 The station was opened as Westminster Bridge on 24 December 1868 by the steam @-@ operated District Railway ( DR ) ( now the District line ) when the railway opened the first section of its line from South Kensington . It was originally the eastern terminus of the DR and the station cutting ended at a concrete wall buffered by timber sleepers . The approach to the station from the west runs in cut and cover tunnel under the roadway of Broad Sanctuary and diagonally under Parliament Square . In Broad Sanctuary the tunnel is close to Westminster Abbey and St Margaret 's church and care was required to avoid undermining their foundations when excavating in the poor ground found there . 
