
Originally
opened in 1979, the Jubilee Line ran from Stanmore in the North, to
Charing Cross in the South. Originally to be called the Fleet
Line, the Jubilee took the pressure away from the Bakerloo line,
which from the 1930's, had been running services from both it's
Queens Park and Stanmore Branch's into a single terminus at Elephant
and Castle. Baker Street was the point where the two lines
converged, and this proved to be a serious bottleneck on the
Bakerloo line, where line controllers had to squeeze the trains from
the two branches onto one. The Jubilee Line was seen as the
answer, and tunneling began in
1971. It had been the intention to continue to Jubilee from
Charing Cross one day, and those that remember the old terminus will
recall the running tunnels at the end of the platforms. These
extend a long way down the stand, and in fact fall about 100 meters
short of Aldwych's location at the other end of the Strand.
The original Jubilee extension had been planned so it would run to
Lewisham, via Charing Cross and Aldwych. When Planning
permission was granted in 1993, an extension into London's Docklands
area was seen as the better option, and the section of track between
Green Park and Charing Cross was closed on 19th November 1999, and a
new section between Green Park and Stratford opened the following
day. At present, the Jubilee Platforms at Charing Cross are
boarded up, and the circulating area empty and void of any
traffic. Some services do still run into the deserted
platforms at Charing Cross, but no passengers ever alight.
Charing Cross is now also being seen as the place to film
commercials over Aldwych as new stock is easily available and can be
brought down the line from Green Park.
Today, The Jubilee Line runs between Stanmore and Stratford in very
classy 1996 stock trains. The line serves 27 stations over
some 24 route miles. The Jubilee Line Extension is the newest
route on the underground, and every station on it, aside from
Bermondsey and North Greenwich, as an interchange with another line
or national rail station. Each of the stations have been
designed to enable step free access from street to platform level,
making travel for disabled customers much easier.
BVE
Route: Green Park to North
Greenwich
Author: David
R Coleman
Download from: JubileeLine.org.uk
Screenshot: London Bridge Station
Route Review: The Jubilee Line extension is based on extensive
factual detail from both Alan Lee and David Coleman. Indeed,
the look and feel of the Jubilee line has been captured to a
remarkable level and an unbelievable amount of time and effort has
gone into making the Jubilee Line extension - Many of the stations
are photo-realistic and you'll be amazed at just how realistic North
Greenwich station looks, including the PED's (Platform Edge Doors)!
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