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King's Cross St. Pancras Tube StationKing's Cross St. Pancras tube station is the London Underground station serving both King's Cross and St. Pancras stations. It is a main interchange, with platforms on the Victoria, Piccadilly, Northern, Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The first "underground" station at King's Cross opened as part of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863, and was rearranged in 1868 and 1926. New platforms for the subsurface lines of the Underground were opened about 400m to the west in 1941 to make interchanging between the subsurface lines and the deep tube lines easier; part of what remains of the old station is now King's Cross Thameslink, though that is soon to become wholly disused when the Thameslink station moves to St Pancras. One of the long-disused original Underground platforms may be seen from Underground trains travelling between the present station and Farringdon. The Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (Piccadilly Line) platforms opened with the rest of the line in December 1906, while the City & South London Railway (Northern Line) arrived in May 1907. The Victoria line platforms opened on December 1, 1968, three months after the rest of the Victoria line did. On November 18, 1987 the station was the scene of the devastating King's Cross fire which killed thirty-one people. The cause was attributed to a lighted match falling into, and setting fire to an escalator machine room. As a result, fire safety procedures on the Underground were tightened, staff training was improved and escalators with wooden steps were replaced. The underground part of the station is currently undergoing extensive remodelling works to increase throughflow of passengers, expected when the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens. The main ticket hall is currently closed, and passengers are instead required to purchase tickets above-ground opposite the W.H. Smith in front of Kings Cross station. The expanded station will have three ticket halls: - The existing ticket hall (sometimes referred to as the "Tube Ticket Hall"): This is being expanded.
- The Western Ticket Hall: This is being constructed under the forecourt of St Pancras Station, adjacent to Euston Road. It will provide access to St Pancras Station via the new passenger facilities which are being created in St Pancras's undercroft.
- The Northern Ticket Hall: This will be to the west of Kings Cross station, underneath a new main concourse for the mainline station. Both of these projects are due to be completed by 2009, which is two years later than the rest of the work. This hall will be convenient for the proposed Kings Cross Central development.
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