Charing Cross (; sometimes informally abbreviated as Charing +, Charing X, CHX or CH+) is a London Underground station at Charing Cross in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Bakerloo and Northern lines, and provides an interchange with its mainline station above. On the Bakerloo line, the station is between Piccadilly Circus and Embankment stations. On its branch of the Northern line, it is between Leicester Square and Embankment stations. The station is in London fare zone 1.

Charing Cross was originally two separate stations, known for most of their existence as Trafalgar Square (on the Bakerloo line) and Strand (on the Northern line). The Bakerloo line platforms were opened by the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway in 1906 and the Northern line platforms by the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway in 1907. In the 1970s, in preparation for the opening of the Jubilee line, the two earlier stations were connected together with new below ground passageways. When the Jubilee line platforms opened in 1979, the combined station was given the current name. Jubilee line services ended in 1999 when the line was extended to Stratford.

The station has entrances in Trafalgar Square, Strand, Villiers Street, Adelaide Street, William IV Street and in the mainline station. It is close to the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, Admiralty Arch, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Canada House, South Africa House, the Savoy Hotel, The Mall, Northumberland Avenue and Whitehall.

As of , Charing Cross is the station on the London Underground with million passengers using it per year.

History Planning From the 1860s to the 1900s numerous schemes for underground railways through central London were proposed, often using similar routes. Many of the schemes submitted to Parliament for approval as private bills included proposals for lines through the Charing Cross area with stations serving the South Eastern Railway's (SER's) Charing Cross mainline terminus and the area around Trafalgar Square.

1860s and 1870s

The first proposal came before Parliament in 1864, a year after the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway, and the year the mainline station opened. The North Western and Charing Cross Railway (NW&CCR) proposed a line in a cut-and-cover tunnel between the London and North Western Railway's terminus at Euston and Charing Cross. The was to have its own station on the north side of Strand before it came to the surface alongside the main line station and connected to the tracks on Hungerford Bridge. The railway was approved in July 1864.

The following year, the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway (W&WR) received permission to construct a short railway between Waterloo station and a station at the western end of Great Scotland Yard at the junction with Whitehall. The line was to be a pneumatic railway with the carriages sucked and pushed through the tunnels like a piston by fans at Waterloo. Construction works began for the ends of the cut and cover tunnels on each side of the River Thames and part of the cast-iron cylinder that was to be sunk into a trench dredged into the bed of the river.

Progress on both railways was halted in the Panic of 1866, a major crash in the London and international markets that led to the collapse of a number of banks and prevented funds being raised to continue the works. The was liquidated in 1868, and the plans were abandoned in 1869.

The plans were revived with minor changes by the Euston, St Pancras and Charing Cross Railway in 1870. A station was planned at the same location as the . Parliamentary approval was granted in 1871 and the company changed its name to the London Central Railway, but the scheme was again unable to raise sufficient funds. It was abandoned in 1874.

1880s

In 1881, the Central Metropolitan Railway proposed a cut-and-cover line running from Parliament Square to St Pancras. At the southern end, the line was to run under Whitehall, Trafalgar Square and St Martin's Lane, though the location of the station was not recorded. The section under Whitehall was opposed by the government and it was removed so that the line was to terminate at Charing Cross, but the whole scheme was rejected by Parliament in 1882.

Another proposal in 1881 was the Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway (CC&WER). The proposal was similar to the 17 years earlier; a short line running in iron pipes sunk into the river bed connecting Waterloo station to the north side of the river, this time to a station under Trafalgar Square. The scheme was the first in the UK to propose the use of electric traction for its trains and was supported by Sir William Siemens whose electrical engineering company Siemens Brothers was to provide the electrical equipment. The was approved in August 1882. A proposal to extend the route to the City of London was submitted to Parliament later that year, but was withdrawn the following year as the company struggled to raise funds. In 1883, the London Central Electric Railway, proposed an extension of the ; this time from the Charing Cross end with the line running to the General Post Office at St Martin's Le Grand. The plan was rejected. William Siemens died in 1883 and the plan was abandoned in 1885.

In 1884, proposals were made for two cut-and-cover lines to link Charing Cross with one of the northern terminals. The first proposal, the Charing Cross and Euston Railway, proposed a line between those two stations. At Charing Cross a terminal station was to be provided under Villiers Street which was to be closed to allow a separate branch to rise to the surface to cross the river on a new bridge adjacent to Hungerford bridge before connecting to the tracks south of the river. The bill was withdrawn in February 1885. The second proposal, the London Central Subway, proposed connecting Charing Cross and King's Cross. The station at Charing Cross was to be beneath the south side of Trafalgar Square below ground. The government's Office of Works objected to the proposed alignment on the north side of Trafalgar Square because it believed the tunnels would compromise the foundations of the National Gallery. The bill was withdrawn in April 1885.

