View source for Embankment tube station

{{short description|London Underground station}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{infobox London station|symbol=underground
| name          = Embankment
| manager       = [[London Underground]]
| locale        = [[Victoria Embankment]] / [[Charing Cross]]
| borough       = [[City of Westminster]]
| platforms     = 6
| fare_zone     = 1
| image_name    = Embankment tube station entrance July 2017.png
| caption       = Entrance to [[Villiers Street]]
| coordinates   = {{coord|51.507|-0.122|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| map_type      = Central London
| years1        = 30 May 1870
| years2        = 1 February 1872
| years3        = 1 August 1872
| years4        = 30 June 1900
| years5        = 10 March 1906
| years6        = 31 December 1908
| years7        = 6 April 1914
| years8        = 13 September 1926
| years9        = 1949
| events1       = Opened (DR)
| events2       = Started "Outer Circle" (NLR)
| events3       = Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/DR)
| events4       = Ended "Middle Circle"
| events5       = Opened (BS&WR)
| events6       = Ended "Outer Circle"
| events7       = Opened (CCE&HR)
| events8       = Extended (Northern line)
| events9       = Started (Circle line)
<!-- | tubeexits03   = 18.007
| tubeexits04   = 18.205
| tubeexits05   = {{decrease}} 17.203 
| tubeexits06   = {{increase}} 18.943
| tubeexits07   = {{increase}} 19.973 
| tubeexits08   = {{increase}} 20.850 
| tubeexits09   = {{decrease}} 19.83 --> 
| interchange   = [[Charing Cross railway station|Charing Cross]] {{rail-interchange|london|rail}}
| interchange1  = [[Waterloo East railway station|Waterloo East]] {{rail-interchange|london|rail}}
| interchange2  = [[London Waterloo railway station|Waterloo]] {{rail-interchange|london|rail}} 
| interchange3  = [[Embankment Pier]] {{rail-interchange|london|river}}
| interchange_note = <ref>{{Citation London station interchange June 2020}}</ref>
}}

'''Embankment''' is a [[London Underground]] station in the [[City of Westminster]], known by various names during its history. It is served by four lines: [[Bakerloo line|Bakerloo]], [[Circle line (London Underground)|Circle]], [[District line|District]] and [[Northern line|Northern]]. On the Bakerloo line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, the station is between [[Charing Cross tube station|Charing Cross]] and [[Waterloo tube station|Waterloo]] stations. On the Circle and District lines, it is between [[Westminster tube station|Westminster]] and [[Temple tube station|Temple]] stations. It is in [[London fare zone 1]]. The station has two entrances, one on [[Victoria Embankment]] and the other on [[Villiers Street]]. The station is adjacent to [[Victoria Embankment Gardens]] and is close to [[Charing Cross railway station|Charing Cross station]], [[Embankment Pier]], [[Hungerford Bridge]], [[Cleopatra's Needle (London)|Cleopatra's Needle]], the [[Royal Air Force Memorial]], the [[Savoy Chapel]] and [[Savoy Hotel]] and the [[Playhouse Theatre|Playhouse]] and New Players Theatres.

The station is in two parts: sub-surface platforms opened on 30 May 1870 by the [[District Railway]] (DR) as part of the company's extension of the ''Inner Circle'' eastwards from Westminster to [[Blackfriars station|Blackfriars]] and deep-level platforms opened in 1906 by the [[Baker Street and Waterloo Railway]] (BS&WR) and 6 April 1914 by the [[Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway]] (CCE&HR). A variety of underground and main line services have operated over the sub-surface tracks and the CCE&HR part of the station was reconstructed in the 1920s.

==History==

===Sub-surface station===
The station was opened on 30 May 1870 by the DR (now the District line) when the railway extended its line from Westminster to Blackfriars.{{sfn|Rose|1999}} The construction of the new section of the DR was planned in conjunction with the building of the Victoria Embankment and was achieved by the [[Cut-and-cover|cut and cover]] method of roofing over a trench. Due to its proximity to the [[South Eastern Railway (UK)|South Eastern Railway]]'s Charing Cross station, the station was originally called ''Charing Cross''.{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=25}}

