Waterloo & City line

The Waterloo & City line, colloquially known as The Drain, is a shuttle line of the London Underground which runs between Waterloo and Bank stations with no intermediate stops. Its primary traffic consists of commuters from south-west London, Surrey and Hampshire arriving at Waterloo main line station and travelling forward to the City of London financial district. For this reason, the line has historically not operated on Sundays or public holidays, except in very limited circumstances. The line was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic; since reopening in October 2021 it is open only on weekdays. It is the only fully-subterranean tube line; the Victoria line runs completely underground in passenger service but has a ground-level depot.

Printed in turquoise on the Tube map, it is by far the shortest line on the Underground network, being long, with an end-to-end journey lasting just four minutes. In absolute terms, it is the least-used Tube line, carrying just over 17 million passengers annually. However, in terms of the average number of journeys per kilometre it is the third-most intensively used line behind the Jubilee and Victoria lines. When it opened it was the second electric underground railway in London, following the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern line). using a pressure differential of oz per sq in (about 11 mbar). The trains themselves would be the pistons. The company capital was to be £100,000. It was suggested that there could be a branch to where the Embankment station is now located: it is not clear how a junction would be managed in a pneumatic railway. There were to be three vehicles, one loading at each terminal and one in motion in the tube, so they must have been intended to pass at the terminals. There were to be three classes of accommodation in the coaches.

Work started on 25 October 1865, but less than a year later it was obvious that the capital was grossly inadequate. Authority for extension of time and more capital was obtained, but by then few investors had any confidence that their investment would gain a return. In 1868, a further extension was granted, but little further work was done, and nearly all the money had gone.

Construction

Following royal assent, the company prepared for construction. The new company issued its prospectus in March 1894 and the subscription list closed on 21 April; 54,000 shares at £10 each were offered and there was a slight over-subscription. A dividend of 3% per annum payable out of capital was promised during the construction phase.

Tenders were acquired for the main tunnel work, and a contract was awarded to John Mowlem & Co for the sum of £229,064 (). The consulting engineers were W. R. Galbraith (of the LSWR) and J. H. Greathead, developer of the tunnelling shield. The resident engineer was H. H. Dalrymple-Hay. Mowlems' engineer in charge was William Rowell.

Mowlem began work on 18 June 1894, first building staging in the river about west of Blackfriars Bridge. Piles were driven for a cofferdam and two vertical shafts of internal diameter were constructed as headings for the tunnel drive. The average depth of the tunnels is about , with its deepest points at the River Thames, at underground.

Driving the running tunnels started in November 1894, using the Greathead system of shield excavation, cast iron segment lining, compressed air working, and compressed air grouting behind the tunnel lining. Twenty men worked in each heading.

thumb|Removal of spoil in tunnelling the Waterloo and City Railway

The excavated material was removed from the staging near Blackfriars Bridge; it was conveyed there from the shields by a narrow gauge railway using electric locomotives supplied by the Siemens Company. Two were in use and a third was on order at August 1895. They operated on gauge track with a twin overhead trolley wire (i.e., not using the track for current return) at . The left hand platform line was extended by a train length and trains could be stabled in the extension. A large diameter Greathead shield was used to bore the section of tunnel where the track connections would be installed.

The tube section for the platform lines at the City station were in diameter, the largest in the world at the time.

Original signalling

In late 1897, contracts were let for the signalling equipment; the electric interlocking was to be carried out by W. R. Sykes, who had a call-off contract with the LSWR; a supplement to their standard prices for the tunnel work was agreed.

There were signalboxes at Waterloo at the south end of the northbound platform, and at south end of the northbound platform at City. There were conventional semaphore signals in the open south of Waterloo station, but all other signals were electric lights only. Sykes' lock-and-block system was used with depression-type treadles. Although there was only one signal section, advance starting signals were provided. The platform starting signals at Waterloo and at City had a lower arm, a "shunt-by signal" which when lowered indicated that the line was clear only to the advance starting signal. The main starting signal when lowered indicated that the line was clear to City.

