Caledonian Road tube station

Caledonian Road is a station on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, between King's Cross St. Pancras and Holloway Road, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It was opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. The building was designed by Leslie Green.

Caledonian Road
Caledonian Road Location of Caledonian Road in Greater London
Location	Holloway
Local authority	Islington
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2015	6.13 million[2]
2016	5.73 million[2]
2017	5.72 million[2]
2018	5.29 million[3]
2019	5.60 million[4]
Railway companies
Original company	Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
Key dates
15 December 1906	Station opened
Listed status
Listing grade	II
Entry number	1401086[5]
Added to list	20 July 2011
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51.54833°N 0.11861°W
London transport portal

Caledonian Road station is located on Caledonian Road in Holloway, north London. The station continues to use lifts, never having been upgraded to escalators. Unusually for stations of its era, the lifts descend directly to platform level with no secondary staircases. In recent times this has meant that the station is now advertised as "Step Free" on line maps without rebuilding work taking place. The station is a Grade II listed building.[6]

The next northbound station from Caledonian Road is Holloway Road while the next southbound station was originally York Road. This station closed in 1932, but can still be seen from trains. York Road was planned to be open to relieve congestion at King's Cross St. Pancras.

Temporary closure

The station was scheduled to be closed from 4 January 2016 until mid-August 2016, to enable the two lifts to be upgraded.[7] A local campaign against the closure emerged via a Change.org petition and achieved close to 7,500 supporters. The petitioners claimed that the station could be kept open while new lifts were installed in two unused lift shafts. This was previously done when lifts were replaced in 1987 and the station remained open throughout.[8]

In January 2016, Islington Council announced that it had applied for a Judicial Review of Transport for London's plan, to be heard on 25 February 2016. On 19 January 2016, Underground management announced that the closure plan had been shelved and that new arrangements would be made to keep the station open during lift refurbishment.[9]

Service Pattern

The typical off-peak service from this station is as follows:

• 12 tph (trains per hour) to Heathrow Airport via Central London
  • 6 of these to terminals 4 and 1,2,3
  • 6 of these to terminals 1,2,3 and 5
• 3 tph to Rayners Lane via Central London
• 3 tph to Uxbridge via Central London and Rayners Lane
• 3 tph to Northfields via Central London
• 18 tph to Cockfosters
• 3 tph to Arnos Grove

Location

The station is close to Pentonville Prison and Caledonian Park, the site of the former Victorian Metropolitan Cattle Market, is a short distance away on Market Road.

Platform Level Tiling

The platform at Caledonian Road showing its distinctive tilework and colours

The distinctive nameplate and tilework pattern

The stations along the central part of the Piccadilly line, as well as some sections of the Northern line, were financed by Charles Yerkes,[10] and are famous for the Leslie Green designed red station buildings and distinctive platform tiling. Each station has its own unique tile pattern and colours.

Connections

• London Buses routes 17, 91 and 259 serve the station.
• Caledonian Road and Barnsbury station on the North London Line is about half a mile to the south.

References

1. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 August 2020.
2. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007–2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
3. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
4. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
5. Historic England. "Caledonian Road Underground Station (1401086)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
6. "16 London Underground Stations Listed At Grade II". English Heritage. Archived from the original on 14 September 2011.
7. "News In Brief: Caledonian Road lifts". Rail. Peterborough. 28 October 2015. p. 21.
8. Morris, James (30 October 2015). "Campaign launched to prevent eight-month Caledonian Road Station closure". Islington Gazette.
9. Morris, James (19 January 2016). "Power to the people after Caledonian Road Station closure is withdrawn". Islington Gazette.
10. http://www.londonreconnections.com/2010/the-man-who-painted-london-red/