Wikipedia

Richmond station (London)

Richmond, also known as Richmond (London), is a National Rail station in Richmond, Greater London on the Waterloo to Reading and North London Lines. South Western Railway services on the Waterloo to Reading Line are routed through Richmond, which is between North Sheen and St Margarets stations, 9 miles 57 chains (15.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo.[9] For London Overground and London Underground services, the next station is Kew Gardens.

Richmond National Rail London Overground London Underground
Kew Road entrance as seen in 2024
Richmond is located in Greater London
Richmond
Richmond
Location of Richmond in Greater London
LocationRichmond
Local authorityLondon Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Managed bySouth Western Railway
OwnerNetwork Rail
Station code(s)RMD
DfT categoryB
Number of platforms7
AccessibleYes[1][2]
Fare zone4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Decrease 8.08 million[3]
2020Decrease 2.17 million[4]
2021Increase 2.20 million[5]
2022Increase 3.74 million[6]
2023Increase 8.88 million[7]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19Increase 11.667 million[8]
– interchange Decrease 1.578 million[8]
2019–20Decrease 11.003 million[8]
– interchange Decrease 1.539 million[8]
2020–21Decrease 2.699 million[8]
– interchange Decrease 0.329 million[8]
2021–22Increase 6.424 million[8]
– interchange Increase 0.780 million[8]
2022–23Increase 7.925 million[8]
– interchange Increase 1.030 million[8]
Key dates
27 July 1846Opened as Terminus (R&WER)
1848Station moved (WS&SWR)
1 January 1869Opened (L&SWR via Hammersmith)
1 January 1869Started (NLR)
1870Started and Ended (GWR)
1 June 1877Started (DR)
1 October 1877Started (MR)
1 January 1894Started (GWR)
31 December 1906Ended (MR)
31 December 1910Ended (GWR)
3 June 1916Ended (L&SWR via Hammersmith)
1 August 1937Stations merged (SR)
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°27′47″N 0°18′00″W / 51.463°N 0.300°W / 51.463; -0.300
London transport portal

Architecture

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The station building, designed by James Robb Scott in Portland stone[10] and dating from 1937, is in Art Deco style and its facade includes a square clock.[11] The area in front of the station main entrance was pedestrianised in 2013[12] and includes a war memorial to soldier Bernard Freyberg, who was born in Richmond.

History

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The Richmond and West End Railway (R&WER) opened the first station at Richmond on 27 July 1846,[13] as the terminus of its line from Clapham Junction.[14] This station was on a site to the south of the present through platforms, which later became a goods yard and where a multi-storey car park now stands. The Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WS&SWR) extended the line westward, resiting the station to the west side of The Quadrant, on the extended tracks and slightly west of the present through platforms. Both the R&WER and WS&SWR were subsidiary companies of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR).

On 1 January 1869,[15] the L&SWR opened the Kensington and Richmond line from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station) on the West London Joint Railway. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station, since closed, and Turnham Green and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) near Gunnersbury. Most of this line is now part of the London Underground District line; the line south from Gunnersbury was also served by the North London Railway (NLR) and is now used also by London Overground. Before this line was built, services north from Richmond ran somewhat circuitously via chords at Kew Bridge and Barnes.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870)[13] ran a service from Paddington to Richmond via the Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City line) tracks to Grove Road and then over the L&SWR tracks through Turnham Green.

On 1 June 1877, the District Railway (DR) linked its then terminus at Hammersmith to the nearby L&SWR tracks east of the present Ravenscourt Park station. The DR began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond.[15] On 1 October 1877,[13] the Metropolitan Railway (MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the former GWR service to Richmond via Grove Road station.

The DR route from Richmond to central London via Hammersmith was more direct than those of the NLR via Willesden Junction, of the L&SWR and the MR via Grove Road station and of the L&SWR via Clapham Junction to Waterloo. From 1 January 1894,[13] the GWR began sharing the MR Richmond service, resulting in Gunnersbury having the services of five operators.

After electrifying its tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the DR funded the electrification, completed on 1 August 1905, from Gunnersbury to Richmond.[15] The DR ran electric trains on the branch, while the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam hauled.

MR services ceased on 31 December 1906 and those of the GWR on 31 December 1910,[13] leaving operations northwards through Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury to the DR, the NLR and L&SWR. On 3 June 1916, the L&SWR withdrew its service from Richmond to Addison Road through Hammersmith due to competition from the District line,[13] leaving the District as the sole operator over that route and the NLR providing main line services via Willesden Junction.

