| Summary : A branch from Edgware Road off the original Metropolitan Railway line opened as far as Gloucester Road in October 1868, and on to South Kensington in December that year when simultaneously the District Railway opened its line from South Kensington to Westminster. In the "clockwise" direction, the original 1863 line was extended east from Farringdon Street to Moorgate in 1865, to Liverpool Street in 1875, to Aldgate the following year and finally in 1884 to Tower Hill which the District reached itself in the "anti-clockwise" direction at the same time, creating the present Circle. The Circle Line shares almost all of its 22.5km (14 mile) route with three other lines, the District, the Hammersmith and City, and the Metropolitan. It has the distinction of serving most of London's principal main line railway stations, as well as providing useful connections with other Underground lines. The Circle Line serves 27 stations, has 14 trains operating at peak periods and now conveys some 70 million passengers a year. |