89-510: The Copenhagen Tunnel is a set of three parallel railway tunnels carrying the main line tracks out of London's King's Cross terminus under the rising ground at Barnsbury , about a mile north of the station. Each bore has the capacity for two tracks. The eastern tunnel was taken out of railway service in the 1970s but is maintained to ensure the integrity of the ground overhead, and provides road vehicle access to Holloway Bank. The tunnels are just over 543 m (1,781 ft) long. The first of
178-523: A " Wellbeing Walk" between Euston and St Pancras stations. The route avoids Euston Road , and the group claims that their route, compared to the Euston Road route, reduces pedestrians' exposure to air pollution by 50%. King's Cross St Pancras tube station is on several London Underground lines: The Piccadilly line links King's Cross directly to Heathrow Airport [REDACTED] and the West End , whilst
267-606: A connection was made via the Metropolitan Railway to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway at Farringdon , with goods and passenger services to South London via Herne Hill . A separate suburban station to the west of the main building, housing platforms 9–11 as of 1972 and known initially as "Kings Cross Main Line (Local) Station", opened in August 1875. It was followed by a connection to
356-427: A joint partnership: Kings Cross Central Limited Partnership. Outline planning permission, prepared by Allies and Morrison and Porphyrios Associates , was granted for the whole site in 2006. Detailed planning applications for each part of the site are being made on a rolling programme basis. The area remains a major focus of redevelopment in the second decade of the 21st century. In 2017, Google, which already occupy
445-565: A large new building between St. Pancras and King's Cross stations, announced plans for a further £1 billion building stretching along the west side of King's Cross station towards the Regents canal. The area has also been for many years home to a number of trades union head offices (including the NUJ, RMT, UNISON, NUT, Community and UCU). The area has increasingly become home to cultural establishments. The London Canal Museum opened in 1992, and in 1997
534-619: A light engine and a coal train collided near the mouth of the Copenhagen Tunnel north of the station because of a signalman's error. One person was killed and another was severely injured. Bad weather contributed to occasional flooding in the tunnels. One such incident in July 1901 suspended all traffic from the station for more than four hours, which happened at no other London terminus. King's Cross sustained no damage during World War I even though large amounts of high explosives were carried to
623-579: A management contract. In 2009, it was announced that National Express was no longer willing to finance the East Coast subsidiary, and the franchise was taken back into public ownership and handed over to East Coast in November. In March 2015 the franchise was re-privatised and taken over by Virgin Trains East Coast . In November 2017, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced the early termination of
712-618: A new home for the British Library opened next to St Pancras station. There was a small theatre, the Courtyard, that closed in late 2006 as a result of the gentrification of the area caused by a number of regeneration projects there, in this case, Regent's Quarter, across the boundary in Islington. The Gagosian Gallery moved their main London premises to the area in 2004. The London Sinfonietta and
801-457: A popular pleasure garden and was a public meeting area, notable for rioting there in the late 18th century. From this site on 21 April 1834 thousands marched in support of The Tolpuddle Martyrs who had been sentenced to transportation to Australia for forming a trade union. Market Road Gardens, an open space directly above the tunnels, are a present-day surviving remnant of the Fields. The area above
890-436: A sign for the fictional " Platform 9 + 3 ⁄ 4 " described in the books, and embedded part of a luggage trolley halfway into the wall. Film adaptations have used platforms 4 and 5, with the nearby St Pancras station and hotel acting as exteriors. King's Cross and its surrounding streets were also the setting for the 1955 Ealing comedy , The Ladykillers , two British drama films starring Max Bygraves — A Cry from
979-513: A song featured on their 1987 album Actually named " King's Cross ": the melancholy track discusses the hopelessness of the AIDS epidemic during that time and uses the King's Cross area as the "backdrop" of the story, trading on the area's associations with drug use and prostitution. Tracey Thorn covered the song in 2007. Songwriter David Gedge also wrote a song called "King's Cross" while recording under
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#17330849987891068-524: A temporary station next to Maiden Lane (now York Way ) that had been quickly constructed with the line's arrival in London in 1850, and had opened on 7 August 1850. The station took its name from the King's Cross building , a monument to King George IV that stood in the area and was demolished in 1845. Construction was on the site of a smallpox hospital. Plans for the station were made in December 1848 under