Under the grouping of 1923, the L&SWR became part of the Southern Railway (SR) and the NLR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); both were subsequently nationalised into British Railways. On 1 August 1937, the SR opened its rebuilt station with the station building and the through platforms moved east to be next to the terminal platforms. At around the same time, the SR moved the goods yard from the site of the original terminus to a new location north-east of the station.

Accident

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On 18 September 1987, an accident occurred at Richmond when a westbound District line hit the buffers of platform 6 and broke the glass/perspex panels behind. No passengers were seriously injured.[16]

Crossrail

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A Crossrail branch to Kingston upon Thames via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, complex choices and engineering at the start of the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment.[17] It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to Turnham Green and on the existing track through Gunnersbury to Richmond (which would have lost the District line service) and thence to Kingston.

Platforms

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Richmond station
Legend
Ticket hall &
cafés (above)
 
 
 
 
7
6
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 District line &
 
eastbound
 
 
 
5
4
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mildmay line
westbound
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2
1
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Waterloo–Reading line
eastbound
westbound
stairs/lift
 
 
 
 
An Overground train at the station

The station has seven platforms numbered from south to north:

  • Platforms 1 and 2 are through platforms for South Western Railway services.
  • Platforms 3 to 7 are terminating platforms used by:
    • London Overground North London line services (normally platforms 4 and 5 but sometimes 3, 6 and 7)
    • London Underground District line services (normally platforms 6 and 7. Occasionally 4 and 5 but never 3 due to 3's lack of a fourth rail, which the District Line uses for electric power).

As of September 2011, work was under way to extend platforms 1 and 2 to accept 10-car trains.[18] The bulk of the lengthening was to be at the west (country) end; extending eastwards was deemed unviable by Network Rail as Church Road Bridge would have needed widening.[19] As part of these works, the platform canopies were also being refurbished.

The wide gap between platforms 3 and 4 originally had a third, run-around track for steam locomotives.

Eight retail units are at the station: four eatery-cafés on alternate sides of the barriers (two on the rail side being thin and smaller) similarly two kiosks, the upper one being a hot drinks kiosk through to a M&S Simply Food grocery store. A florist and a WH Smith flank the entrance.

Services

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Services at Richmond are operated by South Western Railway, London Overground and London Underground on the District line.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[20][21]

Additional services, including trains to and from Shepperton, Camberley, Aldershot and London Waterloo via Hounslow call at the station during the peak hours.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Putney
or
Clapham Junction 		  South Western Railway
  Twickenham
North Sheen   South Western Railway
  St Margarets
Preceding station       London Overground   Following station
Terminus   North London Line   Kew Gardens
towards Stratford
Preceding station     London Underground   Following station
Terminus   District line   Kew Gardens
towards Upminster
  Abandoned Plans  
Preceding station     London Underground   Following station
Terminus   Central line   Kew Gardens

Connections

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London Buses routes 33, 65, 110, 190, 337, 371, 419, 490, 493, H37, R68, R70, mobility route 969 and night routes N22 and N65 serve the station.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "London and South East" (PDF). National Rail. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  9. ^ Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 1L. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.
  10. ^ Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner (1983). The Buildings of England – London 2: South. London: Penguin Books. p. 521. ISBN 0-14-0710-47-7.
  11. ^ "Art Deco Gallery – Stations etc". london-footprints.co.uk. 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  12. ^ "'Jewel in the Crown' of a historic Town centre". Construct. FM Conway. Spring 2013. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Clive's Underground Line Guides – Hammersmith & City Line
  14. ^ Clive's Underground Line Guides – Hammersmith & City Line
  15. ^ a b c Clive's Underground Line Guides – District Line
  16. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Underground train crashes: Richmond 18-9-87". Thames News. Retrieved 13 April 2018 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ Rankin, David (21 July 2004). "Crossrail snub for Kingston and Richmond". Surrey Comet. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  18. ^ [1] [permanent dead link‍]
  19. ^ [2] Archived 15 July 2012 at archive.today
  20. ^ Table 59, 149 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  21. ^ "District Line Timetable". Transport for London. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  22. ^ "Buses from Richmond". National Rail. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
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