Barbican Station

Address: Aldersgate St, London
EC1A 4JA
Opened: 23rd December 1865
Station Code: BAB
Fare Zone: 1

London Underground Line(s) Served:

Circle Line
Hammersmith & City Line
Metropolitan Line

Service Pattern(s):

Circle Line
6 trains Per Hour clockwise to Edgware Road
6 Trains Per Hour anti-clockwise to Hammersmith

Hammersmith & City Line
6 Trains Per Hour eastbound to Barking
6 Trains Per Hour westbound to Hammersmith

Metropolitan Line
12 trains per hour eastbound to Aldgate
2 trains per hour westbound to Amersham (all stations)
2 trains per hour westbound to Chesham (all stations)
8 trains per hour westbound to Uxbridge (all stations)

Interchange(s)

None

Station History

Aldersgate Street Station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway on their extension from Farringdon to Moorgate on 23rd December 1865.

Becoming a victim of its own success, the Metropolitan Railway constructed another pair of tracks between King’s Cross and Moorgate known as the City Widened Lines to allow other railway companies to access the area without interrupting the passenger service.

The new lines opened, with the first trains run by the Great Northern Railway in 1868, followed by the Midland Railway.

The station name was simplified on 1st November 1910 when the station became Aldersgate, before being renamed to Aldersgate and Barbican Station on 24th October 1924.

Following the creation of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, the Metropolitan Railway was absorbed by the new entity, becoming the Metropolitan Line. Mainline rail services remained under the ownership of their existing companies.

During World War II, the station and its surrounding area suffered severe bomb damage during German air raids, including one in December 1940 that caused most of the building above the station to collapse. This also caused a blockage of the line and severe disruption to train services.

The remains of the bomb-damaged building were removed and, in 1955 the remainder of the street-level building accessing the station was demolished.

As part of the planning for the Barbican Estate, 500 metres of the Metropolitan Line was relaid in tunnels between the station and Moorgate between 1963 and 1965.

The station was renamed for the final time on 1st December 1968 when to better fit the surrounding area, it was simplified to Barbican station.

Having passed to British Railways in 1948 and continued through privatisation, the final mainline rail services through the station ran in March 2009 when, as part of the Thameslink Programme, the line was severed at Farringdon to allow the platforms there to be lengthened.