Not So Fleeting: The Jubilee Line

But some 20 years later, a 1965 publication, 'A Railway Plan for London', included proposals for a new line from Baker Street to New Cross and Lewisham, to be called the Fleet line.

There were to be 4 stages to the Fleet line’s construction:
1. The Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line would be taken over and a line would run from Baker Street to Charing Cross;
2. The line would be extended from Charing Cross to Fenchurch Street;
3. A line would run to Surrey Docks, take over the New Cross branch and then terminate at Lewisham;
4. An extension to Hayes and Addiscombe.

Parliamentary powers for the Baker Street to Charing Cross section of the line were granted in 1969, and work began in 1971. In 1977 the line was renamed the Jubilee line in honour of Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee, and on the 1st May 1979, the first stage of the line was opened. 

Parliamentary powers for stage 2 were obtained in 1971, but despite considerable spending on safeguarding the line through the city, plans were eventually aborted.

The East London Rail Study of 1989 concluded that the extension of the Jubilee from Green Park to Stratford, via Waterloo, London Bridge, and Canary Wharf, was the preferred option, and by the end of the year, the joint team had deposited the bill for the Jubilee line extension. 

Construction started 4 years later, and the extension incorporated the novel feature of platform edge doors. Trains were also of new design, with 6 separate cars with end windows. The extension opened in 1999, just in time for the millenium celebrations.

Did you know? The Jubilee line is the only Tube line that has interchanges with every other Underground line, including the Elizabeth line, plus the Docklands Light Railway, Overground and 6 National Rail stations.