Victoria Underground Station (London)

 invisible, tube station

London Underground station on the Victoria, District and Circle lines.

District & Circle Line Station
The first part of the station was opened on 24 December 1868 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) when the company opened the first section of its line, between South Kensington and Westminster. The line was operated by steam locomotives, creating the necessity to leave periodical gaps open to the air.

From 1 August 1872, the "Middle Circle" service also began operation through Victoria, from Moorgate along the MR on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington, then over the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) to Latimer Road and then, via a now-demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the MDR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the MDR. On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House. On 31 December 1908 the Outer Circle service was also withdrawn.

The original MDR station was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century, initially as a single-storey structure. An office building was built above it later. The line was electrified in 1902/3.In 1949, the Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle Line (Yellow).

Victoria Line station
The Victoria line station opened on 7 March 1969, when the third phase of the line began operating, south of Warren Street. Victoria was the terminus while the final phase was under construction to Brixton, opened on 23 July 1971.

Proposed future works.
Victoria is a proposed stop on Crossrail 2, formerly the Chelsea-Hackney line. The route was safeguarded in 1991 and 2007 and any rebuilding of the station will have space for Crossrail 2 platforms.It has been proposed that the Docklands Light Railway become one of two projects for the future of Victoria station, the other being Crossrail 2.

Current redevelopment works.
In order to provide a lasting solution to the current overc-rowding problem preparatory building work has begun on major upgrade of the station. This will include a new northern exit/entrance on the north-west corner of Victoria Street which will be accessible via a new additional ticket office under Bressenden Place that will lead to both the Victoria Line and the Circle and District Line platforms. This upgrade is due by 2018.The work will also enlarge the existing Victoria Line ticket hall serving the railway station and add a new relief bank of escalators there. This aspect of the scheme has been criticised as access to platforms from the new escalators will be very long and indirect compared to the direct access using the existing escalators.

www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/vsu-current-p...
www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/2359.aspx