Cannon Street is a National Rail and London Underground station complex in the City of London financial district of London in England. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.

National Rail station

Cannon Street station

Main line

This is a terminal station approached across the River Thames by the Cannon Street Railway Bridge and having entrances from Cannon Street and Dowgate Hill. Its approach by rail is by a triangular connection to both London Bridge and Charing Cross. There were originally eight platforms: a refurbishment in the late 1990s removed Platform 1.

Cannon Street is one of seventeen UK railway stations managed by Network Rail.

History

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 1 September 1866. Designed by Sir John Hawkshaw : it consisted of a 700-ft long building, with a high single arch, almost-semicircular, span of glass and iron. The station is carried on a brick viaduct over Upper Thames Street.

The five-storey ‘’City Terminus Hotel’’ (designed by E.M.Barry had two changes of name: to Cannon Street Hotel, and later, as an office block, Southern House.. It was badly damaged during the WWII. During rebuilding of the station in the 1960s it was replaced by a building having a frontage designed by architect John Poulson. That same rebuilding removed the roof to the station, and all that now remains of the are the twin 120-ft red-brick towers at the country end.

The track serving Cannon Street has twice been remodelled: on each occasion the station has been shut down:

• 5-28 June 1926: Southern Railway suburban electrification. Before this, most trains reversed into and out of Cannon street to reach Charing Cross: such working now virtually ended
• 2 August-9 September 1974: resignalling of the whole approaches to London Bridge.

During the property boom of the 1980s a large office block was built above the platforms, but remarkably trains continued to use the station while it was being built.

Station building

[to be completed]

Train services

The station connects the south side of the City to south and south east London via London Bridge. Some services run directly into Cannon Street from Kent and East Sussex, but only during rush hours. Occasionally during the weekends when track maintenance is in progress, the station serves as an intermediate station between Either trains reverse at the station or rail passengers change trains here.

London Underground station

The London Underground station is a sub-surface station, situated immediately below the mainline station. It is served by the District and Circle lines. Entrances are located on Cannon Street, Dowgate Hill, and on the main-line concourse upstairs at the mainline station, providing an interconnection for commuters.

The Underground station is only open on Mondays to Fridays, until 2100 each day.

External links

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