An electrical traction current interrupt system was installed; a short length of contact bar was provided at each signal, connected to earth when the signal was at danger, and otherwise isolated. A "slipper" contact was fitted on the trains, and if it contacted the contact bar when it was earthed, the traction current was tripped.

Traction electricity

On 4 January 1897, a contract was signed with Siemens and Co for the electrical generating and distribution equipment, and the electrical train equipment, for £55,913. Although a German firm, Siemens had a large presence in the UK at the time. There were three lower tenders.

There were five boilers working at driving five (later six) high speed steam engines developing directly coupled to dynamos. The two-pole compound-wound dynamos delivered at no load and under full load; this gave at . Special attention was given to the closeness of the governing to ensure a stable supply voltage. The station lighting circuits were fed from the main switchboard and specially led to maintain lighting supply in the event of a traction current disruption. Station lighting used four lamps in series, with return current via the running rails. (Gas lighting was provided as a back-up.)

There was a short high-level siding within the Waterloo yard area; coal to fuel the boilers was brought in by ordinary LSWR wagons lowered to the running line by the carriage lift; the wagons were drawn through the northbound platform by an electric shunting locomotive, and another lift elevated them to the siding. Boiler ash was disposed of correspondingly.

City station

The City station was not originally called Bank. The Central London Railway (CLR, which became the central section of what is now the Central line) obtained the Central London Railway Act 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. cxcvi) varying their previously intended route, to take them to the area of the present-day Bank station. The act required them to construct a central station and booking office and public subways connecting the surrounding streets.

In 1901, a second, more powerful shunting locomotive was acquired. Designed by the LSWR Chief Mechanical Engineer, Dugald Drummond it had two four wheel bogies and was intended for the rescue of failed passenger trains in the tunnel. In 1915, it was removed from the tunnel and put to work shunting coal wagons at Durnsford Road power station, having had its shoe collectors altered for the surface traction supply system.

The Armstrong Lift

thumb|right|The Armstrong lift in 1988.

As the line had no connection to any other line, nor any ground level section, it was necessary to provide a hoist to bring the passenger cars to the line, and to get them out for heavy maintenance. This was provided to the west of the Windsor side of Waterloo main line station, and was known as the Armstrong lift, after the manufacturer, Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd, who was paid £3,560. It was operated by water power; at the time of construction hydraulic power was commonly used in urban areas, supplied by utility companies, to operate hoists and lifts. The lift was to be capable of lifting . It was completed in April 1898. There was a smaller hoist within the low-level siding area at Waterloo for the boiler fuel wagons; this had a smaller travel and was installed by John Abbot & Co for £595.

The line in operation

thumb|Artist's impression of Waterloo station at opening to the public

Once works were complete and the Board of Trade inspecting officer passed the line as fit, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge formally opened the line on 11 July 1898.

The Waterloo and City Railway opened to the public at 8 a.m. on Monday 8 August 1898, with a train leaving each terminal simultaneously. The fares were 2d one class only, payable at a turnstile, but returns and season tickets, and add-ons to surface tickets were available. From 1900, the turnstiles were removed and conductors travelled on the trains, carrying Bell Punch ticket machines. The daily average receipts in January 1899 were £86, and with steadily rising passenger usage and income the Company was able to pay a 3% dividend out of income following the annual general meeting of February 1902. Sunday services were not considered at this period, and in 1906 it was stated that "it would cost £20 each Sunday to run the trains, and they would not get that back in receipts."

Very soon after operation, it was realised that the line was running to capacity at the business peaks, then referred to as the rush, and very lightly used for the remainder of the day. Accordingly, in the spring of 1899 an order was placed with Dick, Kerr & Co. for five new motor cars for single operation. The driving cabs were half width; the traction motors, two per car, were nose suspended with single reduction gear. As with the earlier cars, the air brake reservoir was charged from static equipment at Waterloo. Five of these single cars were delivered in February 1900 and entered service in the spring. From that time, they alone worked the off-peak service, and the original vehicles only worked the peak services.