1157-740: Is Eurostar 's London terminus. International destinations include Amsterdam , Brussels , and Paris . The station is also the terminus of Southeastern High Speed services from Kent and Stratford International (where London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is situated). Other long-distance National Rail services are operated by East Midlands Railway to cities such as Leicester and Sheffield . Thameslink operates regional services across London, South East England , and East Anglia . Trains serve key UK destinations including Bedford , Brighton , Cambridge , and Luton . They also serve several major London destinations, including Farringdon , Finsbury Park , and London Bridge . These routes provide
1246-435: Is KGX . The station currently has 11 platforms, numbered 0 to 10 from east to west. Platforms 9 and 10 are short platforms and separated from platforms 0 to 8. Until 2021 there were 12 platforms, numbered 0 to 11 from east to west, but following extensive track remodelling, platform 10 was taken out of use, with platform 11 being relabelled 10. The area of King's Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which
1335-657: Is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground ; combined, they form one of the country's largest and busiest transport hubs. The station was opened in Kings Cross in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway on the northern edge of Central London to accommodate the East Coast Main Line. It quickly grew to cater to suburban lines and was expanded several times in the 19th century. As part of
1424-699: Is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden , on the edge of Central London . It is in the London station group , one of the busiest stations in the United Kingdom and the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to Yorkshire and the Humber , North East England and Scotland . Adjacent to King's Cross station is St Pancras International , the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe. Beneath both main line stations
1513-582: Is still a small area named "Battle Bridge Place" between King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and "Brill Place", a road leading towards Euston from St Pancras station. An art installation named the Identified Flying Object (IFO) stands in Battle Bridge Place, part of the RELAY King's Cross Arts programme. The Roque map of 1746 shows the area as entirely undeveloped, however the opening of
1602-433: Is the site of Boudica's final battle and some sources say she is buried under one of the platforms. Platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudica's ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, around platforms 8–10. King's Cross station was built in 1851–52 as the London terminus of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), and was the fifth London terminal to be constructed. It replaced
1691-844: The Big Four grouping in 1923, it came under the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway , who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and locomotives such as Mallard . The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, and it became a major terminus for the high-speed InterCity 125 . As of 2018 , long-distance trains from King's Cross are run by London North Eastern Railway to Edinburgh Waverley , Leeds and Newcastle ; other long-distance operators include Hull Trains and Grand Central . In addition, Great Northern runs suburban commuter trains around North London, Hertfordshire , Cambridgeshire and Norfolk . In
1780-587: The British Rail Mark 4 "Mallard" rolling stock used for long-distance services from King's Cross and the inauguration of the new-look trains took place in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2003. GNER successfully re-bid for the franchise in 2005, but surrendered it in the following year. National Express East Coast took over the franchise in late 2007 after an interim period when trains ran under
1869-725: The City & South London Railway (now the Northern line ) opening on 12 May 1907. The Metropolitan line platforms were moved to their current location in 1941. The Victoria line platforms were opened on 1 December 1968. A major expansion to accommodate High Speed 1 at St Pancras opened in November 2009. Kings Cross, London King's Cross is a district in the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington , on either side of Euston Road in north London , England, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Charing Cross , bordered by Barnsbury to
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#17330849987891958-592: The East of England , Yorkshire, North East England and eastern and northern Scotland, connecting to major cities and towns such as Cambridge, Peterborough, Hull, Doncaster, Leeds, Bradford, York, Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. Since June 2018, these major routes have been under government control, taking over from Stagecoach and Virgin. Five train operating companies (TOC) run services from King's Cross: London North Eastern Railway operates high speed inter-city services along
