'Old Street station' is a
London Underground and
National Rail station located at the junction of
Old Street and
City Road just north of the
City of London. It lies on the border between the boroughs of
Islington and
Hackney, but is located completely within the former.
The station is on the
Bank branch of London Underground's
Northern Line, between
Moorgate and
Angel stations. It is also between Moorgate and
Essex Road stations on National Rail's
Northern City Line, operated by
First Capital Connect. The station is in
Travelcard Zone 1.
The station was originally 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
BR route, with through services to
Hertford and
Welwyn Garden City.
At the surface, the station is situated under the eastern edge of the busy Old Street
roundabout, where Old Street crosses City Road. There is no ground-level station building, access being by ramps and stairs to a modern station entrance which is part of a small shopping parade beneath the roundabout. The original ground-level buildings were removed when the roundabout was constructed. The station has toilets, but they are not open late into the evening.
During the
1990s problems with
acidity in the soil causing corrosion of the
cast iron tunnel lining required a section of the Northern Line tunnel south of Old Street to be re-lined with
stainless steel tunnel segments.
On the Northern Line between Old Street and Angel is the disused tube station
City Road.
External links
★ for Old Street station from
National Rail
★ London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive
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