Clive's
UndergrounD Line Guides
Clive's
UndergrounD Line Guides
"Incidentally, modern London is so honeycombed with tubes that no further tunnelling appears to be necessary."
- London's Underground (pub. 1951)
F. Henry Howson
Jubilee
Line History |
 Dates |
 Features |
 Services |
 Topology |
 Layout |
 Depots |
 Connections |
 Rolling stock |
The Jubilee Line is composed of five sections, each with a very different history.
From Finchley Road to Stanmore was originally part of the Metropolitan Railway. The Metropolitan's main line from Baker Street to the north ran between Finchley Road and Wembley Park, where the branch to Stanmore curved off. By the late 1920s the Metropolitan was suffering from having several branches feeding into a single pair of tracks south of Finchley Road, with three stations before Baker Street to ensure that express trains could not get a clear run, and the Stanmore branch - opening in 1932 - was only going to make this worse. Clearly drastic action was needed.
The solution chosen was to build tube tunnels to relieve the worst section. The first proposal was to dig these from Edgware Road (1) to Kilburn; this reached the stage that the signalling at Edgware Road included provision for the new junction and the indicators on the platforms were modified to show destinations such as Watford. A second proposal started at Finchley Road, which would become four-tracked as it is today, and proceeded underneath the existing line to Baker Street (the only intermediate station) before rising up to join the Circle Line west of Great Portland Street. A third also started in the same way but would run directly to join the Circle Line at King's Cross, with one intermediate station at Euston and possibly a second to serve the London Zoo. All of these proposals would have run Metropolitan services through the tubes, which would have been built to main-line size in consequence.
But the final choice was more radical. There would still be new tubes, but they would diverge from the Bakerloo Line platforms at Baker Street and connect into the Metropolitan Line just north of there. The Bakerloo would then take over two of the Metropolitan tracks from Finchley Road as far as Wembley Park plus the Stanmore branch. It was soon realized that this retained a two-track bottleneck from the new junction to Finchley Road, so the plan was modified to extend the new tubes all the way to the latter. The three Metropolitan subsurface stations between Baker Street and Finchley Road were closed, replaced by two new tube stations. From Finchley Road to Wembley Park the fast and slow pairs were rearranged, with the Bakerloo tracks between the Metropolitan ones - only Bakerloo trains stopped at the five intermediate stations[1] - and a diveunder was constructed to take the Bakerloo tracks to the branch under the southbound Metropolitan tracks. The Bakerloo then operated two branches, one to Stanmore and one to Watford.
At the same time as the branch was being connected to the Bakerloo, there were also proposals to extend it northwards in tunnel to meet the Northern Heights extension to the Northern Line just south of the proposed Elstree station, probably inside Elstree Hill tunnel. At the other end, there was also suggestion of a new tube from Baker Street via Mayfair to Piccadilly (i.e. roughly the route of the present Jubilee line) or Victoria.
After World War II, a 1949 plan for London included "Route F", which diverted the main lines into Marylebone into new tunnels via Marble Arch, Green Park, Charing Cross, Aldwych, Ludgate Circus, Cannon Street, and Fenchurch Street, before heading towards Lewisham and Hither Green. These tunnels would have been large enough to carry full-size trains.
By the 1970s the southern end of the Bakerloo was overcrowded for the same reason that the Metropolitan had been - two busy suburban branches were feeding a single route in the central London area - and it was decided to build a new line to relieve it. Phase 1 of this line - initially named the Fleet Line - would take over the Stanmore branch and extend it via Bond Street and Green Park to Charing Cross. Phase 2 would then extend along Fleet Street, with stations at Aldwych, Ludgate Circus, and Cannon Street, to Fenchurch Street. Finally phase 3 took the line via St.Katherine's Dock to meet the East London Line at either Wapping (on the north side of the river) or Rotherhithe (on the south side), then along that line to New Cross and NR lines to Lewisham. A subsequent alternative was known as the River Line: from Fenchurch Street there would be two routes to Thamesmead, south of the river (it is unclear whether these would both be built or were alternatives). One would be on viaduct and the surface following the route that would eventually be taken by the Docklands Light Railway, with stations at Limehouse, Poplar, Custom House, and in the Beckton area before tunnelling under the river. The other would be in tunnel throughout, with stations at Surrey Quays, Isle of Dogs, North Greenwich, Custom House, and Woolwich Arsenal, crossing the river five times in as many stations.
