". Camden New Journal. 13 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
23. "We Need To Talk About Camden: The Future of the Northern Line". London Reconnections. 6 May 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
24. "TfL Camden Station Consultation" (PDF). Transport for London. p. 10.
25. TfL: Camden Town Station Capacity Upgrade

Sources

• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) . The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Follenfant, H.G. (1975). Reconstructing London's Underground; H G Follenfant (2nd ed.). London Transport. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Jackson, Alan; Croome, Desmond (1993) . Rails Through the Clay: A History of London's Tube Railways (2nd ed.). Routledge. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Leboff, David (1994). London Underground Stations. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-711-02226-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

2. Part 2

• Subterranea Britannica's visit to the Camden Town deep level shelter
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station building in 1937, Chalk Farm Road elevation. Utilitarian building is London Underground electrical substation.
  • Bomb Damage in October 1940. The elevation was never fully rebuilt.

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Template:LUL stationsHigh Barnet branchtoward Template:LUL stations		Template:LUL lines		Template:LUL stationsBank branchtoward Template:LUL stations
Template:LUL stationsEdgware branchtoward Template:LUL stations				Template:LUL stationsCharing Cross branchtoward Template:LUL stations
	Out of system interchange
Preceding station		London Overground		Following station
Template:LOG stationstoward Template:LOG stations		Template:LOG linesTransfer at: Template:LOG stations		Template:LOG stationstoward Template:LOG stations
	Former Route
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
South Kentish Town 'towards Highgate	style="background:#Template:LUL colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (1907–1924)	style="background:#Template:LUL colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |	Mornington Crescent 'towards Charing Cross
Chalk Farm 'towards Golders Green	style="background:#Template:LUL colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:0px none; border-bottom:0px none;" |		style="background:#Template:LUL colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:0px none; border-bottom:0px none;" |

• Use dmy dates from August 2012
• Rail transport stations in London fare zone 2
• Northern line stations
• Former Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway stations
• Tube stations in the London Borough of Camden
• Railway stations opened in 1907
• Camden Town
• Leslie Green railway stations
• London Underground Night Tube stations
• Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom