Camden Town tube station

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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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,^[6] 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.^[7] City Branch services were extended to this station on 20 April 1924.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[8] 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.^[11]

The station was damaged by a bomb on 14 October 1940 during the Blitz. One person was killed.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14][15][16]

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.^[17] 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^[18] new redevelopment plans,^[19] and have scheduled the works to start in 2020 and complete by 2024/5.^[20][15] 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.^[21][16]

Consultations were due to continue until 2018, with a public inquiry and government decision in 2019/2020.^[15][16]

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.