page_title: Kennington tube station
section_title: City and South London Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Kennington tube station / History / City and South London Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: Kennington tube station at the junction of Kennington Park Road and New Street (now Braganza Street) in Southwark on an Ordnance Survey Map.
context_page_description: Kennington is a London Underground station on Kennington Park Road in Kennington within the London Borough of Southwark. The station is at the junction of the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern line. Its neighbouring stations to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station to the south is Oval. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2.
  The station was opened in 1890 as part of the world's first underground electric railway and its surface building remains largely unaltered. In the 1920s, the underground parts of the station were reconstructed so that the line could be extended and larger trains could be used. Two additional platforms were provided for interchanges between the two branches.
context_section_description: In 1884, the City of London and Southwark Subway (CL&SS) was granted parliamentary approval to construct an underground railway from King William Street in the City of London to Elephant & Castle in Southwark. Unlike previous underground railways in London that had been constructed using the cut and cover method, the CL&SS was to be constructed in a pair of deep-level tunnels bored using tunnelling shields with circular segmental cast-iron tunnel linings. James Henry Greathead was the engineer for the railway and had used the tunnelling method on the Tower Subway bored under the River Thames in 1869.
  Construction work began in 1886, and in 1887 the railway was granted additional approval for an extension to Kennington, Oval and Stockwell. The CL&SS was originally designed to be operated using a cabled-hauled system of trains, but the haulage method was changed in January 1899 to use electric locomotives, making it the world's first underground electric railway. The CL&SS changed its name to the City and South London Railway (C&SLR) early in 1890.
  From Elephant & Castle northwards, the CL&SS's running tunnels were bored to a diameter of 10 feet 2 inches (3.10 m); on the extension through Kennington they were bored to a larger diameter of 10 feet 6 inches (3.20 m). Station platform tunnels 200 feet (61 m) long and 20 by 16 feet (6.1 by 4.9 m) were formed in brick construction with an arched top and flat base. The platforms at Kennington and most of the other intermediate stations were constructed at different levels, with one side wall of the upper platform tunnel supported on the side wall of the lower platform tunnel. Travel between the surface and the platforms was by hydraulic lift or spiral stairs with the lower lift landing being at a level between the two platforms with steps or ramps up and down to the platforms.
  The station building is a single-storey structure topped by a dome which originally housed the hydraulic equipment for the lifts. It was designed by T. P. Figgis and occupies the northern corner of the junction of Kennington Park Road and Braganza Street (previously New Street).  Before opening, the C&SLR considered naming the station New Street. The station was opened on 18 December 1890 along with the rest of the line.
caption: Kennington station on an 1890s Ordnance Survey map
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