Westminster | |
|---|---|
 Entrance withinPortcullis House | |
  Westminster Location of Westminster in Central London | |
| Location | Westminster |
| Local authority | City of Westminster |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Number of platforms | 4 |
| Accessible | Yes[1] |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| OSI | Westminster Millennium Pier |
| London Underground annual entry and exit | |
| 2020 |  6.46 million[2] |
| 2021 |  7.70 million[3] |
| 2022 | 17.98 million[4] |
| 2023 | 19.17 million[5] |
| 2024 | 19.61 million[6] |
| Key dates | |
| 24 December 1868 | Opened (DR) |
| 1 February 1872 | Started "Outer Circle" (NLR) |
| 1 August 1872 | Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/DR) |
| 30 June 1900 | Ended "Middle Circle" |
| 31 December 1908 | Ended "Outer Circle" |
| 1949 | Started (Circle line) |
| 22 December 1999 | Opened (Jubilee line) |
| Other information | |
| External links | |
| Coordinates | 51°30′04″N0°07′30″W / 51.501°N 0.125°W /51.501; -0.125 |
 London transport portal | |
Westminster is aLondon Underground station in theCity of Westminster, England. It is served by three lines:Circle,District andJubilee. On the Circle and District lines the station is betweenSt James's Park andEmbankment stations, and on the Jubilee line it is betweenGreen Park andWaterloo stations. It is inLondon fare zone 1.
The station is located at the corner of Bridge Street andVictoria Embankment and is close to theHouses of Parliament,Big Ben,Westminster Abbey,Parliament Square,Whitehall,Westminster Bridge, and theLondon Eye. Also close by areDowning Street, theCenotaph,Westminster Millennium Pier, theTreasury, theForeign and Commonwealth Office, and theSupreme Court.
The station is in two parts: sub-surface platforms opened in 1868 by theDistrict Railway (DR) as part of the company's first section of theInner Circle route and deep level platforms opened in 1999 as part of theJubilee line extension from Green Park toStratford. A variety of underground and main line services have operated over the sub-surface tracks, but the original station was completely rebuilt in conjunction with the construction of the deep level platforms andPortcullis House, which sits above the station.
The station was opened asWestminster Bridge on 24 December 1868 by the steam-operated District Railway (DR) (now the District line) when the railway opened the first section of its line fromSouth Kensington.[7] It was originally the eastern terminus of the DR and the station cutting ended at a concrete wall buffered by timbersleepers.[8] The approach to the station from the west runs incut and cover tunnel under the roadway of Broad Sanctuary and diagonally under Parliament Square. In Broad Sanctuary the tunnel is close to Westminster Abbey andSt Margaret's church and care was required to avoid undermining their foundations when excavating in the poor ground found there.[9]
The original station building was a temporary structure positioned over the tracks and the platforms were sheltered with individual awnings rather than the all-over glazed roof provided at the DR's other stations. Access to the station was via a passageway from Bridge Street and a pedestrian subway under the road.[8] On 30 May 1870, the railway was extended toBlackfriars.[7]
The DR connected to theMetropolitan Railway (MR, later theMetropolitan line) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the other's tracks in a joint service known as theInner Circle. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station atEarl's Court to connect to theWest London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now theWest London Line) atAddison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)).[7] From that date theOuter Circle service began running over the DR's tracks. The service was run by theNorth London Railway (NLR) from its terminus atBroad Street (now demolished) in theCity of London via theNorth London Line toWillesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR toMansion House – at that time the eastern terminus of the DR.[10]
From 1 August 1872, theMiddle Circle service also began operations through South Kensington, running fromMoorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington, then over theHammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track toLatimer Road, then, via a now demolished link, on the WLEJR to Addison Road and the DR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the DR.[10] On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was shortened to terminate at Earl's Court,[11] and, on 31 December 1908, the Outer Circle service was withdrawn from the DR tracks.[12] As part of efforts to improve competitiveness, the DR's tracks wereelectrified during 1905 and new electric rolling stock was brought into use.[13] In 1907, the station was given its present name,Westminster.[7]
By the mid-1890s the station entrance had been incorporated into a larger building.[14] In 1922, a new entrance and canopy was designed for the Bridge Street entrance byCharles Holden and, in 1924, he designed a plainlyrendered replacement elevation for the eastern entrance on to the Embankment.[15] These were the first of many projects by the architect for theLondon Electric Railway (the main forerunner ofLondon Transport andTransport for London).[15] The station platforms were also refurbished with new wall tiling in the green, blue, black and white tiling scheme used later by Holden on many stations of the period and still visible at neighbouring St James's Park station. In 1949, the Metropolitan line-operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on thetube map as the Circle line.[7]
Between late 1962 and early 1964 the east ends of the platforms were extended to allow longer 8-car trains to be operated. This involved carefully enlarging the tunnels under theMetropolitan Police's original headquarters at New Scotland Yard (nowNorman Shaw Buildings).[16] The station was completely rebuilt to incorporate new deep-level platforms for the Jubilee line when it was extended to theLondon Docklands in the 1990s. During the works, the level of the sub-surface platforms was lowered to enable ground level access to Portcullis House.[17] This was achieved in small increments which were carried out when the line was closed at night.
