Wimbledon station

Wimbledon
Wimbledon Location of Wimbledon in Greater London
Location	Wimbledon
Local authority	London Borough of Merton
Managed by	South West Trains
Station code	WIM
DfT category	B
Number of platforms	11
Fare zone	3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	11.95 million[1]
2013	14.20 million[1]
2014	15.30 million[1]
2015	15.63 million[1]
Tramlink annual boardings and alightings
2009–10	2.243 million[2]
2010–11	2.294 million[3]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2010–11	16.21 million[4]
2011–12	18.24 million[4]
2012–13	18.902 million[4]
— interchange	1.37 million[4]
2013–14	19.302 million[4]
— interchange	1.329 million[4]
2014–15	19.527 million[4]
Key dates
21 May 1838	Opened (Wimbledon and Merton) with opening of the L&SWR main line
22 October 1855	Opened (W&CR to Croydon)
1 October 1868	Opened (TM&WR to Tooting)
21 November 1881	Resited on the opposite site of Wimbledon Bridge
3 June 1889	Opened (L&SWR/District to Putney)
1 June 1909	Renamed (Wimbledon)
7 July 1929	Opened (SR to South Merton)
2 June 1997	Closed (Railtrack to West Croydon)
30 May 2000	Reopened (Tramlink to Croydon)
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°25′24″N 0°12′15″W / 51.4232°N 0.2043°W

Wimbledon station is a National Rail, London Underground, and Tramlink station located in Wimbledon in the London Borough of Merton, and is the only London station that provides an interchange between rail, Underground, and Tramlink services. The station serves as a junction for services from London Underground's District line and National Rail operators (South West Trains and Thameslink), as well as Tramlink route 3. Some early morning services on the Thameslink route are provided by Southern. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3.

The station has 11 platforms. Platforms 1–4 are for London Underground, Platforms 5 and 8 are for inner suburban services, Platform 9 is for Thameslink and platforms 10a and 10b for Tramlink. Platforms 6 and 7 are for express and outer suburban services, but most of these services only call at Wimbledon during the lawn tennis championships.

History

The first railway station in Wimbledon was opened on 21 May 1838, when the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) opened its line from its terminus at Nine Elms in Battersea to Woking. The original station was to the south of the current station on the opposite side of the Wimbledon Bridge.

On 22 October 1855, the Wimbledon and Croydon Railway (W&CR) opened the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line to West Croydon via Mitcham and on 1 October 1868 the Tooting, Merton and Wimbledon Railway (TM&WR) opened a line to Tooting Junction (now just Tooting station).

On 3 June 1889, the District Railway (DR, now London Underground's District line) opened the extension of its line from Putney Bridge,^[5] making Wimbledon station the new terminus of that branch and providing Wimbledon with a direct connection to the developing London Underground system. The station was rebuilt on its current site for the opening of this service.

District line steam-hauled services were replaced by electric services from 27 August 1905. Main line suburban services were gradually replaced by electric rolling stock either side of World War I although long distance journeys continued to use steam-haulage until much later.

The station as it was in 1966

The station was rebuilt again with its current Portland stone entrance building by the Southern Railway (SR, the post grouping successor to the L&SWR) in the late 1920s as part of the SR's construction of the line to Sutton. Parliamentary approval for this line had been obtained by the Wimbledon and Sutton Railway (W&SR) in 1910 but work had been delayed by World War I.^[6] From the W&SR's inception, the DR was a shareholder of the company and had rights to run trains over the line when built. In the 1920s, the London Electric Railway (LER, precursor of London Underground) planned, through its ownership of the DR, to use part of the route for an extension of the City and South London Railway (C&SLR, now the Northern line) to Sutton.^[6] The SR objected and an agreement was reached that enabled the C&SLR to extend as far as Morden in exchange for the LER giving up its rights over the W&SR route. The SR subsequently built the line, one of the last to be built in the London area. It opened on 7 July 1929 to South Merton and to Sutton on 5 January 1930.^[6]

On 2 June 1997, the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line was closed by Railtrack for conversion to operation as part of the Tramlink tram operations. Part of platform 10 was used for the single track terminus of Tramlink route 3 and rail tracks and infrastructure were replaced with those for the tram system. The new service opened on 30 May 2000. The other part of platform 10 was used as a terminus for Thameslink services. In 2015 platform 10 was split into two tram platforms, 10a and 10b, to allow higher frequency service on Tramlink.^[7]