Also in 1884, the King's Cross, Charing Cross and Waterloo Subway submitted a proposal to construct a line linking the three mainline terminals in its name. Unlike the earlier schemes and those of the Charing Cross and Euston Railway and London Central Subway, the company planned to construct its line at a deeper level with the tunnels constructed using a tunnelling shield and lined with cast-iron segments. The stations were to be constructed using the cut-and-cover technique with one platform above the other. Two stations were to be constructed close to Charing Cross: one to the south at the junction of Northumberland Avenue and Northumberland Street and one to the north in St Martin's Place. The bill was withdrawn in May 1885.

In 1889, the North and South London Subway was proposed. It was to connect Camden Town and Elephant & Castle, and proposed a station north of the National Gallery at the junction of Charing Cross Road and Green Street (now Irving Street). The bill was announced, but was not submitted to parliament.

1890s

Following the successful opening in 1890 of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), the first deep-level tube railway and the first underground railway using electric traction, a number of railways were proposed in London to be constructed and operated by similar means. In 1891, two bills were submitted for tube railways that were to serve Charing Cross: the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the Hampstead, St Pancras & Charing Cross Railway (HStP&CCR).

The was to connect Baker Street and Waterloo station and the was to connect Hampstead with Charing Cross with a branch to Euston, St Pancras and King's Cross. The former company's station was to be under Trafalgar Square and the latter's was to be at the junction of King William Street (now William IV Street) and Agar Street with a pedestrian subway under Strand to the forecourt of the mainline station. After a committee sat to consider these and the various other railways being proposed, the BS&WR was approved in March 1893 and the , renamed to the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), was approved in August 1893. The and the would become the first two lines through Charing Cross to be completed, though it was several years before construction began on either line.

In 1896, the City and West End Railway proposed a route running between Cannon Street in the City of London and Hammersmith via the West End and Knightsbridge. A station for Charing Cross was to be provided at King William Street. The company's east–west route would have been competition for a number of other lines that had been permitted but which had not yet opened: the under construction Central London Railway (CLR), the Metropolitan District Railway's (MDR's) proposed deep level line and the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway's (B&PCR's) line. Lobbying from these companies led to the City and West End Railway bill being rejected in April 1897.

The final new scheme of the 1890s was the Paddington and Charing Cross Railway's proposal in 1897 to link these two mainline stations. Its station at Charing Cross was to be under and parallel with Craven Street on the south side of the main line station. When the bill was first considered in January 1898, the promoters failed to attend Parliament to support it and the bill was declared "dead".

Also in 1897, the submitted a bill to change the route of the final section of its line. Instead of turning east at the end of Charing Cross Road to Agar Street and Strand, the route was revised to run south past Trafalgar Square to end at a station under Craven Street. The change was approved in July 1898 and the previous routing was abandoned.

1900s Like the opening of the ten years earlier, the successful opening of the in 1900 spurred another set of proposals for new lines with routes criss-crossing London.

1901

Proposals for the 1901 parliamentary session that planned to serve Charing Cross included three new lines and the extension of one already approved.

The Charing Cross, Hammersmith and District Railway (CCH&DR) proposed a line from just north of Charing Cross to Hammersmith via Knightsbridge and Kensington. Two stations were planned around Trafalgar Square: one to the north-east at Bedfordbury with its entrance probably to be located at the junction of Agar Street and Strand; the other on the south side of the Square.

The Piccadilly and City Railway (P&CR) proposed a line from Piccadilly Circus to Cannon Street. It planned to connect to other companies' lines at each end. The P&CR's station at Charing Cross was to be on the east side of Adelaide Street at the junction with Strand.

The Victoria, City and Southern Electric Railway proposed a line from Pimlico to Peckham Rye connecting Victoria with the City, Southwark and south-east London. Its tunnels would have run between Whitehall and Strand with a station to the south-west of the mainline station. The promoters failed to appear before the parliamentary committee and the bill was declared "dead" in January 1901.

The submitted a bill for an extension of its approved route south from Charing Cross to Westminster and Victoria.

To review all these bills and the others submitted for underground lines in London, Parliament established a joint committee under Lord Windsor. By the time the committee had produced its report, the 1901 parliamentary session was almost over so the promoters of the bills were asked to resubmit them for the 1902 session.

1902