Snow Hill Tunnel

Snow Hill Tunnel runs beneath Smithfield meat market in the City of London, carrying two railway lines between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations. Constructed in the 19th century by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, it used the cut-and-cover method before the market was built above. The tunnel opened in 1866 and provided the only north–south railway route through central London. It linked main-line companies such as the Great Northern Railway at King’s Cross and the Midland Railway at St Pancras, allowing cross-London passenger and goods services. An eastward curve called the Smithfield Curve opened in 1871 but closed in 1916. Snow Hill station inside the tunnel opened in 1874 and closed in 1916, though goods trains used the tunnel until the late 1960s. After being abandoned for fifteen years, the tunnel was rebuilt in the late 1980s as part of the Thameslink route. New tracks were laid and services resumed in 1990, though no station was built at the site. The southern approach was changed, with part of Ludgate Hill raised to clear the new tunnel below.