Absorption by the LSWR

The line had been worked by the LSWR from the outset, and in 1906 the LSWR made overtures to the W&CR concerning an outright absorption. It was suggested at an extraordinary general meeting of the W&CR that increasing competition motivated the LSWR. Powers were included in the South Western Railway Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7. c. lxxxv) passed on 20 July 1906 and shareholders' approval being obtained, the transfer took place on 1 January 1907, with the shareholders receiving LSWR shares, and the W&CR ceased to exist.

In 1915, the LSWR started electrifying its suburban routes, and for the purpose it built a large generating station at Wimbledon, Durnsford Road. The power for train operation on the Waterloo & City line was supplied from this from December 1915, and the original W&CR generating plant now served only ancillary purposes in the line, but also heating and lighting of the main LSWR Waterloo offices. The traction voltage on the W&CR was increased from the original to .

In 1921, it had been considered desirable to augment train lengths at the busy periods, and four new trailer coaches to the original specification were built at Eastleigh; 24 five-car trains were run per hour at the busiest times.

Southern Railway

By the Railways Act 1921, the main line railway companies of Great Britain were grouped into four companies, effective at the beginning of 1923. The LSWR was now part of the Southern Railway. Due to the Waterloo & City's status as part of one of the "Big Four" railway companies, it was not taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) at the latter's formation in 1933, making the W&C the only tube railway in London not to fall under the control of the LPTB. Despite this anomaly, the line was included on most versions of the Underground map produced by the LPTB and its successors up until the line's absorption into the London Underground network in 1994.

In 1934, the LPTB proposed that the Waterloo & City should have a new intermediate station at Blackfriars, connecting with the District line station there. They further proposed that the Waterloo & City line should be extended to Liverpool Street station and Shoreditch, the trains there continuing over the East London Railway to New Cross and New Cross Gate. It is not clear whether the scheme had been costed, but nothing came of it.

thumb|Interior of the [[Art Deco styled Class 487 trains]]

New rolling stock

In 1937, the Southern Railway carried out a thorough review of the technical aspects of the line, now 40 years old. This led to an immediate proposal to order new rolling stock in five-car formations, in association with the provision of escalators at the City station. The scheme was delayed and the declaration of war on 3 September 1939 led to cancellation of the escalator scheme. However, the rolling stock order was proceeded with, and the Art Deco style trains were delivered in 1940, later classified as Class 487.

On 13 April 1948, a serious accident took place at the Waterloo Armstrong Lift; coal was still taken down to the original generating station which powered station offices at Waterloo. A shunt of wagons was being propelled on to the lift at the upper level; four pawls were supposed to be engaged to provide partial support to the lift table, but it appears that some had not engaged. The table tilted, drawing the wagons and M7 locomotive number 672 on to the table; the table and the entire shunt including the locomotive fell down the shaft. The locomotive and wagons were cut up in situ.

thumb|[[Moving walkway at Bank station]]

The Travolator

When the line was built, the platforms at Bank (then known as City) were located a considerable distance from the surface exits, and a long sloping tunnel had to be negotiated on foot. This led to constant complaints and from 1929 there were many proposals to improve the arrangements, as passenger numbers increased, adding congestion to the physical exertion. The proposals had included new escalators, direct connection to adjacent Central London Railway (later Central line) platforms, and new, closer, tunnelled exits.

In the 1950s, a Speedwalk system of people movers consisting of a continuous rubber belt system, was implemented in certain American cities. After considerable delay considering this and alternatives, British Railways let a contract on 4 July 1957 for the civil engineering works in driving a new sloping access tunnel, in which a pair of travolators (at the time often written Trav-O-Lator) would be installed by Waygood Otis. Otis did not, at this stage, gain a contract.

However, as work was getting under way, the government imposed heavy cuts in capital expenditure on the railways, and after considerable deliberation, it was decided once again to defer alleviation of the problem; no financial benefit was anticipated from the scheme, whereas competing schemes would significantly reduce operational costs. The consulting engineers were directed to suspend work on 11 December 1957, although some enabling work, particularly a sewer diversion, proceeded.

