Kensal Green station
Encyclopedia
Kensal Green station is a Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...

 station served by 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...

 Bakerloo line
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...

 and London Overground
London Overground
London Overground is a suburban rail network in London and Hertfordshire. It has been operated by London Overground Rail Operations since 2007 as part of the National Rail network, under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London...

 trains. It is located in College Road, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 NW10 close to the junction with Harrow Road
Harrow Road
The Harrow Road is an ancient route in Greater London which runs from Paddington in a northwesterly direction to Harrow. With minor deviations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the route remains otherwise unaltered...

. It is about 0.5 mile (750m) route distance from the older Kensal Rise
Kensal Rise railway station
Kensal Rise railway station is on the North London Line on Chamberlayne Road, Kensal Rise in north west London. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2....

 station located to the north east on the North London Line
North London Line
The North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail...

, which was itself named Kensal Green until 1890.

History

The station opened on 1 October 1916 on the New Line
Watford DC Line
The Watford DC Line is a commuter railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction. Services on the line are operated by London Overground....

on the north side of the existing London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 (LNWR) tracks from Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

 to Watford
Watford
Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

.

Bakerloo line services had been running between Queen's Park and Willesden Junction since 10 May 1915.

Since November 2007, National Rail
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...

 services serving Kensal Green have been operated by LOROL
LOROL
London Overground Rail Operations Ltd , initially known as MTR Laing, is a train operating company contracted to operate the London Overground train service on the National Rail network, under the franchise control of Transport for London...

 under contract to Transport for London
Transport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...

 using the brand of London Overground; the station is managed by London Underground.

The station was in the news early in 2006, as it was the last station visited by Thomas ap Rhys-Price before he was murdered in a robbery in Kensal Green. The two main suspects had also visited the station that same night, a short time before the murder, and mugged a man on the platform. A suspect also tried to use ap Rhys-Pryce's Oyster Card a day after the incident at the station, and was picked up on CCTV, aiding the Police investigation.

This incident sparked a major public discussion on station safety and security, mainly because the station was un-staffed when the passenger was mugged. The only security present was CCTV cameras, and the ticket barriers were left open allowing the suspects to enter the station freely.
Many high-profile politicians spoke on the issue of station safety and called on train companies to provide security or staff the station until the last train had left the station.

The Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...

 at the time, Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...

, became personally involved in this, and publicly attacked Silverlink
Silverlink
Silverlink Train Services Ltd was a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operated routes in North London and from London to Northampton...

, the then operator of the station, for not providing staffing or security throughout the station's opening hours. He also stated that any company that wanted to bid for the subsidy to run the train line would have commit to staffing the station until the last train had left.
Eventually, towards the last quarter of 2006, Silverlink hired a private security firm to patrol the station, and also had speakers installed in the ticket hall to deter gangs of youths from loitering.

Nearby public transport

The station is served by bus routes 18 and N18 running west-east on the Harrow Road. It is about half a mile (750m) from other buses running north-south on the B450 Ladbroke Grove/Kilburn Lane/Chamberlayne Road to the east.

External links


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