2047-562: The Great Northern and South Eastern Railways). The design comprised two great arched train sheds , with a brick structure at the south end designed to reflect the arches behind. Its main feature was a 112-foot (34 m) high clock tower that held treble, tenor and bass bells, the last of these weighing 1 ton 9 cwt (1.47 tonnes). In size, it was inspired by the 200 yards (180 m) long Moscow Riding Academy of 1825, leading to its built length of 268 yards (245 m). The station,
2136-500: The Iceni tribe led by Boudica (also known as Boadicea). The tradition claims support from the writing of Publius Cornelius Tacitus , an ancient Roman historian, who described the place of action between the Romans and Boudica ( Annals 14.31), but without specifying where it was; Thornbury addresses the pros and cons of the identification. Lewis Spence 's 1937 book Boadicea – warrior queen of
2225-499: The King's Cross Central development, was a rail freight terminal. The Yard was designed by Lewis Cubitt in 1852. The nearby Granary Square is named after the Granary building . Trains carried Lincolnshire wheat to King's Cross, where the wheat would then be stored in the Granary building to be used by London's bakers. St Pancras International station is in the district. St Pancras
2314-469: The London Inner Ring Road at the eastern end of Euston Road , next to the junction with Pentonville Road , Gray's Inn Road and York Way , in what is now the London Borough of Camden . Immediately to the west, on the other side of Pancras Road, is St Pancras railway station . Several London bus routes, including 30 , 59 , 73 , 91 , 205 , 390 and 476 pass in front of or to the side of
2403-522: The Metropolitan line on 1 February 1878. Two platforms (now 5 and 6) were opened on 18 December 1893 to cater for increased traffic demands. An iron footbridge was built halfway down the train shed to connect all the platforms. By 1880, half the traffic at King's Cross was suburban. A significant bottleneck in the early years of operations was at Gas Works tunnel underneath the Regent's Canal immediately to
2492-536: The Midland Railway , lies immediately to the west. They both had extensive land ("the railway lands") to house their associated facilities for handling general goods and specialist commodities such as fish, coal, potatoes and grain. The passenger stations on Euston Road far outweighed in public attention the economically more important goods traffic to the north. King's Cross and St Pancras stations, and indeed all London railway stations, made an important contribution to
2581-815: The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment are based in King's Place , on Battlebridge Basin next to the Regent's Canal . King's Place is also the home of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers, and of the UK Drug Policy Commission. In September 2011 the University of the Arts London moved to the Granary Complex. A whole series of new public squares and gardens have opened, among them Granary Square with its spectacular fountains, Lewis Cubitt Park and Square and
2670-654: The River Fleet . The original name of the bridge was Broad Ford Bridge. The original parish church, St Pancras Old Church , located behind the stations, was built on a knoll on the west bank of the Fleet, and is believed to be one of the oldest Christian sites in Britain. The corruption "Battle Bridge" led to a tradition that this was the site of a major battle in AD 60 or 61 between the Romans and
2759-531: The Victoria line and its interchange at King's Cross was seen by British Rail as an opportunity to modernise the station. A single-storey extension containing the main passenger concourse and ticket office, designed in-house, was built at the front of the station in 1972. Although intended to be temporary, it was still standing 40 years later, obscuring the Grade I-listed façade of the original station. Before
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2848-534: The 1970s, the layout was remodelled. By this time both Kings Cross Goods Yard and Top Shed had closed so it was possible to remove the goods lines and simplify the layout. In the current configuration, the lines approaching the tunnel from the north are grouped into Up Fast & Slow and Down Fast & Slow. Immediately before the northern portal the Up Slow is carried over the Up & Down Fast lines by an overbridge to join
2937-534: The 1972 extension at the front of the station and replacing it with an open-air plaza. The new semi-circular departures concourse opened to the public in March 2012. Situated to the west of the station behind the Great Northern Hotel, it was designed by John McAslan and built by Taylor Woodrow Construction , part of Vinci . It caters for much-increased passenger flows and provides greater integration between