The financial restrictions were not long-lasting, and on 10 July 1958 it was announced that the work would resume. It progressed without further major difficulties and a formal opening by the Lord Mayor of London took place on 27 September 1960, coming into public use immediately. There were two parallel travolators, each with a moving surface having 488 platform sections each ; the whole length is on an inclination of 1 in 7 (about 14.3%). There was a moving handrail. In the morning peak both travolators would operate upwards, with arriving passengers being required to walk down the original ramps; at other times one travolator operated in each direction. The original Otis Trav-O-Lators have since been replaced by CNIM machines.

In association with the work, some improvements were made to the station environment at the Waterloo station, and a minute frequency was implemented in the peaks; this involved some minor signalling changes, reversion to alternating platform use at Bank, and the use of turnover drivers and guards (where the arriving driver and guard are replaced by staff waiting at the appropriate place for the change of direction, sometimes referred to as "stepping up"). A Rear Cab Clear plunger is provided at Bank so that the arriving driver can confirm that he is clear of the cab and the "step-back" driver can depart when the signal clears. Overall, the work had cost £910,500.

Network SouthEast

thumb|A carriage being lifted out of Waterloo depot

In the mid 1980s, British Rail was split into business sectors, with the line falling under the purview of Network SouthEast (NSE). The line was branded as Waterloo and City, and the elderly Class 487 trains were repainted in the red, blue and white NSE livery. In September 1989, a total route modernisation project was agreed at a cost of £19 million. Both stations would be refurbished in the NSE style, track and signals would be replaced and new rolling stock was ordered.

At the same time as the upgrade project, the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo International was being built over a large area on the north side of Waterloo station. This removed access to the Armstrong Lift that allowed rolling stock and other machinery to access the line, and therefore a replacement shaft near Spur Road was constructed to allow access to Waterloo Depot.

London Underground

As part of the privatisation of British Rail, on 1 April 1994 the line was transferred to London Underground Ltd At the time, staff were given the option of transferring with the line or remaining in British Rail employment, and all except one chose the latter. The drivers are currently based at Leytonstone. The turquoise line colour was chosen by a lawyer working on the legal transfer of the line to London Underground. From 15 April 1996, the line began working to a new timetable, with three trains departing in each ten minutes during the morning peak.

In January 2003, the Waterloo & City was closed for over three weeks for safety checks after a major derailment on the Central line, which required all 1992 tube stock trains to be modified. That same year, responsibility for the line's maintenance was given to the Metronet consortium under the terms of a public–private partnership arrangement. The work included refurbishment of the tunnels, platforms and depot, full replacement of the track and signalling, and repainting and refurbishment of the trains. Four new battery-powered locomotives, named Walter, Lou, Anne and Kitty, were built by Clayton Equipment in Derby to haul materials and plant along the line during the closure. These works were expected to boost rush-hour capacity by 25% and line capability by 12%. It was also claimed that the average journey would be up to 40seconds shorter.

During the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics between late July and early September 2012, trains ran on Sundays to cope with the demand for travel in the City.

In the late 2010s, a new entrance at Bank station was constructed at Bloomberg's new London headquarters, providing direct access to the line via four new escalators and two lifts – providing step free access to the Waterloo and City line platforms. Although step free access is available at Bank, there is no step free access at Waterloo – and therefore the line does not have step free access.

Closure during the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, following the UK government's implementation of lockdown restricting all non-essential travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Waterloo & City line was suspended. The service remained suspended for 15 months, due to the low level of travel demand on the line, and TfL prioritising the use of train operators on the busier Central line.

TfL stated that they did not expect to reopen the line until demand increased, By March 2021, TfL stated that they expected the line to return to operation in May or June 2021, observing that services could be restarted at short notice if required. In May 2021, it was announced that the line would reopen from 21 June 2021. The line reopened ahead of schedule on 4 June 2021, initially operating a peak hour only service on weekday mornings and evenings, In 2026, the City of London Corporation lobbied TfL to restore Saturday services, as part of efforts to encourage visitors to the City at weekends.