{{stack|[[File:Section through Victoria Embankment.png|thumb|Section through Victoria Embankment at Charing Cross showing sub-surface railway|alt=Illustrated section showing below ground structures of a riverside embankment including a covered railway line with steam train, riverside wall with sewer and pipes running behind. A large, glass roofed railway station sits in the left middle distance adjoining a railway bridge that crosses the river. Boats ply the water and tiny figures are engaged in construction work with a raised scaffold in the centre.]]|[[File:Embankment station District Circle look west.JPG|thumb|Sub-surface platforms at Embankment station looking west]]}}

The DR connected to the MR (now the [[Metropolitan line]]) at [[South Kensington tube station|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 the ''Inner Circle''. On 1 February 1872, the DR opened a northbound branch from its station at [[Earl's Court tube station|Earl's Court]] to connect to the [[West London Line|West London Extension Joint Railway]] (WLEJR, now the [[West London Line]]) at [[Kensington (Olympia) station|Addison Road]] (now Kensington (Olympia)).{{sfn|Rose|1999}} From that date the ''[[Outer Circle (London)|Outer Circle]]'' service began running over the DR's tracks. The service was run by the [[North London Railway]] (NLR) from its terminus at [[Broad Street railway station (London)|Broad Street]] (now demolished) in the [[City of London]] via the [[North London Line]] to [[Willesden Junction station|Willesden Junction]], then the West London Line to Addison Road and the DR to [[Mansion House tube station|Mansion House]] – at that time the eastern terminus of the DR.{{sfn|Horne|2006|p=15}}

From 1 August 1872, the ''[[Middle Circle]]'' service also began operations through South Kensington, running from [[Moorgate station|Moorgate]] along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington, then over the [[Hammersmith & City line|Hammersmith & City Railway]] (H&CR) track to [[Latimer Road tube station|Latimer 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.{{sfn|Horne|2006|p=15}}

On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was shortened to terminate at Earl's Court,{{sfn|Horne|2006|p=30}} and, on 31 December 1908, the Outer Circle service was withdrawn from the DR tracks.{{sfn|Horne|2006|p=44}} In 1949, the Metropolitan line-operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the [[tube map]] as the Circle line.{{sfn|Rose|1999}}

===Deep-level station===
In 1897 the DR obtained parliamentary permission to construct a [[Deep level underground|deep-level tube]] railway running between [[Gloucester Road tube station|Gloucester Road]] and [[Mansion House tube station|Mansion House]] beneath the sub-surface line. The new line was to be an express route using electric trains to relieve congestion on the sub-surface tracks. Only one intermediate station was planned, at Charing Cross, {{convert|63|ft|m}} below the sub-surface platforms.{{sfn|Badsey-Ellis|2005|pp=70–71}} No immediate work was carried out on the deep-level line, and the subsequent take over of the DR by the [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] (UERL) and the resignalling and electrification of the DR's routes between 1903 and 1905 meant that congestion was relieved without needing to construct the deep-level line. The plan was dropped in 1908.{{sfn|Badsey-Ellis|2005|p=220}}

On 10 March 1906, the BS&WR (now the Bakerloo line) opened with its deep-level platforms beneath and at ninety degrees to the platforms of the DR.{{sfn|Rose|1999}} Although an interchange was provided between the two separate railways, the BS&WR named its station differently as ''Embankment''.{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=25}}
[[File:The New Charing Cross.png|right|thumb|Section through station showing the layout in 1914]]
On 6 April 1914, the CCE&HR (now a part of the Northern line) opened a one stop extension south from its terminus at [[Charing Cross tube station|Charing Cross]].{{sfn|Rose|1999}} The extension was constructed to facilitate a better interchange between the BS&WR and CCE&HR.{{sfn|Badsey-Ellis|2005|p=271}} Both lines were owned by the UERL which operated two separate and unconnected stations at the northern end of main line station – ''Trafalgar Square'' on the BS&WR and ''Charing Cross'' on the CCE&HR (both now part of a combined Charing Cross station). The CCE&HR extension was constructed as a single track tunnel running south from Charing Cross as a loop under the [[River Thames]] and back. A single platform was constructed on the northbound return section of the loop,{{sfn|Badsey-Ellis|2005|p=271}} and escalators were installed between both sets of deep-level platforms and the sub-surface station. The interchange time was reduced from three minutes fifteen seconds to one minute and forty-five seconds.{{sfn|Wolmar|2005|p=206}}

