Richmond station (London)
Encyclopedia
Richmond station is a National Rail
and London Underground
station in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
in south west London
which is managed by South West Trains
.
It is on the National Rail Waterloo to Reading Line
on which South West Trains services run, and is the western terminus for services of London Overground
on the National Rail North London Line
and of London Underground
District Line
trains. The next station to the northeast on the terminating lines is . On the through line Richmond is between and St. Margarets stations.
(L&SWR).
On 1 January 1869 the L&SWR opened a line to Richmond from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station
) on the West London Joint Railway
. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station
, since closed, and and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) near . Most of this line is now part of the London Underground District line; the line south from Gunnersbury was also served by the North London Railway
(NLR) and is now used also by London Overground. Before this line was built services north from Richmond ran somewhat circuitously via chords at Kew Bridge and Barnes
.
The Great Western Railway
(GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870) ran a service from to Richmond via the Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City Line
) tracks to Grove Road then over the L&SWR tracks through Turnham Green.
On 1 June 1877 the Metropolitan District Railway
(MDR), later known as the District Railway, linked its then terminus at Hammersmith to the nearby L&SWR tracks east of the present station. The MDR began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway
(MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the former GWR service to Richmond via Grove Road station.
The MDR route from Richmond to central London via Hammersmith was more direct than those of the NLR via , of the L&SWR and the MR via Grove Road station and of the L&SWR via Clapham Junction to Waterloo. From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR Richmond service, resulting in Gunnersbury having the services of five operators.
After electrifying
its tracks north of in 1903, the MDR funded the electrification, completed on 1 August 1905, from Gunnersbury to Richmond. The MDR ran electric
trains on the branch while the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam
hauled.
MR services ceased on 31 December 1906 and those of the GWR on 31 December 1910 leaving operations northwards through Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury to the MDR (by then known as the District Railway), the NLR and L&SWR. On 3 June 1916 the L&SWR withdrew its service from Richmond to Addison Road through Hammersmith due to competition from the District line, leaving the District as the sole operator over that route and the NLR providing mainline services via Willesden Junction.
Under the grouping of 1923
the L&SWR became part of the Southern Railway
(SR) and the NLR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
(LMS); both were subsequently nationalised into British Rail
ways. On 1 August 1937 the SR opened its rebuilt station with the station building and the through platforms moved east to be next to the terminal platforms. At around the same time the SR moved the goods yard from the site of the original terminus to a new location north-east of the station.
branch to Kingston upon Thames
via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, uncertainty over the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment. It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to and on the existing track through to Richmond, which would have lost the District Line service, and thence to Kingston.
As of September 2011 work is currently underway to extend platforms 1 and 2 to accept 10-car trains. The bulk of the lengthening will be to the west (country) end; extending eastwards was deemed unviable by Network Rail as Church Road Bridge would have needed widening. As part of these works the platform canopies are also being refurbished.
The wide gap between platforms 3 and 4 originally had a third, run-around, track for steam locomotives.
The Heathrow Airtrack
proposal of the October 2008 consultation, would have two more fast trains per hour to Waterloo and two trains per hour to station from 2014. Although vociferous objection arises about possible level-crossing congestion on the Chertsey line, the effect of 20 trains per hour through the four crossings between Richmond and Barnes, where even now five trains may pass at one closure, is muted
(24 hours), 65
(24 hours), 190, 337, 371, 493, H22
, H37, R68, R70 and night route N22.
There is a taxi rank at the station entrance.
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...
and 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...
station in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is a London borough in South West London, UK, which forms part of Outer London. It is unique because it is the only London borough situated both north and south of the River Thames.-Settlement:...
in south west 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...
which is managed by South West Trains
South West Trains
South West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...
.
It is on the National Rail Waterloo to Reading Line
Waterloo to Reading Line
The Waterloo to Reading Line is a National Rail suburban electric railway line running generally westwards from London, England. It is operated by South West Trains...
on which South West Trains services run, and is the western terminus for services of 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...
on the National Rail 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...
and of 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...
District Line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
trains. The next station to the northeast on the terminating lines is . On the through line Richmond is between and St. Margarets stations.
History
The Richmond and West End Railway (R&WER) opened the first station at Richmond on 27 July 1846 as the terminus of its line from on a site, which later became a goods yard, to the south of the present through platforms and where a multi-storey car park now stands. The Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WS&SWR) extended the line westward resiting the station to the west side of The Quadrant, on the extended tracks slightly west of the present through platforms. Both the R&WER and WS&SWR were subsidiary companies of the London and South Western RailwayLondon and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
(L&SWR).
On 1 January 1869 the L&SWR opened a line to Richmond from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
) on the West London Joint Railway
West London Line
The West London Line is a short railway in inner West London which links lines at in the south to lines near Willesden Junction in the north. It has always been an important cross-London link especially for freight services...
. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station
Hammersmith (Grove Road) station
Hammersmith railway station was on the London and South Western Railway . It was located in Grove Road , Hammersmith, adjacent to the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines station....
