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Westminster Tube station
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Escalators at Westminster
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Westminster tube station on the London
Underground serves the Circle, District and Jubilee lines. It was originally opened as
Westminster Bridge on December 24, 1868 and was given its present name in 1907. It was completely redeveloped and re-opened on December 22, 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension.
A vast 39m (127ft) void was excavated underneath the old station to house the escalators, lifts and stairs to the deep-level Jubilee Line platforms, the deepest ever excavation in central
London. One of the most difficult problems the engineers faced was to construct the station around the Circle and District line
tracks, which continued in service throughout its construction. The tracks had to be lowered by 300mm (1 foot), an operation
achieved a few millimetres at a time during the few hours each night that the system was closed. The station was by far the most
complex in terms of engineering of any of those on the Jubilee line and it was the last to open, just before Christmas 1999.
Nothing of the old station remains.
The station's cavernous design, by Michael Hopkins & Partners,
won it a 2001 Royal Institute of British Architects Award and earned it a place on the shortlist
for the RIBA's prestigious Stirling Prize. The station has an extremely
austere interior, comprising gigantic concrete beams and columns criss-crossed by stainless steel escalators and floors.
Westbound Jubilee line platform
As with other stations on the Jubilee Line Extension, the Jubilee Line platforms at Westminster have a glass barrier, with its
own set of sliding doors, between the platform and the tracks to assist in controlling air circulation (and presumably, extra
safety). The platforms are some 32m (104 feet) below ground level, making them among the deepest on the Underground network.
Because of the limited amount of space on the site, the two tunnels are "stacked" on top of each other rather than the normal
side-by-side arrangement.
The station also serves as the foundations for Portcullis House,
home to the offices of most MPs.
Nearby attractions
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