3026-462: The 1990s warehouse rave scene on the site of Goods Yard behind King's Cross stations, now part of the redevelopment area known as the Coal Drops adjacent to Granary Square. In the 1990s, the government established the King's Cross Partnership to fund regeneration projects, and the commencement of work on High Speed 1 in 2000 provided a major impetus for other projects. In 2001, Argent was selected as
3115-529: The British Library) and Judd Street. Northbound, Cycleway 6 passes east of Camden Town en route to Kentish Town. Southbound, the route links King's Cross to Farringdon, the City, and Elephant & Castle. The Regent's Canal Towpath runs westbound from King's Cross to Camden Lock , Regent's Park , and Maida Vale . The Islington Tunnel means that eastbound cyclists must bypass the canal through Angel , but
3204-502: The Britons includes a map showing the supposed positions of the opposing armies. The suggestion that Boudica is buried beneath platform 9 or 10 at King's Cross station seems to have arisen as urban folklore since the end of World War II . The area had been settled in Roman times, and a camp here known as The Brill was erroneously attributed to Julius Caesar , who never visited Londinium. There
3293-629: The Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, and Northern lines link the area to the City . Euston tube station is nearby, which is served by both branches of the Northern line, and the Victoria line. Both stations are in London's Zone 1 . With three railway stations in the immediate area, and two tube stations, much of the area is used as a transport interchange. London Buses 17 , 30 , 46 , 63 , 73 , 91 , 205 , 214 , 259 , 390 and 476 serve
3382-650: The Community Creation Trust took over the disused coach repair depot and built it into the largest Ecology Centre in Europe with ecohousing for homeless youngsters, The Last Platform Cafe, London Ecology Centre (after its demise in Covent Garden), offices and workshops, gardens and ponds. It was destroyed to make a car park for the Channel Tunnel Regeneration. Bagley's Warehouse was a nightclub venue in
3471-569: The Down Slow line so the central bore now carries the Up and Down Fast lines; the western bore carries the Up and Down Slow lines. The tracks in the eastern bore were lifted and it is now used to carry cables and provide occasional road access. From Belle Isle, just south of Copenhagen Tunnel all four lines become bidirectional before passing through Gasworks Tunnel to King's Cross station. London King%27s Cross railway station King's Cross railway station , also known as London King's Cross ,
3560-439: The East Coast Main Line. The standard off-peak service pattern is as follows: Govia Thameslink Railway operates outer-suburban services to North London, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and West Norfolk under their Thameslink and Great Northern brands. Peak times 2tph to Peterborough via Stevenage (express services) Hull Trains operates five inter-city services per weekday to Hull and two per weekday to Beverley, via
3649-864: The East Coast Main Line. Unlike other train companies in FirstGroup , Hull Trains operates under an open-access arrangement and is not a franchised TOC. Grand Central operates inter-city services to Bradford Interchange and Sunderland along the East Coast Main Line and is an open-access operator. On 23 May 2010, it began services to Bradford Interchange via Halifax , Brighouse , Mirfield , Wakefield , Pontefract and Doncaster The service had originally been due to begin in December 2009. On Monday–Friday, there are four trains per day to Bradford Interchange (of which two will call at Pontefract Monkhill) and five trains per day to Sunderland. Lumo , another FirstGroup open access operator, operates five services per day to Edinburgh via Newcastle and Morpeth . Two of
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3738-406: The East Coast franchise in 2020, three years ahead of schedule, following losses on the route by the operator. The current provider of ECML services is London North Eastern Railway . The £500 million restoration plan announced by Network Rail in 2005 was approved by Camden London Borough Council in 2007. It involved restoring and reglazing the original arched train shed roof and removing
3827-628: The East Midlands, Yorkshire , North East England and Scotland , including Leeds , Newcastle upon Tyne , and Edinburgh . In fiction, the station is the London terminus of the Hogwarts Express , which carries Harry Potter to Hogwarts. In the Harry Potter films, however, the exterior shots of the station are those of neighbouring St Pancras station. Some interior shots were filmed at York railway station . The Goods Yard complex, part of
3916-472: The King's Cross area had a reputation for run-down buildings and prostitution in front of the main entrance. There was a major clean-up during the 1990s and the station's atmosphere was much improved by the end of the decade. Following the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, express services into the station were taken over by the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER). The company refurbished