, since closed, and and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) near . Most of this line is now part of the London Underground District line; the line south from Gunnersbury was also served by the North London Railway
North London Railway
The North London Railway was a railway company that opened lines connecting the north of London to the East and West India Docks. The main east to west route is now part the North London Line. Other lines operated by the company fell into disuse, but were later revived as part of the Docklands...
(NLR) and is now used also by London Overground. Before this line was built services north from Richmond ran somewhat circuitously via chords at Kew Bridge and Barnes
Barnes
Barnes is a riverside London suburb in southwest London and in terms of local governance falls under the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located around west south-west of Charing Cross in a loop of the River Thames, with Hammersmith Bridge at the north end...
.
The Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
(GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870) ran a service from to Richmond via the Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City Line
Hammersmith & City Line
The Hammersmith & City line is a subsurface London Underground line. It connects Hammersmith in the west with Barking in the east, running through the northern part of central London. It is coloured salmon pink on the Tube map...
) tracks to Grove Road then over the L&SWR tracks through Turnham Green.
On 1 June 1877 the Metropolitan District Railway
Metropolitan District Railway
The Metropolitan District Railway was the predecessor of the District line of the London Underground. Set up on 29 July 1864, at first to complete the "Inner Circle" railway around central London, it was gradually extended into the suburbs...
(MDR), later known as the District Railway, linked its then terminus at Hammersmith to the nearby L&SWR tracks east of the present station. The MDR began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
(MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the former GWR service to Richmond via Grove Road station.
The MDR route from Richmond to central London via Hammersmith was more direct than those of the NLR via , of the L&SWR and the MR via Grove Road station and of the L&SWR via Clapham Junction to Waterloo. From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR Richmond service, resulting in Gunnersbury having the services of five operators.
After electrifying
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
its tracks north of in 1903, the MDR funded the electrification, completed on 1 August 1905, from Gunnersbury to Richmond. The MDR ran electric
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
trains on the branch while the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
hauled.
MR services ceased on 31 December 1906 and those of the GWR on 31 December 1910 leaving operations northwards through Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury to the MDR (by then known as the District Railway), the NLR and L&SWR. On 3 June 1916 the L&SWR withdrew its service from Richmond to Addison Road through Hammersmith due to competition from the District line, leaving the District as the sole operator over that route and the NLR providing mainline services via Willesden Junction.
Under the grouping of 1923
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...
the L&SWR became part of the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...
(SR) and the NLR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
(LMS); both were subsequently nationalised into British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways. On 1 August 1937 the SR opened its rebuilt station with the station building and the through platforms moved east to be next to the terminal platforms. At around the same time the SR moved the goods yard from the site of the original terminus to a new location north-east of the station.
Crossrail
A CrossrailCrossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...
branch to Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...
via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, uncertainty over the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment. It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to and on the existing track through to Richmond, which would have lost the District Line service, and thence to Kingston.
Platforms
The station has seven platforms:- Platforms 1 and 2 are through platforms for South West Trains services.
- Platforms 3 to 7 are terminating platforms used by:
- London Overground services (normally platforms 3 and 4 but sometimes 5, 6 and 7)
- District Line services (normally platforms 5, 6 and 7. Occasionally 4 but never 3 due to lack of a fourth rail).
As of September 2011 work is currently underway to extend platforms 1 and 2 to accept 10-car trains. The bulk of the lengthening will be to the west (country) end; extending eastwards was deemed unviable by Network Rail as Church Road Bridge would have needed widening. As part of these works the platform canopies are also being refurbished.
The wide gap between platforms 3 and 4 originally had a third, run-around, track for steam locomotives.
Off peak service
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:- 8 direct to (South West Trains)
- 2 fast to
- 2 fast to and Clapham Junction
- 4 all stations
- 8 direct from Waterloo (South West Trains)
- 2 to
- 2 to
- 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Hounslow & Brentford
- 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Kingston
- 1 Peak service an hour to Ascot/Camberley and Aldershot.
- 4 to (London OvergroundLondon OvergroundLondon 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...
) - 6 to via (District LineDistrict LineThe District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
)
The Heathrow Airtrack
Heathrow Airtrack
Heathrow Airtrack is a proposed railway link in west London, England, UK. The line as proposed by BAA, would have run from into central London and across the suburbs of south-west London. BAA announced that it was abandoning the project in April 2011...
proposal of the October 2008 consultation, would have two more fast trains per hour to Waterloo and two trains per hour to station from 2014. Although vociferous objection arises about possible level-crossing congestion on the Chertsey line, the effect of 20 trains per hour through the four crossings between Richmond and Barnes, where even now five trains may pass at one closure, is muted
Transport links
London bus routes 33London Buses route 33
London Buses route 33 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Transdev London.-History:...
(24 hours), 65
London Buses route 65
London Buses route 65 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London United.-History:...
(24 hours), 190, 337, 371, 493, H22
London Buses route H22
London Buses route H22 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London United.-History:Route H22 was introduced on 28th April 1990, as a replacement for the western end of route 202...
, H37, R68, R70 and night route N22.
There is a taxi rank at the station entrance.