Hatton Cross tube station
Encyclopedia
Hatton Cross tube station is on the Heathrow branch of the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 Piccadilly line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...

. It is in Travelcard
Travelcard
The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, Tramlink, London Buses and National Rail services in the Greater London area. Travelcards can be purchased for a period of time varying from one day to a year,...

 Zones 5
Travelcard Zone 5
Fare zone 5 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The zone was created in May 1983 and in January 1991 part...

 and 6
Travelcard Zone 6
Fare zone 6 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The zone was created in January 1991; from May 1983 it had...

 and stands between the Great South West Road (A30
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...

) and the Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 Southern Perimeter Road.

The station, itself in Hillingdon
London Borough of Hillingdon
The London Borough of Hillingdon is the westernmost borough in Greater London, England. The borough's population was recorded as 243,006 in the 2001 Census. The borough incorporates the former districts of Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington and Yiewsley and West Drayton in the...

, serves but a very small residential community in Hatton
Hatton, London
Hatton is a small settlement in the London Borough of Hounslow, on the southern perimeter of London Heathrow Airport and on the A30 road.-Etymology:Hatton's name comes from Anglo-Saxon Hǣþtūn = "heath farmstead".-Neighbours:...

 which is in Hounslow
London Borough of Hounslow
-Political composition:Since the borough was formed it has been controlled by the Labour Party on all but two occasions. In 1968 the Conservatives formed a majority for the first and last time to date until they lost control to Labour in 1971. Labour subsequently lost control of the council in the...

. The nearby area is either within the airport or mainly comprises its associated commercial warehousing
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...

 and light industrial
Light industry
Light industry is usually less capital intensive than heavy industry, and is more consumer-oriented than business-oriented...

 premises. "Hatton Cross" refers not to a religious structure but to the crossroads on the former coaching road leading southwest and is now applied to the overlying major road intersection immediately southeast of the station.

History

The station opened on 19 July 1975 in the first phase of the extension of the line from Hounslow West
Hounslow West tube station
Hounslow West is a London Underground station in Hounslow in west London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line, between Hatton Cross and Hounslow Central stations. The station is located on Bath Road about 600m from the junction of Bath Road, Great West Road and Great...

 to Heathrow Airport and remained the terminus until Heathrow Central opened at the airport on 16 December 1977.

The platforms at Hatton Cross are in a cut and cover tunnel. The platform tiling on the central columns features patterns made up from the British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...

 Speedbird
Speedbird
Speedbird is a call sign used by British Airways during air traffic control procedures, as well as the name for the stylised Imperial Airways and later, British Overseas Airways Corporation emblem.-History:...

 logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

. The station building, a brutalist
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...

 concrete and glass single storey box, incorporates the busy bus station which serves the airport and surrounding area.

For the new Terminal 4 at the airport a single track loop was tunneled from Hatton Cross to Heathrow Central (now called "Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3") with an intermediate new Terminal 4 station
Heathrow Terminal 4 tube station
Heathrow Terminal 4 is a London Underground station at Heathrow Airport on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line. The station is situated in Travelcard Zone 6.The station opened on the 12 April 1986 to serve the then recently opened Heathrow Terminal 4...

 which opened on 12 April 1986. The tube service to the airport then ran clockwise in a unidirectional loop from Hatton Cross to Terminal 4, on to Terminals 1, 2, 3 and back to Hatton Cross.

While tunnels to the later Heathrow Terminal 5 station
Heathrow Terminal 5 station
Heathrow Terminal 5 station is a shared railway station at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 which was opened on 27 March 2008. It was designed by architects HOK International in conjunction with Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners....

were under construction the loop and Terminal 4 station closed on 7 January 2005 and the tube service reverted to its previous two-way running between Hatton Cross and the Terminal 1, 2, 3 station; a shuttle bus from Hatton Cross was provided for passengers for Terminal 4. Service round the loop restarted on 17 September 2006.

From 27 March 2008, when Terminal 5 station opened, every other train of the twelve per hour arriving at Hatton Cross from London has taken the Terminal 4 loop and terminated at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3. The alternate trains run direct to Heathrow Terminal 5, via Terminals 1, 2, 3.

On its opening in 1975, Hatton Cross was one of 279 active stations on the London Underground, the highest ever; the number of stations in the network has decreased to 270.

Bus links

Apart from being a tube/bus interchange the station, at a limit of the Heathrow free bus zone, is a busy bus interchange. It is served by London bus routes 90, 203, 283, 285, 423, 482, 490, H25, H26 and X26 (an express route).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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