Hammersmith & City Line

Hammersmith & City
TUBE LINE
Colour on Map	Salmon Pink
Year Opened	1863
Line Type	Sub-Surface
Rolling Stock	London Underground S7 Stock StationsServed=29
Stations Served	{{{StationsServed}}}
Length	26.5km (16.5 mi)
Annual Passengers	45,845,000
Depots	Hammersmith Neasden

The Hammersmith and City line is a line of the London Underground, coloured salmon pink on the London Underground Map, running between Hammersmith in West London and Barking in East London. Formerly part of the Metropolitan line, part of it is the oldest underground railway in the world, as it includes the first part of the London Underground, the section between Paddington and Farringdon, which opened on January 10, 1863. It ranks 10th out of the 11 lines in passenger numbers. Out of the 28 stations served, 16 are underground. The original line opened on the June 13, 1864, although Hammersmith moved to a different location in 1868. With the exception of the two-stop Waterloo & City Line and the East London Line (which is no longer a part of the Underground) it is the least used line on the Underground (as well as the least used sub-surface line).

History[]

The line was a branch of the Metropolitan line until 1988, though in later years it was increasingly operated as a separate line, with the sections not used by the rest of the Metropolitan line (from Hammersmith to Baker Street and from Liverpool Street to Barking) not included on the main Metropolitan line maps. This is also reflected in the line's use of London Underground C69 Stock equipment, as opposed to the London Underground A60 Stock used on the 'main' Metropolitan Line.

The name derives from the Hammersmith and City Railway (H&CR), a 5-km (3-mile) section between Hammersmith (Grove Road) station and Westbourne Park that opened in 1864 and was built and operated jointly by the Metropolitan and Great Western Railways between 1864 and 1868.

Because the changeover is relatively recent, there are many stations on the line with permanent tiles and metal maps that still state that the Metropolitan Line runs there (for example, Bromley-by-Bow station with the District Line); the Hammersmith and City Line taking over many parts of the Metropolitan Line has confined it to the north-west, resulting in it having no interchange with the District Line.

Trains[]

All Hammersmith & City line trains are in the distinctive London Underground livery of red, white and blue and are formed of C stock. The line shares trains with the Circle and District (Wimbledon-Edgware Road branch) lines.