piccadilly line

The Piccadilly Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is a deep-level line running from the north-east to the west of London, albeit with significant surface running sections in its outer parts. It was originally called the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway.

History

The line was opened in 1906, having been formed from the amalgamation of three planned tube railways: the Great Northern and Strand Railway, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway and the "Deep-Level District." The original route was from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith. The line was expanded rapidly in the 1930s, taking over branches of the District Line to Hounslow West and Uxbridge in the west and extending through new tubes and surface tracks to Cockfosters in the north-east. These extensions are notable for the Art Deco architecture of their stations, many designed by Charles Holden. In 1977, the branch to Hounslow West was extended to Heathrow Central. This station was renamed Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 in 1984, with the opening of a further extension via Heathrow Terminal 4. On the 7th January 2005 this further extension (via Heathrow Terminal 4) closed again, in preparation for works to extend the Picadilly line to the future Heathrow Terminal 5 station. From 1907, except during the Second World War, a short branch from Holborn served Aldwych tube station, which was originally the intended southern terminus of the Great Northern and Strand Railway. In later days served only by a single short train shuttling backwards and forwards on a single track, this branch was finally closed in 1994.