A new station building was constructed that [[John Betjeman|Sir John Betjeman]] described as "the most charming of all the Edwardian and neo-Georgian Renaissance stations."<ref>{{cite book|last=Betjeman |first=John |year=1972 |title=London's Historic Railway Stations |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}} – quoted in {{harvnb|Wolmar|2005|pp=206–207}}.</ref> For the opening of the CCE&HR extension, the deep-level parts of the station were named ''Charing Cross (Embankment)'' although the sub-surface platforms remained as ''Charing Cross''. In 1915, this was rectified by changing the name of the whole station to ''Charing Cross''.{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=25}} The CCE&HR station to the north was renamed ''Strand'' at the same time{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=17}} (causing a nearby station of the [[Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway|GNP&BR]] to change its name from ''Strand'' to ''[[Aldwych tube station|Aldwych]]'').

In the 1920s, as part of the construction of what is now the Northern line, the CCE&HR was extended south to [[Waterloo tube station|Waterloo]] and [[Kennington tube station|Kennington]] where it was connected to the [[City & South London Railway]]. The loop tunnel under the river was abandoned (although the present northbound Northern line platform follows its course) and two new tunnels were bored south.{{sfn|Day|Reed|2008|p=97}} To this day the southbound Northern line platform is the only one of the four deep level platforms that is not connected to any of the others by deep level walkways, being accessible only from the "mid concourse level".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/272290/response/674923/attach/10/3d%20bakerloo%20stations%20Redacted.pdf#page=6 |title=Maps of public corridors on larger Tube stations: 3D Bakerloo Stations (Redacted) |website=[[WhatDoTheyKnow]] |author=[[Transport for London]]|date=7 June 2015 }}</ref> The new extension was opened on 13 September 1926.{{sfn|Rose|1999}}

[[File:Embankment tube station, Northern Line train departing, 8 June 2013.jpg|thumb|The Northern line southbound platform]]

The loop itself still exists, although it was penetrated by a bomb and flooded during [[the Blitz]] in the [[Second World War]]. The loop had been sealed off years before.<ref name=CULG>{{cite web |url=http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/northern.html#history|title=Northern Line, History|work=Clive's Underground Line Guides |access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref> In September 1938, during the [[Sudetenland#Sudeten Crisis|Sudeten Crisis]], when war appeared imminent, the Bakerloo and Northern line tunnels at Embankment were temporarily sealed with concrete to protect against flooding through bombing. The blockage was removed after little more than a week once the crisis had passed.{{sfn|Horne|2001|p=52}} At the outbreak of [[World War II]] in September 1939, the tunnels were blocked again until electrically powered emergency doors could be installed in the tunnel mouths. The tunnels reopened in December 1939.<ref name=CULG02>{{cite web |url=http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/bakerloo.html#history|title=Bakerloo Line, History|work=Clive's Underground Line Guides |access-date=7 April 2010}}</ref>

On 4 August 1974, the station was once again renamed ''Charing Cross Embankment''.{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=25}} Then, on 12 September 1976, it became ''Embankment'',{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=25}} so that the merged ''Strand'' and ''Trafalgar Square'' stations could be named [[Charing Cross tube station|Charing Cross]].{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=17}}

In 1984–5 the station was upgraded, and [[public art]] in the form of coloured lines, by the artist [[Robyn Denny]], were installed on the platforms and passageways of the station.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.patternity.org/research/embankment-underground-art-robyn-denny/|title=Embankment Underground Art|publisher=Patternity|access-date=28 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329050033/http://explore.patternity.org/research/embankment-underground-art-robyn-denny/|archive-date=29 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/poster/poster.html?_IXMAXHITS_=1&IXinv=1995/379&IXsummary=results/results&IXsearch=embankment&_IXFIRST_=8&IXenlarge=0957-47|title=Embankment Emblazoned! (poster)|publisher=London Transport Museum|access-date=28 March 2017}}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

From January until November 2014, access to the Bakerloo and Northern Line was closed whilst the replacement of the 80-year-old escalators took place

Embankment's northbound [[Northern line]] platform remains the only place on the network where Oswald Laurence's '[[Mind the gap]]' announcement can still be heard, having been reinstated in 2013 at the request of Laurence's widow.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21719848 |title=Mind the Gap Tube announcement returns after wife's plea |work=BBC News |date=9 March 2013 |access-date=2 July 2017}}</ref>