During the Queen's Silver Jubilee year of 1977 the name was changed from "Fleet" to "Jubilee" for no particularly good reason. The new Charing Cross station on the line was sited between the existing but separate Trafalgar Square station on the Bakerloo Line and Strand station on the Northern Line, and the opportunity was taken to merge the three into one under the Charing Cross name.
In the end, only phase 1 of this original plan was completed, though the tunnels reach nearly to Aldwych on phase 2. The plans east of there were later abandoned because the costs of safeguarding the route against buildings with deep piled foundations was prohibitive. A short section of tunnel was also built just north of New Cross (1) as an experiment in tunnelling techniques (about 300m long, the tunnel ran under a disused link from the west side of the station to the East London Line and would have formed part of the northbound line from Lewisham).
With the renovation of the Docklands area, the existing rail services (the DLR) seemed overloaded and it was decided to extend the Jubilee to serve that area. The extension branches off from the original line at Green Park and runs in tube a little way south of the Thames eastwards to the Docklands area, but continuing straight ahead when the river loops around the Isle of Dogs. The tubes then turn northwards and emerge north of the river, having crossed it three times in three stations. Finally, from Canning Town to Stratford a new surface line was built to one side of the existing NLR route. The original line from Green Park to Charing Cross is no longer in general use but has been retained to terminate empty stock workings and for occasional emergency use. The interchange facilities between the Bakerloo and Northern Lines at Charing Cross remain.
Happily (and unlike other comparable projects) there were no deaths or serious injuries during construction of the extension, but the project was dogged with misfortune anyway. North Greenwich station was a key transport link for the Millennium Dome, and so it was seen as essential - for political reasons - that the extension was finished in 1999. In order to manage this the new section was opened in stages starting at the east end, meaning that services were run in two parts for some months. The moving block signalling originally planned also had to be replaced by conventional signals, and the hurried work is still the source of frequent problems.
A different form of moving block signalling - Seltrac S40, similar to that used on the Docklands Light Railway - is now used on most of the line (the exception being between Stanmore and Dollis Hill), having first come into use in January 2008.
[1] A few Metropolitan trains ran on the Bakerloo (later Jubilee) Line tracks along this section: some peak hour services which lasted until the end of 1940, some Sunday morning services between 1940-05-26 and (probably) 1979, and a few trains at the start and end of the Metropolitan service until 2000-05-28. After 1954-09-19, changes to the track layout meant that northbound trains could only stop at Dollis Hill if they were going to terminate in the Bakerloo platforms at Wembley Park.
| 1847-06-14 | [1] | Canning Town (1) to [Stratford Southern Junction] opened [North Woolwich Railway, later NLR @@@ see Docklands] |
 |
Stratford High Street | |
| 1854-10-16 | 0 | [Stratford Southern Junction] to Stratford opened [NLR/GER joint service] |
| 1879-06-30 | 0 | West Hampstead to Finchley Road opened [Metropolitan] |
| 1879-11-24 | 1 | Willesden Green to West Hampstead opened [Metropolitan] |
| 1880-08-02 | [1] | {Wembley Park} to Willesden Green opened [Metropolitan] |
|
Neasden | |
| 1888- |  |
Canning Town (1) |
|
Canning Town (2) | |
| 1894-05-12 | |
Wembley Park |
| 1909-10-01 | |
Dollis Hill |
| 1932-12-10 | [2] | Stanmore to Wembley Park opened [Metropolitan] |
| 1934-12-16 | |
Queensbury |
| 1939-11-19 | Stanmore to Wembley Park withdrawn [Metropolitan] | |
| 1939-11-20 | Stanmore to Finchley Road started [Bakerloo] | |
| 2 | Finchley Road to Baker Street opened [Bakerloo] | |
| 1957-05-04 | |
Stratford High Street |
| 1979-04-30 | Stanmore to Baker Street withdrawn [Bakerloo] | |
| 1979-05-01 | Stanmore to Baker Street started | |
| 2 | Baker Street to Green Park opened | |
| 2 | Green Park to Charing Cross opened | |
| 1979-05-14 | |
West Ham |
| 1989-03- | |
Swiss Cottage, St. John's Wood (escalator replacement) |
| 1989-05- | |
Swiss Cottage, St. John's Wood |
| 1993-02-16 | |
Canons Park, northbound only |