When the first section of the Jubilee line was planned in the 1970s, the second phase of the project was intended to continue the line eastwards from the terminus atCharing Cross to theCity of London,Woolwich andThamesmead.[18] Westminster station would not have been on this planned route, but the need to provide transport infrastructure for the redevelopment of theLondon Docklands in east and south-east London led to a redirection of the route to run via Westminster to connect Waterloo andLondon Bridge stations with the new developments.[19] For theJubilee Line Extension, the buildings around the station were demolished and the sub-surface station was completely reconstructed together with the erection of a parliamentary office building,Portcullis House, which sits above the station. Both projects were designed byMichael Hopkins & Partners.[20][21]
The construction of thedeep-level station involved the excavation of a 39-metre (128 ft) deep void around and beneath the sub-surface station to house the escalators to the Jubilee line platforms. The void, known as thestation box, was the deepest ever excavation in central London and was carried out between thick reinforced concretediaphragm walls stiffened and braced horizontally for stability. Under Bridge Street, on the south side of the station box, the two Jubilee line platform tunnels are arranged with the westbound platform below the eastbound. The depth of the station box excavation and the proximity of the tunnels represented a significant risk to the stability of the foundation of the Houses of Parliament's clock tower (commonly known asBig Ben), which stands only 34 metres (112 ft) from the edge of the station box. To protect the foundation and manage settlement in the sub-soil, a series of 50-metre (160 ft) long steel tubes were installed horizontally around and beneath the clock tower's 3-metre (9.8 ft) thick foundation. The tubes were provided with a control system through whichgrout was injected into the ground to compensate for settlement detected from detailed measurements of the clock tower's position. As excavation of the station box and the tunnels took place, grout was injected on 22 occasions between January 1996 and September 1997. The process limited the movement of the clock tower to an acceptable maximum of 35 millimetres (1.4 in). Without the grout injection, the movement would have been at least 120 millimetres (4.7 in) causing cracking to the structure of the tower and the Houses of Parliament.[17] The Jubilee line platforms were opened on 22 December 1999, although trains had been running through the station without stopping since 20 November 1999.[7][22]
The station's architecture is an austere combination of concrete and stainless steel, with stacked banks of escalators supported from the cross-bracing structures spanning the station box and routes for passengers entering or leaving the station separated from those changing between lines.[23][24][note 1] As with the other underground stations on the extension, the Jubilee line platforms featureplatform edge doors to improve airflow through the system and increase safety. The station design won a number of awards includingCivic Trust awards in 2000 and 2002, theRoyal Fine Art Commission Millennium Building of the Year award in 2000 and theRIBA Award for Architecture in 2001.[26] Both projects were jointly short-listed in 2001 for the RIBA's prestigiousStirling Prize.[27]
In July 2003, theRoyal Navy unveiled a plaque ofHMS Westminster in the station concourse, commemorating the relationship between London Underground and Navy.[28]
As part of theTransported by Design programme of activities, on 15 October 2015, after two months of public voting, Westminster tube station was elected by Londoners as one of the 10 favourite transport design icons.[29][30]
Westminster station is on the Circle, District and Jubilee lines in London fare zone 1. On the Circle and District lines the station is between St James's Park and Embankment, and on the Jubilee line it is between Green Park and Waterloo. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally District line trains operate every 2–6 minutes from approximately 05:25 to 00:38 eastbound and 05:49 to 00:37 westbound; they are supplemented by Circle line trains every 8–12 minutes from approximately 05:49 to 00:24 clockwise and 05:36 to 00:19 anticlockwise. Jubilee line trains operate every 2–5 minutes from approximately 05:28 to 00:48 eastbound and 05:38 to 00:31 northbound.[31]
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St James's Park towardsEdgware Road via Victoria | Circle line | Embankment towardsHammersmith via Tower Hill | ||
| St James's Park | District line | Embankment towardsUpminster | ||
| Green Park towardsStanmore | Jubilee line | Waterloo towardsStratford | ||
A variety ofLondon Buses routes serve the station throughout the day and night.[32][33]
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