===Fatal accident===
{{main|Charing Cross (District line) tube crash}}
At about 09:55 on 17 May 1938, an eastbound Inner Circle train collided with an eastbound [[Ealing Broadway station|Ealing Broadway]]–[[Barking station|Barking]] District line train to the east of the station. The Barking train had been stopped at an automatic signal on its way to Temple station. Six passengers were killed and 43 injured. The cause of the accident was a faulty signal, which showed a green "proceed" aspect to the second train even though the line ahead was not clear. This was a result of a wrong connection made during the previous night when some minor alterations to wiring were made.{{sfn|Woodhouse|1938}}

==Services==
Embankment station is on the Bakerloo, Circle, District and Northern lines in London fare zone 1. On the Circle and District lines, the station is between Westminster and Temple. On the Bakerloo line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, it is between Charing Cross and Waterloo. The Circle and District lines share the same platforms at Embankment, but the Bakerloo and Northern lines each have their own platforms.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_SEL_STT_REQUEST?sessionID=0&language=en&mode=line&linePreSel=tfl:25:*&linePreSel=tfl:63:*&linePreSel=nrc:90:*&withoutTrains=0 |title=Timetables |publisher=[[Transport for London]] |access-date=13 September 2014}}</ref>

{{clear}}
{{Adjacent stations|system=London Underground
  |line1=Bakerloo|left1=Charing Cross|right1=Waterloo
  |line2=Northern|left2=Charing Cross|right2=Waterloo|type2=Charing Cross
  |line3=Circle|left3=Westminster|right3=Temple|type3=section 4
  |line4=District|left4=Westminster|right4=Temple|type4=Upminster
|header5=Abandoned plan
  |line5=District|left5=South Kensington|right5=Mansion House|type5=Deep}}

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Badsey-Ellis |first=Antony |title=London's Lost Tube Schemes |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=1-85414-293-3 |year=2005}}
*{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=John R |last2=Reed |first2=John |orig-year=1963 |year=2008 |title=The Story of London's Underground |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=978-1-85414-316-7}}
*{{cite book |last=Harris |first=Cyril M. |title = What's in a name? |publisher = Capital Transport |orig-year=1977 |year=2006 |isbn=1-85414-241-0}}
*{{cite book |last=Horne|first=Mike |title=The Bakerloo Line |year=2001 |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=1-85414-248-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Horne|first=Mike |title=The District Line |year=2006 |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=1-85414-292-5}}
*{{cite book |last=Rose |first=Douglas |title=The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History |year=1999|orig-year=1980|publisher=Douglas Rose/Capital Transport |isbn=1-85414-219-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Wolmar |first=Christian |author-link = Christian Wolmar |title = The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever |publisher = Atlantic Books |orig-year=2004 |year=2005 |isbn=1-84354-023-1 }}
*{{cite book | last=Woodhouse |first=Lt Col E | title = Accident near Charing Cross | year=1938 | publisher=Ministry of Transport | url= http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/documents/MoT_CharingCross1938.pdf | access-date=7 April 2010}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Embankment tube station}}
* [https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** {{LTM archive|1998-71565|Victoria Embankment entrance, 1894}}
** {{LTM archive|2006-14039|View of District platforms, 1894}}
** {{LTM archive|1998-77002|View of District platforms, 1921}}
** {{LTM archive|1998-89617|Entrance to station, 1927}}
** {{LTM archive|1998-61946|Ticket hall, 1928}}
** {{LTM archive|1999-9282|Ticket hall, 1929}}
** {{LTM archive|2006-55|Partially closed floodgate at the end of one of the Northern line platforms, 1943}}
** {{LTM archive|2001-16335|View along District and Circle line platforms, 1988}}
** {{LTM archive|2001-16336|Northern line platform showing decorative enamelled cladding panels, 1988}}

{{Bakerloo line navbox}}
{{Circle line navbox}}
{{District line navbox}}
{{Northern line navbox}}

{{good article}}

[[Category:Circle line (London Underground) stations]]
[[Category:District line stations]]
[[Category:Bakerloo line stations]]
[[Category:Northern line stations]]
[[Category:Tube stations in the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Former Metropolitan District Railway stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1870]]
[[Category:Former Baker Street and Waterloo Railway stations]]
[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906]]
[[Category:Railway stations with vitreous enamel panels]]
[[Category:London Underground Night Tube stations]]
[[Category:1870 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Victoria Embankment]]