Farringdon Station

Farringdon
The new National Rail entrance, built as part of the Thameslink programme
Farringdon Location of Farringdon in Central London
Location	Farringdon
Local authority	London Borough of Islington
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	Transport for London Network Rail
Station code	ZFD
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	4
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	20.40 million
2013	21.76 million
2014	23.63 million
2015	23.78 million
National Rail annual entry and exit
2011–12	4.943 million
2012–13	5.041 million
2013–14	6.455 million
2014–15	7.007 million
2015–16	12.185 million
Key dates
10 January 1863	Opened as Farringdon Street
23 December 1865	Resited
26 January 1922	Renamed Farringdon & High Holborn
21 April 1936	Renamed Farringdon
1 July 1936	Goods yard closed
1982	Electrified
May 1988	Thameslink started
21 March 2009	Moorgate branch discontinued
Listed status
Listed feature	Underground station
Listing grade	II
Entry number	1298047
Added to list	17 May 1994
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°31′12″N 0°06′19″W / 51.520°N 0.1053°W / 51.520; -0.1053Coordinates: 51°31′12″N 0°06′19″W / 51.520°N 0.1053°W / 51.520; -0.1053

Farringdon is a London Underground and connected main line National Rail station in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, just outside of the City of London. It was opened in 1863 as the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway, which was the world's first underground railway.

Today the Underground station is served by the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines between Kings Cross St. Pancras and Barbican. The National Rail station is one of the less important main line central London stations, being a stop on the Thameslink route between St Pancras and City Thameslink, but that is expected to change when it becomes a major interchange station between the two largest transport infrastructure programmes currently under construction in the city: Crossrail and the Thameslink Programme, both scheduled for completion in 2018-19.

The station was opened on 10 January 1863 as the terminus of the original Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground metro line. The station, initially named Farringdon Street, was originally a short distance from the present station building. The line ran from the Farringdon area to Paddington, a distance of 4 mi (6 km). The station was relocated on 23 December 1865 when the Metropolitan Railway opened an extension to Moorgate. It was renamed Farringdon & High Holborn on 26 January 1922 when the new building by the architect Charles Walter Clark facing Cowcross Street was opened, and its present name was adopted on 21 April 1936. It was built in conjunction with a freight route to take to a depot to its south to supply Smithfield Market; there are cattle ramps onto the street West Smithfield for this purpose. Smithfield was redesignated as a wholesale 'deadmeat' market only before the initiation of services; the freight station was last used in the 1920s but remains in situ.