Kentish Town station

For the London Overground station, see Kentish Town West railway station.

Kentish Town
Kentish Town Location of Kentish Town in Greater London
Location	Kentish Town
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	London Underground
Station code(s)	KTN
DfT category	F1
Number of platforms	4 (3 in use) (National Rail) 2 (London Underground)
Fare zone	2
OSI	Kentish Town West
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	8.12 million
2020	3.26 million
2021	3.71 million
2022	6.30 million
2023	0.00 million
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	2.697 million
2019–20	2.857 million
2020–21	0.779 million
2021–22	1.499 million
2022–23	1.992 million
Key dates
1 October 1868	Opened (Midland)
22 June 1907	Opened (CCE&HR)
Other information
External links	TfL station info page Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.5504°N 0.1406°W / 51.5504; -0.1406
London transport portal

Kentish Town is an interchange station located in Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden for London Underground and National Rail services.

It is at the junction of Kentish Town Road (A400) and Leighton Road. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. The station is served by the High Barnet branch of the London Underground Northern line, and by Thameslink trains on the National Rail Midland Main Line. It is the only station on the High Barnet branch with a direct interchange with a National Rail line; furthermore an Out of Station Interchange (OSI) with Kentish Town West on the North London line is not charged as two separate journeys in electronic journey charging.

History

The entrance on Kentish Town Road in 1955

The first station was opened by the Midland Railway on 1 October 1868 on the extension to its new London terminal at St Pancras. Prior to that, Midland Railway trains used the London and North Western Railway lines to Euston or the Great Northern Railway lines to King's Cross. Until the St. Pancras extension was complete, and for some time afterwards, some trains exchanged the locomotive at Kentish Town for one fitted with condensing apparatus and continued to Moorgate station, then named Moorgate Street station. For some years trains ran from Kentish Town to Victoria station on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.

The Victorian Super Outer Circle route, passing through Kentish Town station

The second largest motive power depot and repair facility on the Midland Rail was north of the station. In 1861 a collision occurred at a siding near the station in which 16 people were killed and 317 were injured.

From May 1878 to September 1880 the MR Super Outer Circle service ran through the station, from St. Pancras to Earl's Court Underground station via Cricklewood and South Acton. The main line station was rebuilt in 1983, nothing of the original station building remains. The separate London Underground station was opened on 22 June 1907 by the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), a precursor of the Northern line. The station was designed by Leslie Green with the ox-blood red glazed terracotta façade and the semi-circular windows at first floor level common to most of the original stations on the CCE&HR and its two associated railways, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway and Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway which opened the previous year. When Kentish Town station opened the next CCE&HR station south was South Kentish Town but that station closed in 1924 due to low usage. Gospel Oak station on the North London line opened in 1860 as "Kentish Town" but was given its present name in 1867 when the North London Railway opened Kentish Town West. It was the junction of services to Barking until 1981 when services were diverted to terminate and start from Gospel Oak. The spur line to Junction Road Junction was then closed, the track was removed and the trackbed has been sold for industrial use.

In April 2023, Transport for London (TfL) announced that the Underground station would be closed for "up to a year" from 26 June 2023 to allow both escalators to be replaced. TfL noted that the current escalators were the most unreliable on the network, owing to their age and bespoke manufacture. During the closure, the Underground station will be refurbished.

The station's northbound Northern line platform

National Rail platforms at Kentish Town station

Design

National Rail station

There are 6 tracks and 4 platforms at this station in northwest–southeast orientation.

Starting from the easternmost platform:

• Platforms 1 and 2 are Thameslink platforms in regular use, where all Thameslink trains accessing the core pass through, although only a minority of them stop here.
• Platforms 3 (which forms an island with platform 2) and 4 are on the slow lines of the Midland Main Line, which are normally used only by terminating services or a handful of Sunday morning services.
• The fast lines of the Midland Main Line do not have platforms at this station in both directions.

The National Rail station entrance is normally locked, with access from the Underground station. It is only opened when the Underground station is closed.

London Underground station

There are 2 platforms at this station, Platform 1 heading northbound and Platform 2 heading southbound.

Location

On the London Underground, it is between Tufnell Park and Camden Town stations on the High Barnet branch of the Northern line. On the National Rail, it is between West Hampstead Thameslink and St Pancras International stations.

Services

National Rail

National Rail services at Kentish Town are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 4 tph to St Albans City
• 4 tph to Sutton (2 of these run via Mitcham Junction and 2 run via Wimbledon)

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from Luton, Orpington and Rainham, as well as some late evening services to and from Bedford.

The station is also served by a night service between Bedford and Three Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

London Underground

The typical off-peak London Underground service on the Northern line in trains per hour is:

• 16 tph to High Barnet
• 4 tph to Mill Hill East
• 10 tph to Battersea Power Station via Charing Cross
• 10 tph to Morden via Bank

The station is also served by a night service on Friday and Saturday nights as part of the Night Tube. The station is served by a train every 15 minutes between High Barnet and Morden via Charing Cross.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
West Hampstead Thameslink		Thameslink Thameslink		London St Pancras International
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Tufnell Park towards High Barnet or Mill Hill East		Northern line High Barnet branch		Camden Town towards Battersea Power Station, Morden or Kennington
Historical railways
Haverstock Hill Line open, station closed		Midland Railway Midland Main Line		Camden Road (Midland) Line open, station closed
Terminus		Great Eastern Railway Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway		Highgate Road Line open, station closed
	Former services
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Tufnell Park towards Highgate		Northern line		South Kentish Town towards Charing Cross or Clapham Common

Connections

First Capital Connect train with a southbound Thameslink service.

London Buses routes 88, 134, 214, 393 and night route N20 serve the station.

Incidents

On 21 August 2020 a man was badly injured after he was hit by a sign that fell off the façade of the entrance to Kentish Town station. The sign, with the logos of TfL and British Rail, had been reported as looking as if it was about to fall, but no action was taken at the time. In April 2023 it was announced that Kentish Town tube would close for one year from summer 2023, to allow for repair works, leading to fears for the impact on local business.

Station closure

As the station was closed, the Northern Line platform roundels were changed. Instead of being kept to being "KENTISH TOWN", they changed it to "STATION CLOSED". Platform entrances were chained so that it could prevent trespassing if they managed to enter the station. Engineering equipment was put on the tracks, maybe to remodel the escalators.

External links

• Train times and station information for Kentish Town station from National Rail
• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station building in 1925