Kennington tube station

Kennington

The station entrance
Kennington Location of Kennington in Central London
Location	Kennington
Local authority	London Borough of Southwark
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2008	4.180 million
2009	4.125 million
2010	4.320 million
1890	Opened (C&SLR)
1923	Closed for reconstruction
1925	Reopened
1926	Opened (Charing Cross branch)
Lists of stations	DLR · Underground · National Rail · Tramlink

Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Kennington, on Kennington Park Road, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station to the south is Oval. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2. (Journeys from National Rail stations to Kennington and Oval via Waterloo are priced as if these destinations were in Travelcard Zone 1; the add-on amounts are called substandard fares by NR)^{[citation needed]}.

History

The station was opened on 18 December 1890 as part of London's first deep-level tube, the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) (now the Bank branch). Two extra platforms were added in 1926 when the connection via Waterloo to Embankment on the former Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now the Charing Cross branch) was built. At that time the old northbound platform was reconstructed with the track running down the other side of the tunnel (to allow cross-platform interchange), resulting in unusually wide tunnel mouths.

Unlike the other original C&SLR stations at Stockwell, Oval and Elephant & Castle, which were all rebuilt during the 1920s modernisation, and despite the major works taking place underground, Kennington's surface building saw little in terms of a physical update at that time. It is therefore the only station of the C&SLR's original section still in a condition close to its original design. The station has now reopened after its first extensive refurbishment in more than eighty years.

Kennington loop

A loop tunnel south of the station enables southbound Charing Cross branch trains to be terminated at Kennington, leave the station in a southward direction and, traversing the loop, enter the northbound Charing Cross branch platform. Because of the arrangement of junctions, trains using the loop cannot reach the northbound Bank branch platform nor can trains from the southbound Bank branch reach the loop. For southbound Charing Cross branch or Bank branch trains to reach the northbound Bank branch platform a reversing siding between the two running tunnels must be used.

Because of the layout, it is almost always southbound Charing Cross branch trains that terminate at Kennington. One of the station's four platforms is thus mainly used by terminating trains and sees relatively few operational departures.

Transports Links

London Bus routes 133, 155, 333, 415 and Night routes N133 and N155 all serve the station and its surrounding areas.

Gallery

• 

  Northbound Charing Cross branch platform looking south

• 

  Northbound Bank branch platform looking south

• 

  Platform roundel

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station in original condition, 1916
  • Station after 1920s changes

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Oval towards Morden		Northern line		Elephant & Castle towards Edgware, Mill Hill East, or High Barnet (via Bank)
				Waterloo towards Edgware, Mill Hill East, or High Barnet (via Charing Cross)
Terminus