4005-644: The King's Cross area with direct links to Gatwick and Luton Airports [REDACTED] . Euston station sits around one-half mile (800 m) west of King's Cross. National Rail trains from Euston serve the West Midlands , North Wales , North West England , and Scotland . Destinations include Birmingham , Liverpool , Manchester , Holyhead , and Glasgow . London Overground ( [REDACTED] ) services run between Euston and Watford Junction , via Willesden Junction , Wembley Central , and Harrow & Wealdstone . A business partnership group has designed
4094-459: The London Borough of Islington. The eastern boundary of the parish and borough of St Pancras has become the boundary of the larger modern borough and is locally formed, in part, by the course of the River Fleet . The southern boundary of the parish and borough ran along Guilford Street and in places slightly further south where, on the north side of Long Yard and along Roger Street it followed
4183-630: The Streets (1958) and Spare the Rod (1961)—as well as Mike Leigh 's High Hopes (1988). Anthony Minghella 's 2006 film Breaking and Entering is also set in King's Cross. Iin 1972 it was the setting for Kings Cross Lunch Hour , one of four plays set in different parts of London, written by John Mortimer for the BBC drama series Thirty-Minute Theatre . "Vale Royal", an epic poem in 700 triads by Aidan Andrew Dun probes into this zone of London; "Vale Royal"
4272-472: The biggest in England at that time, opened on 14 October 1852. Originally it had one arrival and one departure platform (today's platforms 1 and 8), and the space between was used for carriage sidings. The platforms have been reconfigured several times. They were numbered 1 to 8 in 1972. In 2010 and 2021 the station was reconfigured again and now has 11 platforms numbered 0 - 10. Suburban traffic quickly grew with
4361-411: The capital's economy. After World War II the area declined from being a poor but busy industrial and distribution services district to a partially abandoned post-industrial district. By the 1980s it was notorious for prostitution and drug abuse. This reputation impeded attempts to revive the area, utilising the large amount of land available following the decline of the railway goods yard to the north of
4450-487: The course of a now culverted tributary of the Fleet, a tributary which was historically dammed to form Lamb's Conduit . The London Borough of Camden has an electoral ward called King's Cross . In the Harry Potter books, King's Cross station is where the protagonist boards the train for Hogwarts . However, author JK Rowling later admitted she had confused it with nearby Euston station . The railway station has put up
4539-463: The daily services also call to pick up passengers at Stevenage . King's Cross station shares a London Underground station with neighbouring St Pancras station. King's Cross St Pancras tube station is served by more lines than any other station on the London Underground. In 2023, King's Cross St Pancras was the most used station on the system, with 72.12 million passengers entering and exiting
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#17330849987894628-506: The development partner. The London terminus of the Eurostar international rail services to Paris and Brussels moved to St Pancras station in November 2007. Following the opening of the High Speed 1 to the station, redevelopment of the land between the two major stations and the old King's Cross railway lands to the rear commenced. In 2008, Argent, London & Continental Railways and DHL formed
4717-535: The direction of George Turnbull , resident engineer for constructing the first 20 miles (32 km) of the Great Northern Railway out of London. The station's detailed design was by Lewis Cubitt , the brother of Thomas Cubitt (the architect of Bloomsbury , Belgravia and Osborne House ), and Sir William Cubitt (who was chief engineer of the Crystal Palace built in 1851, and consulting engineer to
4806-491: The district during the daytime. National Express coach A8 connects the district to Stansted Airport , whilst Green Line coach 748 links the area to Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire . Several cycle routes pass through King's Cross. Cycling infrastructure is maintained by the London Borough of Camden and Transport for London (TfL). Cycleway 6 runs north–south along Midland Road (between St Pancras station and
4895-476: The early hours of Sunday 11 May 1941, two 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bombs fell on the, then, platform 10 at the west side of the station, damaging a newspaper train in that platform and destroying the general offices, booking hall and a bar, and bringing down a large section of roof. Twelve people were killed. On 4 February 1945, a passenger train to Leeds and Bradford stalled in Gasworks Tunnel , ran back and