Rolling stock

250px|thumb|A train of 1992 stock in its original Network SouthEast livery stands at [[Bank and Monument stations|Bank on the Waterloo & City line.|alt=]]

Toward the end of the 1980s, the Class 487 rolling stock fleet built in the 1940s was increasingly unreliable. As part of the total route modernisation project by Network SouthEast (NSE), the decision was taken to purchase new vehicles as an addition to an order for new 1992 Stock trains by London Underground for the Central line. Five 4-car trains were ordered, albeit in Network SouthEast livery and no provision for automatic train operation. A feasibility study into the new trains showed that new generation trains and track remodelling at Waterloo could increase capacity on the line by 50%, with 30 trains per hour. These trains would have an open gangway design, wider doorways, air conditioning and the ability to run automatically with a new signalling system. TfL could only afford to order Piccadilly line trains at a cost of £1.5bn. However, the contract with Siemens includes an option for 10 trains for the Waterloo & City line in the future. This would take place after the delivery of the Piccadilly line trains in the 2030s.

Historic rolling stock

After tendering, a contract for supply of the passenger vehicles was let to the Jackson and Sharp Company of Wilmington, Delaware in the sum of £21,675. The vehicles were to be shipped to Southampton in knock-down kit form, to be assembled at Eastleigh Works by the LSWR.

By 6 January 1898, a skeleton carriage could be run through the tunnels to verify clearances and the first fully assembled train of four carriages was run from Eastleigh to Waterloo on 4 March 1898. The lift for lowering rolling stock to the tunnel level, and some electrical work, were not ready, but on 4 June 1898 a successful trial run was made.

The motor coaches were overall length, and the trailers were , both being wide at floor level and high from rail level. There were 11 of each type, to run in four four-car formations with spares.

The accommodation was of the open saloon type, then a novelty in Britain; there were gate entrances at the end of the vehicles. The trailers seated 56 persons, and the motor coaches seated 46, with a raised section over the motor bogie.

The traction motors by Siemens were series-wound gearless motors on the axles. The trains ran in a formation of four cars, the two outer vehicles being motor coaches. The motor cars were constructed to allow an early form of multiple unit operation and the front car's controller was additionally able to control the rear car's motors. The two motors at each end were connected in series at starting, then reconnected in parallel (using open circuit transition) as the train accelerated in the well established (at that time) method. This required eight cables to be run the length of the train at roof level.  A further cable making nine in all linked the collector shoes at opposite ends of the four-car set to avoid problems with the large gaps in the centrally mounted conductor rail.

There was a crew of six at first: driver, driver's assistant, guard and three gatemen; the driver's assistant was subsequently no longer required. The trains used Westinghouse brakes, and the air reservoirs were charged from static compressors at Waterloo. They were charged to , running down to before needing to be recharged. Lighting was run from the power circuit, with four lamps in series from the nominal.

New trains ordered by the Southern Railway

thumb|Preserved 1940 stock at the London Transport Museum Depot

In the late 1930s, new rolling stock was ordered by the Southern Railway. Despite the declaration of war in September 1939, the work was considered well advanced, and 12 motor coaches and 16 trailers were ordered from English Electric, and built at the Dick, Kerr & Co. works at Preston. The Art Deco style trains were delivered through 1940, and the old cars were removed from the line on 25 October 1940, the new cars starting work on 28 October, with the line closed over the intervening weekend.

Constructed of welded steel, trains were run in five-car formations, Motor coach + trailer + trailer + trailer + motor coach, with spares for overhaul. The motor coaches had cabs at each end, enabling single-car operation by them; they had two axle-hung traction motors rated at for one hour. The new trains had on-board compressors for the air brakes, and interior lights were in two circuits, one fed from the motor car at one end of the unit, and one from the other, avoiding total lighting loss in passing conductor rail gaps. The conductor rail was altered to the outside position normal for the third-rail system. There was no train power line, and each motor coach collected its own electric supply.

