Farringdon

Farringdon station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Clerkenwell, just north of the City of London in the London Borough of Islington.

Services

The London Underground part of the station is served by Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City and Circle Line services, the stations on either side being King’s Cross St. Pancras and Barbican.

Farringdon is also served by First Capital Connect trains from Brighton to Bedford, calling en route at Gatwick Airport, or from Luton to Sutton or Wimbledon. The stations on either side are City Thameslink and St Pancras International.

Until 20th March 2009 some First Capital Connect weekday peak-hour trains run into Moorgate and terminated there rather than continuing south to Blackfriars and beyond. These services were withdrawn to allow the platforms to be extended to take 12 coach trains. The extended platforms will be built over the track to Moorgate.

Passengers can still travel from Farringdon to Barbican and Moorgate using the parallel London Underground service.

Farringdon is in Transport for London’s Travelcard Zone 1.

History

The station was opened on 10 January 1863 as the terminus of the original Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground metro line. The station, initially named Farringdon Street, was originally located a short distance from today’s building. The line ran from Farringdon to Paddington, a distance of 4 miles (6 km). The station was relocated on 23 December 1865 when the Metropolitan Railway opened an extension to Moorgate. It was renamed Farringdon and High Holborn on 26 January 1922, and its present name on 21 April 1936.

The lines from Farringdon to King’s Cross stations run alongside the now culverted Fleet River, which was above ground here until 1812. The station building is an unusually well-preserved piece of early 20th-century London Underground architecture; it still has its original signage (with the name “Farringdon and High Holborn” on the facade) and other indications of the Metropolitan Railway’s ambitions to be like the main line companies, with a sign for a “Parcel Office” surviving on the exterior wall.

After the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed in March 2009 Southeastern services which previously terminated at Blackfriars were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford, calling at this station. Trains south of Blackfriars services are operated by Southeastern crews, north of Blackfriars by First Capital Connect crews. Through First Capital Connect services to Moorgate ceased at the same time.

There are plans to increase the station’s passenger capacity as part of the Thameslink Programme. Work on replacing the footbridge started during late 2008.
 
Plans

The station is due to become an important transport interchange in central London, when the Crossrail 1 project is developed. Under current plans, the Crossrail station will be located between Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Square, south of the existing ticket hall. The Farringdon ticket hall will be located at the junction of Farringdon Road and Cowcross Street. The area between the current and new stations is intended to be pedestrianised. A further ticket hall will be located to provide an additional interchange with Barbican tube station. Work, although authorised, has yet to start and completion of Crossrail is not anticipated until 2017.