Wimbledon Station was also the haunt of a 'Railway Collection Dog'. Airedale Terrier "Laddie" was born in September 1948 and started work on Wimbledon Station in 1949, collecting donations on behalf of the Southern Railwaymen's Homes at Woking, via a box strapped to his back. He retired in 1956 having collected over £5,000 and spent the rest of his days with the residents at the Home. On his death in 1960 he was stuffed and returned to Wimbledon Station. He continued to collect for the Homes, in a glass case situated on Platform 5, until 1990 when he retired once more and became part of the National Railway Collection.^[8]

Accidents and incidents

On 12 October 1972, a freight train ran into the rear of an electric multiple unit that was standing at platform 10. Twelve people were injured. The accident was due to inattentiveness by the driver of the freight train.^[9]

Oyster cards

Wimbledon station presents an unusual procedure with the Oyster card pay as you go electronic ticketing system.^[10] Ordinarily, London Underground and National Rail passengers with Oyster cards must "touch in" at the start of their journey and "touch out" at the end. Those who fail to "touch out" will be charged the maximum possible fare from their starting point. Tramlink passengers starting a journey at Wimbledon, after passing through the entry gates, will not be able to "touch out" at the end of their tram journey, since tram stops provide no facility to do so. Instead they must "touch in" a second time on the tram platform at Wimbledon, after passing through the ticket barrier. The system will then recognise that no tube journey has been made.^[11]

A similar issue arises for passengers arriving at Wimbledon by tram. Normally tram users do not touch out, but at Wimbledon they must do so to leave the station. Touching out at the regular turnstile accomplishes this. If, however, a passenger touches their card at a standalone Oyster reader (such as the one by the manual gates), the system will see this as starting a new journey rather than ending one, and will deduct a maximum cash fare from the card.

Future

To increase the number of Tramlink services, a second platform has been built in place of the former Thameslink bay platform track.^[12] In order for the work to be carried out, the service was suspended between Dundonald Road and Wimbledon until Sunday 1 November 2015. The new platform is called '10b' and will allow the number of trams to increase to 12 per hour. Improved services are expected to begin in 2016.

If Crossrail 2 is built, new tunnels will be dug between Wimbledon and Raynes Park, calling at Wimbledon in tunnel and routing trains via Chelsea and central London to Hackney and beyond to either Alexandra Palace (in tunnel the whole way) or Hertford East (surfacing before Tottenham Hale, taking over the West Anglia Main Line north of there). This would provide another set of transport links for the area and direct services to Euston and King's Cross St. Pancras.

There is also a proposal for an extension of the Tramlink services running from Wimbledon to Sutton via Morden, St. Helier and Rose Hill.

Connections

• London Buses routes 57, 93, 131, 156, 163, 164, 200, 219 and 493 and night route N87 serve the station.
• During the annual Lawn Tennis Championships there is a dedicated bus service between Wimbledon Station and the LTA grounds in Church Road.

Services

A plan of lines in and out of Wimbledon Station

The typical off-peak service (Monday to Saturday) frequency is:

• South West Trains
  • 16tph (trains per hour) to Waterloo direct
  • 2tph to Waterloo via Kingston & Richmond
  • 4tph to Guildford, 2 via Cobham and 2 via Epsom
  • 2tph to Chessington South
  • 2tph to Dorking
  • 2tph to Hampton Court
  • 2tph to Shepperton
  • 2tph to Woking
  • 2tph to Basingstoke (Sundays only)
• Thameslink
  • 2tph to Luton Via Haydons Road and Tooting
  • 2tph to St Albans Via Sutton and Mitcham Junction
• District line (as of December 2014)
  • 3tph to Barking via Tower Hill
  • 3tph to Tower Hill
  • 6tph to Edgware Road via High Street Kensington
• Tramlink
  • 8tph (trams per hour) to New Addington

See also

• Wimbledon Traincare depot – located a little to the north of the station, on the west side of the main line tracks.

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. "Tram Stop Usage 2009-10 (FOI)" (XLS). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2009-2010. Transport for London. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
3. "Tramlink numbers 2010-2011" (PDF). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2010-2011. Transport for London. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
4. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
5. Rose 1999
6. Jackson 1966.
7. "Wimbledon tram stop reopens with new platform". 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
8. "Station Hall – Plan a visit". National Railway Museum. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
9. Glover, John (2001). Southern Electric. Hersham: Ian Allan. p. 138. ISBN 0 7110 2807 9.
10. http://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/wimbledon/
11. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/tramlink-user-guide.pdf
12. "Transport for London: Wimbledon to Croydon tram link". Retrieved 6 May 2014.

Bibliography

• Jackson, Alan A. (December 1966). "The Wimbledon & Sutton Railway – A late arrival on the South London suburban scene" (PDF). The Railway Magazine: 675–680. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
• Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Side entrance to Wimbledon station, 1955. This entrance has been rebuilt as part of the Centre Court shopping centre development.
• Pictures of both entrances to station