| 1993-05-15 | |
Canons Park, northbound only |
| 1993-05-16 | |
Canons Park, southbound only |
| 1993-08-08 | |
Canons Park, northbound only |
| 1993-09-13 | |
Canons Park |
| 1994-05-28 | {Canning Town (1)} to Stratford closed [NR] | |
| 1995-10-29 | [1] | Canning Town (1) to Stratford reopened [NR] |
|
West Ham | |
| 1999-05-14 | 0 | North Greenwich to Canning Town (1) opened |
| Canning Town (1) to Stratford started | ||
| 1999-09-17 | 2 | Bermondsey to North Greenwich opened |
| 1999-09-24 | [0] | Waterloo to Bermondsey opened |
| 1999-10-07 | |
London Bridge |
| 1999-11-19 | Green Park to Charing Cross closed | |
| 1999-11-20 | [0] | Green Park to Waterloo opened |
|
Southwark | |
| 1999-12-22 | |
Westminster |
| 2000-02-12 | |
Baker Street (escalator repairs) |
| 2000-03-03 | |
Baker Street |
| 2002-09-01 | |
Baker Street, northbound only (escalator repairs)[2] |
| 2003-02-03 | |
Baker Street, northbound only |
| 2003-10-17 | |
Bermondsey, eastbound only (platform door problems) |
| 2003-10-22 | |
Bermondsey, eastbound only |
| 2004-09-25 | |
Wembley Park, southbound only (station reconstruction) |
| 2005-02-13 | |
Wembley Park, northbound only (station reconstruction) |
| 2005-02-14 | |
Wembley Park, southbound only |
| 2005-05-29 | |
Wembley Park, northbound only |
| 2005-12-24 | Entire line closed (modifications for longer trains) | |
| 2005-12-29 | [24] | Entire line reopened |
 |
Stratford High Street | |
| 2005-12-31 | |
Neasden |
| 2006-12-09 | Canning Town (1) to Stratford withdrawn [NR] | |
| 2011-08-31 | Canning Town (1) to Stratford started [DLR] | |
|
Star Lane, Abbey Road, Stratford High Street | |
| 2014-06-29 | |
Bond Street (reconstruction) |
| 2014-11-24 | |
Bond Street |
| 2020-03-20 | |
Swiss Cottage, Southwark, Bermondsey (Covid-19) |
| 2020-06-15 | |
Bermondsey |
| 2020-07-13 | |
Swiss Cottage, Southwark |
[2] The station reopened each weekend, but was closed on weekdays. From 2003-01-13 the station also opened at about 20:00 each weekday. From 2003-02-03 it also opened from 10:00 to 15:30. It reopened fully on 2003-05-02.
The line starts on the surface at Stratford, where the Jubilee and the NR North London Line platforms are below the Central Line, DLR, and GER platforms. It runs south along the west side of the North London Line to Canning Town and then dives into tube a little south of the station. It then turns westwards and runs in roughly a straight line to Green Park where it meets the original route from Charing Cross (the eastbound track diving under the original route). It now turns north again towards Finchley Road, emerging at the south end of the station. From there to Wembley Park it runs on the surface between the tracks of the Metropolitan Line (with the National Rail line from Marylebone to the west of both), after which it follows its own route to Stanmore, diving under the southbound Metropolitan tracks to do so (see the description of the Metropolitan Line for further details).
The original Bakerloo station at Baker Street was built on two levels so that the line immediately west of the station could fit under a narrow road. When the Stanmore branch opened, this allowed a second southbound platform to be added on the same level (with cross-passages between the two) so that, should trains arrive at the same time from both branches, one could wait for the other in a station rather than a tunnel; the northbound retained a single platform with a junction to the west of the station (the Stanmore tube rises alongside the original one for about 300m before curving over the top of it). When the Jubilee was built the obvious place to put its new northbound platform was level with the existing one and above the southbound (again with cross-passages between them). Because their centrelines cross over, this could technically be described as right-hand running.
Jubilee (ex-Bakerloo)
towards St.John's Wood
\ \
\ \
*============================<======\\
\ \ ########### \\
\ \ \\
\ \---------------------->------*==\\==\\
\ ########### \ \\ \\
\ ########### \ \\ \\
Bakerloo >---\---------------------->---------*--\\---------> Bakerloo
towards \ \\ \\ towards
Marylebone <-----\-------------\ ########### /-----\\-------< Regent's
\-------------*-----<-------/ \\ \\ Park
\\ \\
\\ \\
= and \\ show new track Jubilee towards Bond Street
[This diagram distorts reality slightly; the northbound platforms are almost above the southbound, and in each direction the platforms are connected by cross-passages which are longer at the northern/western end.]
