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The Widened Lines (also known as the City Widened Lines), officially called the Thameslink Core Route by Network Rail as a part of the Thameslink Programme, is the name of a railway line that now forms a section of the Thameslink route from King's Cross to within central London. For most of its life the line ran from King's Cross to , and it was completed in 1866 when the Metropolitan Railway was widened from two to four tracks between King's Cross and Farringdon and a four-track railway opened from there to Moorgate. The tracks were owned by the Metropolitan Railway but were used mainly by other railway companies. Connections to the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at King's Cross and London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) at Farringdon allowed cross-London services to run. There was very soon a connection to the Midland Railway at St Pancras, near King's Cross. In the early 20th century competition meant the cross London services died, although the GNR and Midland services into Moorgate survived. In 1976 the former GNR services were diverted via the Northern City Line to Moorgate, and in 1988 the cross-London route reopened for Thameslink. The line east of Farringdon closed in 2009 to allow the platforms at Farringdon to be extended to take 12-car trains. The line between Kentish Town and Moorgate was renamed the Moorgate Line〔 (Retrieved 10 December 2011)〕 when the line through Snow Hill Tunnel was reinstated for Thameslink. ==Construction== In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) opened the world's first underground railway. From Paddington the line was built using the "cut-and-cover" method beneath the New Road, connecting the main line railway termini at , and , then followed Farringdon Road in tunnel and cutting to a station at Farringdon Street near Smithfield, near the capital's financial heart in the City. The service was initially provided by gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. With connections to the Great Western Railway (GWR) and Great Northern Railway (GNR) under construction and connections to the Midland Railway and the LC&DR planned, the Met obtained permission in 1861 and 1864 for a four-track eastward extension to a new terminus at Moorgate and two additional tracks from King's Cross to Farringdon Street. The Met used two tracks for its own services, the other two tracks being used mainly by other railway companies, and becoming known as the City Widened Lines. A pair of single track tunnels at King's Cross connecting the GNR to the Met came into passenger use on 1 October 1863 when the GNR began running trains, those towards Farringdon Street calling at a single-platform station at King's Cross York Road, in the reverse direction at King's Cross Suburban station. A west curve towards Baker Street was built but not used for regular traffic and the track removed in 1865. Having withdrawn from running Metropolitan services on 10 August, the GWR returned on 1 October 1863 with through trains from such places as Windsor. The extension to Aldersgate Street and Moorgate Street (now Barbican and Moorgate) opened on 23 December 1865, and all four lines were open on 1 March 1866. The parallel tracks from King's Cross to Farringdon, first used by GNR freight train on 27 January 1868, entered a second Clerkenwell tunnel before dropping at a gradient of 1 in 100, passing under the Ray Street Gridiron carrying the original Met track before ascending a 1 in 40 slope to Farringdon. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Widened Lines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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