The Circle Line is one of London’s oldest Tube Lines, but it also gets easily confused with the District Line, with which it shares a lot of track. But this unique line has long served central London and is a great way to get around for tourists. Here are a few interesting facts about the Circle Line.
Not Deep
The tunnels for the Circle line are not ‘deep-level’ tunnels like the Piccadilly or Bakerloo line, instead, they’re sub-surface – built just below the surface using the ‘cut and cover’ method of construction. The road was dug up, the tunnels built, and then covered back over. You can hear the trains along the line as they’re so close to the surface.
No Longer a Circle
In 2009, the ‘circle’ was broken when the line was extended to run to Hammersmith using the Hammersmith & City route. Trains no longer run continuously around the circle, instead breaking the journey via different routes.
Seven Cars
In 2015, the six-car C Stock Trains were replaced with new S Stock trains that were seven cars in length. This allowed capacity to increase on the line.
Action Stations!
Printed in yellow on the Tube map, the 17-mile (27 km) line serves 36 stations, including most of London’s main railway termini. Almost all of the route, and all the stations, are shared with one or more of the three other sub-surface lines, namely the District, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines.
Millions and Millions
The Circle line is one of the Tube’s busiest, with over 114 million journeys a year.
Old Stuff
The railway infrastructure opened in stages between 1863 and 1884, shown as a separate line on the Tube map from 1949. The line was last extended in 2009 to Hammersmith.
72 Minutes Long
As of December 2012, there are six trains per hour, calling at all stations, requiring 18 trains in service at any one time. The journey from Edgware Road around the loop and continuing to Hammersmith takes 72 minutes off-peak.
Depot Dogs
The line’s depot is at Hammersmith, close to Hammersmith station, originally built by the Great Western Railway to be operated by the Metropolitan Railway when the joint Hammersmith & City Railway was electrified in the early 20th century. Sidings at Barking, Farringdon, and near High Street Kensington (known as Triangle Sidings) stable trains overnight.
Mythic Tubes
Owing to its traditionally circular nature, the line has generated many urban myths over the years, including a dead man traveling around undiscovered, a school or office using the service to save infrastructure costs, and, as an April fool in the Independent, a new particle accelerator to coexist alongside passenger services. None of them are true.
Drinks Ban
A day before a ban on drinking alcohol on public transport in London came into force, a party was held on 31 May 2008, mainly on the Circle line. Thousands of people attended, and 17 were arrested by police due to disorderly behavior, eventually causing several stations to be closed. Perhaps, justifying the ban, really.
Author: Jonathan Thomas
Jonathan is a consummate Anglophile who launched Anglotopia.net in 2007 to channel his passion for Britain. Londontopia is its sister publication dedicated to everything London.