West Hampstead railway station

West Hampstead railway station is a London Overground station on the North London Line between Brondesbury and Finchley Road & Frognal in the London Borough of Camden and is in Travelcard Zone 2.

West Hampstead London Overground
West Hampstead is located in Greater London
West Hampstead
West Hampstead
Location of West Hampstead in Greater London
LocationWest Hampstead
Local authorityLondon Borough of Camden
Managed byLondon Overground
OwnerNetwork Rail
Station code(s)WHD
DfT categoryD
Number of platforms2
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone2
OSIWest Hampstead London Underground
West Hampstead Thameslink Thameslink[2]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19Decrease 4.521 million[3]
– interchange Decrease 0.650 million[3]
2019–20Decrease 4.044 million[3]
– interchange Increase 0.665 million[3]
2020–21Decrease 1.554 million[3]
– interchange Decrease 0.200 million[3]
2021–22Increase 2.898 million[3]
– interchange Increase 0.447 million[3]
2022–23Increase 3.297 million[3]
– interchange Increase 0.828 million[3]
Key dates
1 March 1888Opened
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°32′50″N 0°11′30″W / 51.5473°N 0.1918°W / 51.5473; -0.1918
London transport portal

The station and all trains are operated by London Overground. The station entrance is on West End Lane.

History

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The station opened on 1 March 1888 and was called West End Lane until 1975, when it became West Hampstead (making it one of three stations of essentially the same name along West End Lane).[4] The train service was provided by the North London Railway until 1909, when management of the NLR was taken over by the London and North Western Railway. Complete amalgamation with the LNWR followed in 1922, and the LNWR then amalgamated with other railways to form the LMS from January 1923. The LMS became the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and the shortened brand name British Rail was used from 1965. The station and the rest of the North London Line was included in the reorganised BR business Network SouthEast in 1986.

Following the privatisation of British Rail, the station was managed by the Silverlink franchise (National Express) from 1997 until 2007, when operations passed to Transport for London's new London Overground.

After privatisation, Anglia Railways ran a regional service for a while between Norwich and Basingstoke which called here. This service, known as London Crosslink, was discontinued in Autumn 2002 because of a shortage of train paths on the North London Line and the financial return being less than forecast.[citation needed]

The station was initially refurbished towards the end of 2007, to coincide with the takeover of the line by London Overground.

The station was comprehensively upgraded in the late 2010s thanks in part to the adjacent Ballymore West Hampstead Square development.[5][6] The upgrade included a new station building, wider platforms and step free access,[7] and was completed in December 2019.[8]

Accidents and incidents

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  • On 23 February 1937, an express freight train, hauled by LMS Hughes Crab 2-6-0 No. 2765, was derailed near the station.[9]

Interchanges

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Stations in West Hampstead
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  London Overground station
  Thameslink station
 
 
 
 
 
 
West Hampstead
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   Finchley Road
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finchley Road
(MR) (1868–1927)
 
 
 
 
 
 
  Finchley Road & Frognal
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

West Hampstead railway station has an out of station interchange with both West Hampstead Thameslink railway station and West Hampstead Underground station. The arrangement of three separate stations (Thameslink, Overground and Jubilee Line) means that passengers wishing to change lines must walk along or cross West End Lane, a busy main road.

Development

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A West Hampstead interchange proposal was put forward in 2004 by Chiltern Railways which would link the three West Hampstead stations with subterranean walkways. New platforms would be built for the Chiltern Main Line, and possibly also for the Metropolitan line, and the Thameslink and London Overground (formerly Silverlink) stations would be relocated on the east side of West End Lane.[10] The redevelopment would involve demolishing existing buildings and the redevelopment of West End Lane as "a tree-lined boulevard".[11][12] The plans were put on hold in 2007 due to uncertainty over the North London Line rail franchise.[13] This has now been shelved with Network Rail instead redeveloping the Thameslink station by installing a second footbridge with lift access leading to a new station building on Iverson Road.[14]

In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a plan[15] for an off-road, mainly orbital North and West London Light Railway, sharing the orbital Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and taking over at least one of the two Midland Railway freight lines which run through the neighbouring West Hampstead Thameslink station.

Connections

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London Buses routes 139, 328 and C11 serve the station.

Services

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All services at West Hampstead are operated by London Overground using Class 378 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[16][17]

During the late evenings, the services to and from Clapham Junction do not operate.

Preceding station     London Overground Following station
Brondesbury North London line Finchley Road & Frognal
towards Stratford
Historical Railways
Anglia Railways

References

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  1. ^ "London Overground's West Hampstead station becomes step-free". Transport for London. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Out-of-Station Interchanges" (Microsoft Excel). Transport for London. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Joe Brown (2006). London Railway Atlas. Ian Allan Publishing.
  5. ^ Turton, Jonathan (12 July 2013). "New Overground station to be built next year". West Hampstead Life. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  6. ^ "West Hampstead Square | Ballymore". ballymoregroup.com. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  7. ^ "London Overground's West Hampstead station becomes step-free". Transport for London. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  8. ^ "Work to improve London Overground's West Hampstead station is complete". Transport for London. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  9. ^ Trevena, Arthur (1980). Trains in Trouble. Vol. 1. Redruth: Atlantic Books. p. 40. ISBN 0-906899-01-X.
  10. ^ "Planning Framework for West Hampstead Interchange Area Appendix 2". London Borough of Camden. 19 April 2005. p. 25. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  11. ^ "West Hampstead Interchange". AlwaysTouchOut.com. 11 January 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  12. ^ "West Hampstead Interchange Draft Planning Framework". London Borough of Camden. 19 April 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  13. ^ "Station interchange plans put on hold". Camden New Journal. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  14. ^ "Thameslink station redevelopment gets go-ahead". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  15. ^ London Campaign for Better Transport North and West London light railway (NWLLR) / Brent Cross Railway (BCR) plan
  16. ^ Table 59 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  17. ^ "London Overground Timetable: Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford" (PDF). Transport for London. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
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