4984-501: The extension was built, the façade was hidden behind a small terrace of shops. The extension was demolished in late 2012, revealing the Lewis Cubitt architecture. In its place, the 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m ) King's Cross Square was created, and opened to the public on 26 September 2013. On 10 September 1973, a Provisional IRA bomb exploded in the booking hall at 12.24 p.m., causing extensive damage and injuring six people, some seriously. The 3 lb (1.4 kg) device
5073-412: The extreme east of the site, King's Cross York Road station was served by suburban trains from Finsbury Park before they followed the sharply curved and steeply graded York Road Tunnel to join the City Widened Lines to Farringdon , Barbican and Moorgate . In the other direction, trains from Moorgate came off the Widened Lines via the Hotel Curve, to platform 16 (latterly renumbered 14) which rose to
5162-400: The ground floor, but this seems not to be true. It is a grade II listed building. King's Cross station now stands by the junction where the monument stood and took its name. The station, designed by architect Lewis Cubitt and opened in 1852, succeeded a temporary earlier station, erected north of the canal in time for the Great Exhibition of 1851. St Pancras railway station , built by
5251-620: The increasing number of local trains. A number of famous trains have been associated with King's Cross, such as the Flying Scotsman service to Edinburgh. The Gresley A3 and later streamlined A4 Pacific steam locomotives handled express services from the 1930s until 1966. The most famous of these was Mallard , which holds the world speed record for steam locomotives at 126 miles per hour (203 km/h), set in 1938. King's Cross handled large numbers of troops alongside civilian traffic during World War II . Engine shortages meant that up to 2,000 people had to be accommodated on each train. In
5340-506: The intercity, suburban and underground sections of the station. The architect claimed that the roof is the longest single-span station structure in Europe and the semi-circular structure has a radius of 59 yards (54 m) and more than 2,000 triangular roof panels, half of which are glass. Land between and behind Kings Cross and St Pancras stations is being redeveloped as King's Cross Central with around 2,000 new homes, 5,000,000 sq ft (464,500 m ) of offices and new roads. In
5429-438: The king; it was described by Walter Thornbury as "a ridiculous octagonal structure crowned by an absurd statue". The statue itself, which cost no more than £25, was constructed of bricks and mortar, and finished in a manner that gave it the appearance of stone "at least to the eyes of common spectators". The architect was Stephen Geary , who exhibited a model of "the Kings Cross" at the Royal Academy in 1830. The upper storey
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#17330849987895518-444: The late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof, and the station became well known for its association with the Harry Potter books and films, particularly the fictional Platform 9 + 3 ⁄ 4 . The station stands on
5607-483: The machine room for a wooden escalator between the main line station and the London Underground station 's Piccadilly line platforms. The escalator burned and much of the tube station caught fire, killing 31 people, with smoke spreading to the main line station. In 1987, British Rail proposed building a new station with four platforms for international trains through the Channel Tunnel , and four for Thameslink trains under King's Cross. After six years of design work,
5696-523: The main line level. Services to and from Moorgate were diverted via the Northern City Line from November 1976. The station remained in occasional use until it was completely closed on 5 March 1977. The Great Northern Cemetery Station was built just to the east of the northern portal to Gasworks Tunnel, to connect the city to New Southgate Cemetery . It opened in 1861 but was never profitable as it only ran for 7 miles (11 km) and closed two years later. The station hosts services on inter-city routes to
5785-444: The mid-1990s. The introduction of the Eurostar rail service at St Pancras International and the rebuilding of King's Cross station helped stimulate the redevelopment of the long derelict railway lands to the north of the termini. The area, historically the south-eastern part of the ancient parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras , was previously known as Battle Bridge or Battlebridge after an ancient crossing of
5874-422: The multiple tunnels was built as part of the construction of the Great Northern Railway and was opened in 1850. This section of the railway was designed by the engineer Thomas Brassey and was built by Pearce and Smith and John Jay. The name is taken from Copenhagen Fields, an open space directly above the tunnels, that was once the location of the Ambassador of Denmark's residence in the 17th century. This became
5963-584: The name Cinerama . King's Cross station is a railway terminus and London Underground interchange, and a focal point in the district. Commuter services from King's Cross are operated by Thameslink and Great Northern , serving destinations in north London, such as Finsbury Park , Harringay , and Enfield Town . Destinations further afield include Welwyn Garden City , Stevenage , Peterborough , Cambridge , and King's Lynn . Long-distance departures from King's Cross are operated by Grand Central , Lumo , Hull Trains , and LNER . Trains serve destinations in
