West Ruislip station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| West Ruislip | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Place | Ruislip |
| Local authority | London Borough of Hillingdon |
| Operations | |
| Managed by | Chiltern Railways |
| Platforms in use | 4 |
| National Rail | |
| Station code | WRU |
| Annual entry/exit |
0.096 million * |
| Transport for London | |
| Zone | 6 |
| Annual entry/exit | 0.965 million † |
| History | |
| 1906 1948 |
Opened (GWR/GCR) Opened (Central Line) |
| Transport for London List of London stations: Underground | National Rail |
|
| † Data from Transport for London [1] | |
| * based on sales of tickets in 2002/03 financial year which end or originate at this station. Disclaimer (PDF) | |
West Ruislip is a London Underground and National Rail station in Ruislip in west London. It is the western terminus of the Central Line's West Ruislip branch, with Ruislip Gardens as the next Underground station towards London. For National Rail Chiltern Railways services, West Ruislip is between South Ruislip and Denham. The station is located on Ickenham Road and is in Travelcard Zone 6.
Contents |
[edit] History
The station was opened on 2 April 1906 as Ruislip & Ickenham by the Great Western & Great Central Joint Railway (GW&GCJR). The GW&GCJR connected London and the Midlands via High Wycombe and provided an alternative route to the Great Central Railway's (GCR's) main line through Aylesbury, Harrow and Wembley which shared its route with the Metropolitan Railway.
Prior to the Second World War plans had been made for a number of extensions to the Central Line. The London Passenger Transport Board's (LPTB's) 1935-40 New Works programme included the extension of the Central Line to run alongside the Great Western Railway (GWR) tracks from North Acton to South Ruislip and the GWGCJR tracks from there as far as Denham, although the post-war introduction of Green Belt legislation caused the extension to be cut back to West Ruislip. Had the extension been built in full, the next station would have been Harefield Road.
The additional tracks were constructed by the GWR on behalf of the LPTB and on 30 June 1947, the first section of the western extension opened from North Acton to Greenford. On the same date the station name was changed to West Ruislip (for Ickenham).
Central Line services began running from West Ruislip on 21 November 1948.
The station building was built by British Rail for London Underground and was not completed until the 1960s and at about the same time the sub-title was omitted from the station name. Some Central Line stations with older signage still show the longer name on the line diagrams on their platforms.
[edit] The station today
West Ruislip station is aligned approximately east-west with the main station buildings on the road overbridge across the lines at the western end of the station. The station has four platforms; two each for London Underground and National Rail services. The London Underground tracks are south of the National Rail ones and operate from an island platform whilst the National Rail platforms are outside of their tracks. The National Rail platforms are also served by a separate station building north of the tracks and adjacent to the car park.
In a legacy of the original scheme to continue the extension to Denham, the Central Line tracks continue for a short distance beyond the station before ending at buffers. The alignment of the unbuilt tracks can be seen in the width of the railway land south of the existing tracks.
The Central Line's Ruislip depot is east of West Ruislip station. It has a connection to the National Rail westbound track west of the station provided for rolling stock and material deliveries. The depot also has a connection to the Uxbridge branch tracks of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly Lines which pass under the Central Line east of West Ruislip. This connection is used for out-of-service transfers of stock between the lines.
[edit] Nearby places
- Ruislip
- Ickenham
- Adjacent to the station is RAF West Ruislip which has a co-located US Navy facility and elementary school. Former site of a US Air Force facility.
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for West Ruislip station from National Rail
- Street map and aerial photo of West Ruislip station from Multimap.com
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia or Google Map
- Street map from Multimap or GlobalGuide
- Aerial image from TerraServer
| Previous station | London Underground | Next station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | Central Line | |||
| National Rail | ||||
| South Ruislip | Chiltern Railways London-Birmingham |
Denham | ||
| Railway stations of London Central area | Greater London |
|---|
| Managed by Network Rail: Cannon Street • Charing Cross • Euston • Fenchurch Street • King's Cross • Liverpool Street • London Bridge • Paddington • Victoria • Waterloo |
| Managed by train operator: Blackfriars • Marylebone • Moorgate • St Pancras |
| UK railway stations |
|---|
