Hammersmith & City Line

Completed on 29th December 2024
29 Stations over 21 miles
2.5 Days Effort
London Boroughs: Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, Islington, City of London, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking & Dagenham

The Hammersmith & City line runs between Hammersmith in west London and Barking in east London. Printed in pink on the Tube map, it serves 29 stations over 15.8 miles (25.5 km). Between Farringdon and Aldgate East it skirts the City of London, hence the line’s name. Its tunnels are just below the surface and are a similar size to those on British main lines. Most of the track and all stations are shared with either the District, Circle, or Metropolitan lines. Over 114 million passenger journeys are made each year on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines.

In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway began the world’s first underground railway service between Paddington and Farringdon with wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The following year, a railway west from Paddington to Hammersmith was opened and this soon became operated and owned jointly by the Metropolitan and Great Western Railway companies. The line was then extended to the east, in stages, reaching the East London Railway in 1884. The line was electrified in 1906, and, in 1936, after the Metropolitan Railway had been absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board, some Hammersmith & City line trains were extended over the former District Railway line to Barking. The Hammersmith & City route was shown on the Tube map as part of the Metropolitan line until 30 July 1990, when it was designated as a separate line.

The line runs parallel to the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Westbourne Park, and parallel to the London, Tilbury and Southend line between West Ham and Barking.