6052-403: The new Euston Road (originally New Road ) in 1756, opened the area up for development. The current name has its origin in a monument to King George IV which stood from 1830 to 1845 at "the king's crossroads" where New Road (later Euston Road ), Gray's Inn Road , and Pentonville Road met. The monument was sixty feet (18 m) high and topped by an eleven-foot-high (3.4 m) statue of
6141-404: The new Gasholder Park. The station's redevelopment led to the demolition of several buildings, including the Gasworks. King's Cross forms the south-east part of the ancient parish and subsequent borough of St Pancras , which is now the major part of the London Borough of Camden . The importance of King's Cross station means that use of the place name term spills over into neighbouring parts of
6230-418: The north of the station, which was built with a single up track and a single down track . Commercial traffic was further impeded by having to cross over on-level running lines to reach the goods yard. Grade separation of goods traffic was achieved by constructing the skew bridge that opened in August 1877, and the second and third Gas Works tunnels opened in 1878 and 1892 respectively. On 15 September 1881,
6319-482: The north, Clerkenwell to the southeast, Angel to the east, Holborn and Bloomsbury to the south, Euston to the west and Camden Town to the northwest. It is served by two major rail termini, St Pancras and King's Cross . King's Cross station is the terminus of one of the major rail routes between London and the North. The area, which was historically the south-eastern part of the parish and borough of St Pancras , has undergone significant regeneration since
6408-406: The opening of stations at Hornsey in 1850, Holloway Road in 1856, Wood Green in 1859 and Seven Sisters Road (now Finsbury Park ) in 1861. Midland Railway services to Leicester via Hitchin and Bedford began running from King's Cross on 1 February 1858. More platforms were added in 1862: No. 2 was full-length, but No. 3 was stepped into the northern end of the station. In 1866,
6497-420: The plans were abandoned, and the international terminal was constructed at St Pancras. British Rail completed electrification of the East Coast Main Line to Leeds and Edinburgh between 1985 and 1991, and electric InterCity 225 rolling stock was introduced to work express services. These began service between King's Cross and Leeds on 2 October 1989, and to Edinburgh on 8 July 1991. Before privatisation,
6586-531: The restoration, refurbished offices have opened on the east side of the station to replace ones lost on the west side, and a new platform, numbered 0, opened underneath them on 20 May 2010. Diesel trains cannot normally use this platform for environmental reasons. The restoration project was awarded a European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award in 2013. In October 2021, Lumo commenced operating services to Edinburgh Waverley via Stevenage , Newcastle and Morpeth . In January 2018, it
6675-460: The southern parapet was the setting for numerous scenes throughout the 1955 British film comedy, The Ladykillers . The original tunnel is now the middle of three parallel bores. A second tunnel to the west was built in 1877 and a third one to the east in 1886. The western bore carried up and down goods traffic, the central one was used for down passenger traffic and the eastern bore was used for up passenger traffic. Following electrification in
6764-546: The southern tunnel portal was used for a rail line going to the Caledonian Road Coal and Goods Depot (now Bunning Way) which passed along the parapet of the tunnel entrance. This was situated conveniently close to the Metropolitan Cattle Market , located on the ground above the tunnels from 1855 to 1963. Many trains carried cattle along this line on their last journey to the abattoirs there. The area above
6853-522: The station and the many other vacant premises in the area. Relatively cheap rents and a central London location made the area attractive to artists and designers and both Antony Gormley and Thomas Heatherwick established studios in the area. In the late 1980s, a group of musicians, mechanics, and squatters from Hammersmith called Mutoid Waste Company moved into Battlebridge Road warehouse. They built huge industrial sculptures out of scrap metal and held raves. In 1989 they were evicted by police. In 1992,
6942-611: The station in passenger trains during the war. When possible, trains were parked in tunnels in the event of enemy aircraft overhead. Kings Cross came into the ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) following the Railways Act 1921 . The LNER made improvements to various amenities, including toilets and dressing rooms underneath what is now platform 8. The lines through the Gas Works tunnels were remodelled between 1922 and 1924 and improved signalling made it easier to manage