The line crosses the Thames in tube a total of four times: three times in three stations in the Docklands area (partly because of the loop in the river) and once at Westminster. At Westminster the two tunnels were placed one above the other to keep them further from the Clock Tower (which contains "Big Ben") and Westminster Bridge. Like all new lines of recent decades, the route is designed to provide interchange at existing stations on several lines. Since there was no suitable location on the East London Line, a new interchange was built at Canada Water. From Charing Cross to Baker Street the tube diameter is 3.81m (12'6") to reduce the air resistance to trains. From Canning Town to Green Park Junction this is further increased to between 4.35m (14'3") and 4.4m (14'5") to allow for an emergency walkway beside the track. The stations from Westminster to North Greenwich are fitted with glass doors at the platform edge to assist in controlling air circulation.
The line is described as east/westbound from Stratford to Green Park Junction, and north/southbound from Charing Cross to Stanmore.
The peak service is 30tph peak and 24tph off-peak.
At the eastern end 24tph terminate at Stratford; the extra 6tph in the peak terminate at North Greenwich. The northern end is more complex: the peak service has 24tph to Stanmore and 4tph to each of West Hampstead, Willesden Green, and Wembley Park, the weekday off-peak has 16tph to Stanmore and 4tph to each of Willesden Green and Wembley Park, while weekends have 18tph to Stanmore and 6tph to Wembley Park, with a few late evening trains terminated at Willesden Green.
Temporarily a few trains have been removed from the service on weekdays, meaning that two or three times per hour in the peak and once or twice per hour in the mid-day period, one of the intermediate reversing services is omitted and an adjacent train is moved slightly forward or back to compensate.
There are no longer any scheduled empty "rusty rail" trains to Charing Cross.
The minimum end-to-end running time is 55 minutes.
On three Sundays in June and July 1978, construction work at Baker Street meant that the (then Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo Line) service ran between Stanmore and Baker Street, using the Metropolitan Line tracks and platforms between Finchley Road and Baker Street.
During the period in 2005 when northbound trains did not stop at Wembley Park, trains due to terminate there ran empty from Neasden.
Night Tube services started on 2016-10-07/08 and run on the entire line. The service is 6tph.
Covid-19: services were typically 6tph until the end of April 2020 before increasing to 10tph. However, there was much variation, with as few as 3tph and as much as 12tph being reported. Trains ran the entire length of the line. Normal weekday services were restored on 2020-05-18 and weekend services on 2020-06-13, though a special service ran on 2020-06-20 and 2020-06-21. Night Tube services restarted on 2022-05-21/22 (Saturday night).
<= West East =>
S
|
\
\-W~~~~~F-\
\
|
|
\
G---C--
\
\----------------------T
~ = double track between Metropolitan tracks
C = Charing Cross
F = Finchley Road
G = Green Park
S = Stanmore
T = Stratford
W = Wembley Park
Locations are listed down the page in the southbound and eastbound directions.
