District line Totally Explained

Everything about The District Line totally explained

The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines and the fourth busiest overall on the Underground network. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground.

History

The District line has a long history. It was built by the Metropolitan District Railway and opened in stages from 1868. The MDR was later bought by Charles Yerkes, forming part of the "Underground" group until it was nationalised in the 1930s. It had branches to Uxbridge and Hounslow West, but both are now operated by the Piccadilly line. Eastbound services ran as far as the seaside town of Southend in Essex from 1 June 1910 and to Shoeburyness from 1911, until 30 September 1939. Between 1 March 1883 and 30 September 1885 the line also served stations from Ealing Broadway to Windsor, running on the Great Western Mainline.

Trains

Most of the District line's services use sub-surface D stock, although the Wimbledon to Edgware Road service uses C stock, due to shorter platform lengths between High Street Kensington and Edgware Road. The D stock has been refurbished, having received the standard Underground livery of red, white and blue, having replaced the previous unpainted aluminium finish which is prone to damage by graffiti vandals. The stock also received a complete interior refurbishment and be fitted with CCTV and passenger information displays. The trains are maintained at Ealing Common Depot and Upminster Depot

Last unrefurbished train

A D stock - unit 7115 - was taken out of service to be refurbished on 15 February 2008. Its run may have extended into the weekend, but due to planned weekend engineering works it was taken out on Friday at the end of operations. It was the very last unrefurbished train on the London Underground.

Map

The TFL line diagram

is available online.

Stations

Image:D-stock at Gunnersbury.jpg|Gunnersbury station on the Richmond branch. As at Kew Gardens, tracks are shared with London Overground services on the North London Line Image:EalingCommon3.jpg|Ealing Common is one of only two stations where District and Piccadilly line trains call at the same platforms (the other being Acton Town) Image:Wimbledon station 02.jpg|The District line platforms at Wimbledon Image:Earl's Court District Line platforms.jpg|Earl's Court station is the hub of the District line Image:Temple underground station.jpg|A typical District line cut & cover station - Temple Image:District Line carriage - internal - night - London - 240404.jpg|Inside an unrefurbished District Line Tube Train Image:Paddington Circle-District station.jpg|The District and Circle line platforms at Paddington station on the Edgware Road branch Image:West Brompton, District Line 2007.jpg|C69/C77 Stock train leaving for Wimbledon via Fulham Broadway In order from west to east

Richmond branch

Ealing branch

Ealing Broadway (Trains to Heathrow)

Ealing Common

Acton Town

South Acton (closed branch line)

Chiswick Park The Richmond and Ealing branches join just west of Turnham Green.

Hammersmith

West Kensington

Wimbledon branch

Wimbledon

Wimbledon Park

Southfields (lift access to platforms to be provided by 2012)

West Brompton (eastbound platform is accessible via National Rail lift)

Kensington (Olympia) branch

Kensington (Olympia) The Kensington (Olympia) branch joins the main line west of Earl's Court, and trains from it normally run to High Street Kensington. The Wimbledon branch joins the main line west of Earl's Court.

Main Line

Victoria (Trains to Gatwick)

St. James's Park

Westminster (Westminster Pier)

Embankment (Charing Cross) (Embankment Pier)

Temple

Blackfriars (Trains to Gatwick and Luton) (Blackfriars Pier)

Mansion House

Cannon Street

Monument

Mark Lane (closed)

Tower Hill (Fenchurch Street) (Tower Gateway) (Tower Pier)

Tower of London (closed)

St. Mary's (closed)

Bow Road (Bow Church)

Bromley-by-Bow

West Ham

Plaistow

Upton Park

East Ham

Barking

Upney

Elm Park

Upminster

Edgware Road branch

The Edgware Road branch diverges from the main line east of Earl's Court.

High Street Kensington

Notting Hill Gate

Bayswater

Paddington (Trains to Heathrow)

Edgware Road

Current service pattern

The following off-peak service pattern currently runs on the District line

6 tph Ealing Broadway - Tower Hill

6 tph Richmond - Upminster

6 tph Wimbledon - Upminster

6 tph Wimbledon - Edgware Road

4 tph Kensington (Olympia) - High Street Kensington (tph=trains per hour) The only line to not have an interchange with the District Line is the Metropolitan Line, though they may have previously before much of the Metropolitan Line was taken over by the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines.

Interavailabilty

c2c also serves Upminster, Barking, West Ham and Fenchurch Street (for Tower Hill). Tickets are interavailable between the two operators with Oyster Cards (including pay as you go) accepted on this part of c2c's route. South West Trains services occasionally operate on the Wimbledon Branch between East Putney and Wimbledon, often due to engineering works or problems on the mainline, although trains don't stop at any of the intermediate stations.

In fiction

The fictional Walford East tube station in the BBC television series Eastenders is on the District line, taking the place of Bromley-by-Bow.

Further Information

Get more info on 'District Line'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://district_line.totallyexplained.com">District line Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.