7031-673: The station. King's Cross can be spelled both with and without an apostrophe . King's Cross is used in signage at the Network Rail and London Underground stations, on the Tube map and on the official Network Rail webpage. Kings Cross is used on the National Rail website. The apostrophe rarely featured on early Underground maps, but has been consistently used on them since 1951. Kings X , Kings + and London KX are abbreviations used in space-limited contexts. The National Rail station code
7120-577: The station. It is in Travelcard Zone 1 and caters for both King's Cross and the neighbouring St Pancras railway station . The station opened as part of the first section of Metropolitan Railway project on 10 January 1863; the first part of the Underground to open. A separate station for the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (now the Piccadilly line ) opened on 15 December 1906, with
7209-539: The years. The most serious were the King's Cross railway accident on 4 February 1945 which killed two people and injured 25 and a collision in Gasworks Tunnel on 15 September 1881 which killed one person and seriously injured another. The most recent was on 17 September 2015 when a passenger train collided with the buffer stops , injuring fourteen people. There have also been a number of accidents which killed or injured railway employees. On 5 November 1979, Martin Allen
7298-511: Was derailed in the station . Two people were killed and 25 were injured. Services were not fully restored until 23 February. Following nationalisation on 1 January 1948, King's Cross came under the management of British Railways ' Eastern Region . Diesel services were introduced during the 1950s when steam was being phased out. All main line services were converted to diesel by June 1963. Platform numbers were reorganised in 1972, to run consecutively from 1 (east) to 14 (west). The track layout
7387-472: Was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet , originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825. The name "Battle Bridge" is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the Celtic British Iceni tribe led by Boudica . According to folklore, King's Cross
7476-468: Was announced that half the station would close for 3 months from January to March 2020 for remodelling work to the station and its approach, expected to cost £237 million. This includes rationalisation of the tracks, reopening the third tunnel to the approach of the station and closure of platform 10. In June 2021, Network Rail released a time lapse video showing the completion of the works. There have been many passenger train accidents at King's Cross over
7565-584: Was launched at the Albert Hall in 1995. A triad of Dun's, excerpted from another poem, "The Brill", has been installed at the western end of Granary Square in a small grove of trees beside the new Central Saint Martins. It reads: "Kings Cross, dense with angels and histories, there are cities beneath your pavements, cities behind your skies. Let me see!" The Irish rock group the Pogues was founded in King's Cross. The British pop music duo Pet Shop Boys recorded
7654-461: Was seen saying goodbye to his friends at King's Cross. He set off in the direction of the Piccadilly line platform, but he was never seen again. The station is also where Andrew Gosden was last seen before going missing on 14 September 2007. He had caught a train there from Doncaster under controversial and unexplained circumstances. From 1863, part of King's Cross was an intermediate station. On
7743-694: Was simplified in the 1970s by reusing an old flyover for freight near the Copenhagen Tunnels at Holloway, and reducing the number of running lines through the Gas Works tunnels from six to four. At the same time, electrification started with the installation of a 25 kV overhead line to cater for suburban services as part of the Great Northern Suburban Electrification project. The works were completed on 3 April 1977, and electric services began running from King's Cross to Hertford , Welwyn Garden City and Royston The construction of
7832-424: Was thrown without warning by a youth who escaped into the crowd and was not caught. King's Cross was a London terminus for InterCity 125 high speed services, along with Paddington . By 1982, almost all long-distance trains leaving King's Cross were 125s. The service proved to be popular, and the station saw regular queues across the concourse to board departing trains. The King's Cross fire in 1987 started in
7921-441: Was used as a camera obscura while the base housed first a police station, and later a public house. The unpopular building was demolished in 1845, though the area kept the name of King's Cross. A structure in the form of a lighthouse was built on top of a building almost on the site about 30 years later. Known locally as the "Lighthouse Building", the structure was popularly thought to be an advertisement for Netten's Oyster Bar on
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