| 175925 | 64.62 | [=3TT1=2T] | ![[Z5]](li/zone5.gif) |
Stanmore | ||
| 181912 | 63.27 | [OP] | |
Canons Park | ||
| 188897 | 61.56 | [OP] | ![[Z4]](li/zone4.gif) |
Queensbury | ||
| 193886 | 60.23 | [OP] | |
Kingsbury | ||
| 187869 | [-] | [diveunder] | ||||
| 193863 | 57.38 | [ns =nn=NS=ss=] | |
Wembley Park | ||
| 213853 | 55.09 | [ns =nN=Ss=] | ![[Z3]](li/zone3.gif) |
Neasden | ||
| 222851 | 54.24 | [nsnN=Ss] | |
Dollis Hill | ||
| 233848 | 53.03 | [ns =nN=Ss=] | ![[Z2/3]](li/zone23.gif) |
Willesden Green | ||
| 245846 | 51.84 | [nsnN=Ss] |  ![[Z2]](li/zone2.gif) |
Kilburn | ||
| 256846 | 50.75 | [nsnN=Ss] | |
West Hampstead | ||
| 261848 | 50!14 | [n=NS=s] | |
Finchley Road | ||
| 266843 | 49.53 | [CP] |  |
Swiss Cottage | ||
| 267833 | 48.61 | [CP] | |
St. John's Wood | ||
| 279820 | 46.54 | [n9=-=10N/s8=-=7S] | ![[Z1]](li/zone1.gif) |
Baker Street | ||
| 284810 | 44.81 | [CP2] | |
Bond Street | ||
| 289802 | 43.35 | [CP4] | |
Green Park | ||
| 43.26 | [-] | [Green Park Junction (eastbound)][3] | ||||
| 43.16 | [-] | [Green Park Junction (westbound)] | ||||
| 303796 | 42.02 | [E3=/W4=] | |
Westminster | ||
| 312798 | 41.06 | [CP4] | |
Waterloo | ||
| 316800 | 40.62 | [CP] | |
Southwark | ||
| 328802 | 39.37 | [CP2] | |
London Bridge | ||
| 345794 | 37.44 | [CP] | |
Bermondsey | ||
| 355795 | 36.38 | [IP] | |
Canada Water | ||
| 374802 | 33.97 | [IP] | |
Canary Wharf (2) | ||
| 392797 | 32.26 | [W=BE=] | |
North Greenwich | ||
| 396810 | 31.02 | [-] | [tube mouths] | |||
| 394814 | 30.55 | [d3=4u/d2=1uW5=6E] | |
Canning Town (1) | ||
| 393816 | 30.27 | [=du= WE] | (Canning Town (2)) | |||
| 391821 | [d=u WE] | |
{Star Lane} | |||
| 391826 | 29.38 | [-] | [Abbey Mills Lower Junction] | |||
| 391829 | 28.97 | [d=uW=E +2] | |
West Ham | ||
| 391833 | 28.56 | [du WE= B] | [Stratford Staff Halt] | |||
| 391833 | 28.53 | [=du= WE B] | |
{Abbey Road} | ||
| 387840 | 27.81 | [v=du= WE] | |
{(Stratford High Street)} | ||
| 386842 | 27.51 | [-] | [Woolwich Junction] | |||
| 385843 | 27.43 | [=#du#= V15=TT13=] | |
Stratford | ||
| 43.26 | [-] | [Green Park Junction (eastbound)] | ||||
| 43.16 | [-] | [Green Park Junction (westbound)] | ||||
| 300803 | 42.37 | [CP2] | |
{Charing Cross} | ||
| 41.86 | [-] | [end of tubes] | ||||
[3] Distances between Green Park Junction and Westminster are measured via the westbound line; the eastbound line is about 30m longer.
The line is served by Stratford Market Depot, on the west side of the line between Stratford and West Ham (and entered from both ends). Some trains are stabled at Neasden Depot on the Metropolitan Line.
Northbound Bakerloo Line trains can become westbound Jubilee Line trains after leaving Baker Street station; similarly eastbound Jubilee Line trains can become southbound Bakerloo Line trains after leaving the same station. Jubilee trains can use the Metropolitan tracks between Neasden and Wembley Park (both exclusive), but see below.
Until 2004 (northbound) or 2010 (southbound), Metropolitan Line trains could also use the Jubilee Line tracks between Neasden and just north of Finchley Road.
The line is operated by 1996 Tube Stock running in 7-car trains (a 4-car and a 3-car unit coupled together; single units have only one cab and may only run alone within depots). The stock is not permitted to run on other lines because it may interfere with signalling equipment. The 1983 Tube Stock formerly found on the line has all been withdrawn. The line was closed over the Christmas 2005 break to allow trains to be extended from 6 cars to 7; some equipment, such as the platform edge doors, was not compatible with mixed-length running.
The line now has Thales Seltrac S40 signalling with ATO (Automatic Train Operation) installed and trains normally run under ATO.
No other stock may run on the line when ATO is in use. At other times, 1959, 1967 (if empty and fitted with tripcocks), 1972, and 1973 (with certain electrical equipment isolated) Tube Stocks may run on the line. A and C stocks may operate north of Finchley Road, but for safety reasons they may not use the northbound track platform at Stanmore, while 8-car trains will not fit in the sidings at Wembley Park and West Hampstead. Height detectors are mounted just north of Finchley Road on the southbound track and will prevent a subsurface stock train from being run into the station or the tube section. These consist of U-shaped glass tubes silvered on the inside (previously they contained mercury) arranged so that an overheight train will smash them, breaking a circuit and so putting signals back to danger. They were installed on 1939-10-29 and were decommissioned when the Jubilee Line was convered to ATO.
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