Victoria Line

Line color:	Light Blue
Opening year:	1968
Line type:	Tubular track
Stations:	16
Length:	22.5 km
Depot:	Northumberland Park
Passengers:	199,988,000 (annually)

The Victoria Line is a metro -line of the London Underground . It belongs to the newer small-profile lines ( tube railway ), is 22.5 km long and has 16 stations. The line is shown in light blue on the network map .

Construction of the route

The Victoria Line runs entirely in two separate tube tunnels (with the exception of the almost two-kilometer approach to the Northumberland Park workshop at Seven Sisters ). The line runs from Walthamstow in the northeast to Brixton in the south. It was opened between 1968 and 1971 to relieve other lines (notably the Piccadilly Line ). The route was chosen in such a way that there were transfer options at as many places as possible (in fact, only the Pimlico station has no transition to other rail transport). In the stations of King's Cross St. Pancras , Oxford Circus and Green Park , the distribution levels were converted or completely rebuilt. The distance between the individual stations is relatively large compared to other lines, which allows a higher average travel speed. It is one of only two lines whose route runs completely underground.

Design of the stations

The Victoria Line stations are designed differently. The tiles are arranged on the walls in such a way that they each represent a symbol that indicates the immediate vicinity of the station.

Examples of symbols:

• Blackhorse Road: Black horse (black horse) on a white background
• Brixton: a ton of bricks
• Euston: The former portico of Euston Arch , the entrance to the former reception building until 1962.
• Finsbury Park: Two crossed dueling pistols; duels between nobles used to be fought in Finsbury Park .
• Green Park: Representation of foliage indicating the nearby Green Park .
• King's Cross St. Pancras: Five crowns that are arranged in a cross shape ( King's Cross ) .
• Pimlico: yellow dots, an example of modern art ; Pimlico is home to London's modern art gallery, Tate Britain .
• Vauxhall: The gates of the former Vauxhall Gardens .
• Victoria: The profile of Queen Victoria , as e.g. B. is shown on the world's first postage stamp, the One Penny Black .
• Seven Sisters: Seven trees commonly referred to as the Seven Sisters.
• Walthamstow Central: A pattern designed by Walthamstow born artist William Morris .
• Warren Street: Warren is an outdated English name for labyrinth . Therefore, there is an intricate maze pattern on the walls . Passengers who have some time to spare will find the solution after a few minutes.

vehicles

The Victoria Line is the first fully automatic line in the world. From the opening track, the then new were 1,967 tube-floor trains with automatic train operation (ATO / automated driving ) are used. The train driver only gives the departure order by pushing a button, then the train automatically drives to the next station and brakes there with pinpoint accuracy. However, the doors are opened by the driver; there is no mechanism to prevent the door from being opened on the wrong side, which in 2009 resulted in an accident, driver repression and a strike on April 22nd. The 1967 Tube Stock trains were replaced from 2010 to 2011 by new trains from the 2009 Tube Stock , which has been operating the Victoria Line in full since July 2011. This type is longer, offers more standing room and is equipped with CCTV cameras in each compartment . It was made by Bombardier in Derby . The trains are housed in the Northumberland Park Depot .

• 

  1967 Tube Stock train at Finsbury Park Station

• 

  2009 Tube Stock at Northumberland Park Depot

Routing

Victoria Line
Walthamstow Central Blackhorse Road Northumberland Park Depot Tottenham Hale Seven Sisters Finsbury Park Piccadilly Highbury & Islington King's Cross St. Pancras Circle Hammersmith & City Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly Euston Northern Warren Street Northern Oxford Circus Bakerloo Central Green Park Jubilee Piccadilly Victoria Circle District Pimlico Vauxhall Stockwell Northern Brixton

Victoria Line route map

Below are the stations from north to south with their opening dates:

• Walthamstow Central - opened September 1, 1968
• Blackhorse Road - opened September 1, 1968
• Tottenham Hale - opened September 1, 1968
• Seven Sisters - opened September 1, 1968
• Finsbury Park - opened September 1, 1968
• Highbury & Islington - opened September 1, 1968
• King's Cross St. Pancras - opened December 1, 1968
• Euston - opened December 1, 1968
• Warren Street - opened December 1, 1968
• Oxford Circus - opened March 7, 1969
• Green Park - opened March 7, 1969
• Victoria - opened March 7, 1969
• Pimlico - opened on September 14, 1972
• Vauxhall - opened July 23, 1971
• Stockwell - opened July 23, 1971
• Brixton - opened on July 23, 1971

Further expansion

By 2010, the route network and the signal systems were partially renewed in order to enable faster operation on the route. For this purpose, the route was closed every night from mid-2004 to November 20, 2008 in order to revise it. During this time there was rail replacement service between Finsbury Park and Walthamstow Central and between Victoria and Brixton. Among other things, the Victoria train station was rebuilt so that there are now more entrances and the main entrance is relieved. New trains have been used on the Victoria Line since 2009.

Web links

Commons : Victoria Line  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Clive's Underground Line Guides - Victoria Line

Individual evidence

1. ^ London Underground - Performance Data . Transport for London website (Performance Data Almanac). Retrieved July 28, 2012.
2. ^ Victoria Line Strike over Doors & Bullying . In: london-underground.blogspot.com , April 21, 2009, accessed January 12, 2017
3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ^ Last Day Of Service For Old Victoria Line Trains . In: Londonist . June 30, 2011 ( londonist.com [accessed September 20, 2017]).