Greenford station

Greenford
Greenford Location of Greenford in Greater London
Location	Greenford
Local authority	London Borough of Ealing
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	Transport for London
Station code	GFD
Number of platforms	3 (2 LU, 1 bay); 1 bay platform face disused
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	3.95 million[1]
2012	4.05 million[1]
2013	4.35 million[1]
2014	4.63 million[1]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2008–09	74,196[2]
2009–10	0.105 million[2]
2010–11	0.153 million[2]
2011–12	0.174 million[2]
2012–13	0.191 million[2]
2013–14	0.196 million[2]
2014–15	0.232 million[2]
Key dates
1904	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°32′33″N 0°20′47″W / 51.5426°N 0.3463°W

Greenford station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Greenford, Greater London, and is owned and managed by LUL. It is the terminus of the National Rail Greenford Branch Line. On the Central line, it is between Perivale and Northolt stations while on National Rail, the next station to the south on the branch is South Greenford. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4.

History

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Greenford

The original Greenford station was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 October 1904 on the joint New North Main Line.^[3]

The present station, adjacent to the original, was built in the Central line extension of the 1935-40 New Works Programme of the London Passenger Transport Board. It opened on 30 June 1947 after delay due to World War II.^[3] Service at the original ("main-line") station was gradually reduced and it was closed in 1963. Operational responsibility for the station transferred from British Rail to London Transport with effect from 13 November 1967.^[4]

The old station for the New North Main Line can still be seen through the window of a Central line train.

The station today

Greenford station is above ground level with an island platform for the Central line. A bay platform facing south-east between the Underground platforms serves the Greenford branch service operated by Great Western Railway. The branch line then continues south and joins the Great Western Main Line at West Ealing.

Platform 1 is for London Underground trains away from London, usually to West Ruislip, and platform 3 for trains towards central London and beyond as far as Epping, where platform 2 serves the Paddington branch line.

The remaining wooden escalators at Greenford, now already removed to make the station step-free.

Greenford was the first London Underground station to have an escalator up to platforms above street level.^[5] Until 2014 it remained the final London Underground station with a wooden-treaded escalator in service; all other such escalators were previously converted to fully metal treads, or removed altogether from sub-surface Underground stations in the wake of the fatal 1987 King's Cross fire.

The line between Greenford and West Ealing carries infrequent freight services from Paddington New Yard and sand traffic for Park Royal and is used by occasional diverted passenger services.

Step-free access

In 2009, because of financial constraints, TfL decided to stop work on a project to provide step-free access at Greenford and five other stations, on the grounds that these are relatively quiet stations and some are already one or two stops away from an existing step-free station.^[6] However, there is no station with step-free access which is close to Greenford. £3.9 million was spent on Greenford before the project was halted.^[7] However, the step-free access project, consisting of an innovative glass incline lift, has now restarted, and the incline lift opened on 20 October 2015.^[8]

Signalling

One of the few remaining semaphore signalling installations in London is on the adjacent New North Main Line which Greenford East signal box controls along with the Greenford branch as far as South Greenford. Great Western type lower quadrant signals are still in use.

British Rail plans from the early 1990s to do away with Greenford East signal box and its semaphore signals, with upgraded signalling controlled by Slough and Marylebone signalling centres, were postponed indefinitely as the decline of rail traffic controlled by Greenford East did not justify the cost.

Services

London Underground

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:

• 9 tph westbound to West Ruislip
• 3 tph westbound to Northolt
• 9 tph eastbound to Epping
• 3 tph eastbound to Loughton

National Rail

Greenford branch trains (National Rail) run to Paddington every 30 minutes Mon-Sat; there is no Sunday service.^[9]

Connections

London Buses routes 92, 105, 395 and E6 serve the station.

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. "Central Line, Dates". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
4. "Platform Ticket News: Greenford". Journal of the Transport Ticket Society (Luton: Transport Ticket Society) (48): 348. December 1967. ISSN 0144-347X.
5. Bruce, J. Graeme; Croome, Desmond F. (1996). "The New Works Programme Resumed". The Twopenny Tube: The Story of the Central Line. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. p. 52. ISBN 1-85414-186-4.
6. "Disability and Deaf Equality Scheme (DES) 2009-2012". TfL. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
7. "TfL wastes £64million abandoning disabled access plans on the Tube". Evening Standard. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
8. UK’s First Incline Lift Coming To Improve Disabled Access At Greenford Underground… But 8 Crossrail Stations Won’t Have Step-Free Access
9. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 117 (Network Rail)

External links

• Train times and station information for Greenford station from National Rail