Extension proposals

There have been proposals to extend the Waterloo & City line for over a century. After acquiring the Great Northern & City Railway (GN&C) in 1913 (the current Northern City Line), the Metropolitan Railway considered proposals to join the GN&C to the Waterloo & City or to the Circle line, but these never came to fruition. Any extension of the line north would be difficult because of the complex web of tube lines around Bank, and an extension south would be unlikely to provide demand that matched the cost. The narrow tunnels and short train lengths of the current route make any extension less cost-effective than larger projects such as Crossrail 2, which cost more but start with modern tunnels and promise far greater benefits.

The London Plan Working Party Report of 1949 envisaged as its Route G the electrification of the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway (LTS), and its diversion away from Fenchurch Street to Bank and on through the Waterloo & City tunnels to Waterloo and its suburban lines. The Waterloo & City tunnels would have had to be bored out to main line size to enable this, at prohibitive cost. In the event, only the electrification of the LTS took place, though the Docklands Light Railway tunnel from Minories to the Bank follows part of the envisaged route.

The revised Working Party Report of 1965 did not mention the Route G proposal, though it does conclude that "[t]he possibility of extending the Waterloo & City line northwards to Liverpool Street has been examined, but found to be physically impracticable."

Around 2009, the Green Party revived the Metropolitan's plan of connecting the Northern City and Waterloo & City lines as a Crossrail route.

Service

Trains on the Waterloo & City line run every five minutes on the weekday off-peak, providing a service of 12 trains per hour each direction.

Map and stations

300px

{| class="wikitable"

! Station !! Image !! Opened !! Additional information

|Bank || 100x100px|| 8 August 1898 || Opened as City, renamed 28 October 1940. Connects with Central, Circle, District and Northern lines and Docklands Light Railway.

|Waterloo || 100px || 8 August 1898 ||Connects with Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines and National Rail services. The platforms at Waterloo are numbered 25 and 26 to coincide with the Mainline station, a remnant of BR days.

In popular culture

The Waterloo and City line is closed on Sundays; as a result, it has become a well-established and convenient location for film companies. When it was owned by British Rail and its predecessors, it could be used when London Transport were unable or unwilling to allow access to their own stations or lines.

The film The Long Memory (1953) contains a suicide attempt on the railway.
It can be also seen in the Norman Wisdom film On the Beat (1962), where filming took place on 12 August 1961.
Scenes for a murder in the film The Liquidator (1965) were recorded at Bank station.
The second series of the BBC's Survivors was filmed on the line, representing various parts of the Central and Northern lines.
In the television adaptation of The Tripods (1984), Waterloo masquerades as Porte de la Chapelle station on the Paris Métro.
Waterloo was also used in the Peter Howitt film Sliding Doors (1998), portraying Embankment and one other unknown District line station.

Other details

The remnants of one of the Greathead tunnelling shields used in the construction of the line can be seen in the interchange tunnel at Bank connecting the Waterloo and City line platforms with those of the Northern line and the Docklands Light Railway. It is painted red.

The Waterloo & City line is colloquially known as The Drain, and it was given the Engineer's Line Reference code 'DRN' by British Rail. The origins of this nickname seem to be uncertain; it may be due to the tunnels beneath the Thames continually leaking and the resulting water needing to be pumped out,

Uniquely among London's Underground lines, virtually all infrastructure on the Waterloo & City line is completely underground, including all track, both stations, and the maintenance depot at Waterloo. (The Victoria line is also underground for the entire passenger route and all stations, but has a surface level, open-air depot for maintenance.) There are no track connections with any other railway line; all equipment transfers to and from the line are accomplished from the shaft and road crane at the Waterloo depot.

Similar services

The 42nd Street Shuttle on the New York City Subway runs between Times Square and Grand Central.
The Ramal on the Madrid Metro, linking Ópera and Príncipe Pío stations.
Línia 12 of the Barcelona Metro (managed by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya: FGC) links only two nearby stations: Sarrià (connecting to L6) and Reina Elisenda.
The T7 Olympic Park Line on the Sydney Trains Network connecting Olympic Park and Lidcombe.