Ealing Broadway station

Ealing Broadway is a major single-level interchange station in Ealing in London, England. It is in the London Borough of Ealing, West London and is served by the London Underground and also National Rail on the Great Western Main Line. On the Underground, it is one of three western termini of the District line, the next station being Ealing Common, and it is also one of two western termini of the Central line, the next station being West Acton. On the National Rail network, it is a through-station on the Great Western Main Line, 5 miles 56 chains (9.2 km) down the line from London Paddington, between Acton Main Line and West Ealing.

Ealing Broadway
Ealing Broadway
Location of Ealing Broadway in Greater London
LocationEaling
Local authorityLondon Borough of Ealing
Managed byTfL Rail[1]
Station codeEAL
DfT categoryC1
Number of platforms9
Fare zone3
London Underground annual entry and exit
2014 17.38 million[2]
2015 16.84 million[2]
2016 18.60 million[2]
2017 16.79 million[2]
2018 16.86 million[3]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2014–15 5.818 million[4]
– interchange  0.107 million[4]
2015–16 6.581 million[4]
– interchange  47,051[4]
2016–17 6.373 million[4]
– interchange  37,391[4]
2017–18 6.166 million[4]
– interchange  9,962[4]
2018–19 6.555 million[4]
– interchange  14,436[4]
Railway companies
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
1838Opened (GWR)
1879Opened (DR)
1920Start (CLR)
2018Start (TFL-Rail)
Other information
External links
WGS8451.5147°N 0.3017°W / 51.5147; -0.3017
London transport portal

The station is managed by TfL Rail and is served by Great Western Railway and TfL Rail services.

History

The Great Western Railway (GWR) opened its pioneering broad gauge tracks through Ealing Broadway between Paddington and Taplow on 6 April 1838, although Ealing Broadway station did not open until 1 December of that year. As the only station in the area when it opened, it was initially named 'Ealing',[5] but was renamed Ealing Broadway in 1875.[6]

District Railway (DR, now the District Line) services commenced on 1 July 1879, when the DR opened a branch from Turnham Green on its Richmond line. The DR built its own three-platform station to the north of the GWR one. However, following the installation of a connection between the two railways to the east of the stations, DR trains also served the GWR station from 1 March 1883 to 30 September 1885, on a short-lived service running to Windsor and Eton Central station, which quickly became unprofitable.[7][8][9][10] It was also intended to use the connection for a service to Uxbridge Vine Street station (via West Drayton), but this was never introduced.[7]

Following electrification of the main District line route through Ealing Common to South Harrow in 1903, the section to Ealing Broadway was electrified in 1905, and the first electric trains ran to Ealing Broadway on 1 July 1905. The original brick-built DR station was replaced with a stone-faced building in 1910.[11]

Prior to World War I, plans were made by the GWR to construct a new, mainly freight, line between Ealing and Shepherd's Bush, to connect west-to-south with the West London Railway. The Central London Railway (CLR, now the Central Line) would use the line by extending its tracks the short distance north from its terminus at Wood Lane (now closed), to meet the new GWR tracks. CLR services to two new platforms at Ealing Broadway, built between the GWR and DR stations, started on 3 August 1920, with, initially, just one intermediate stop at East Acton. The line also carried GWR steam freight trains until 1938, when the links at Ealing Broadway and west of North Acton were removed, and the line was fully transferred to London Underground.

Originally separate companies, by 1920 the DR and the CLR were both owned by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL). Despite this, the CLR services operated via the GWR station building, not the Underground one.

The GWR-built station was demolished in 1961[12] and replaced by a low concrete structure containing shops and a ticket hall, opened in 1965, with a high-rise office building above. The new station building serves all the lines, and the separate District Line station ticket hall was closed, although the building remains, and the original station facade is now the entrance for multiple shops.[13]

On Platform 9 (District line) there are some roundels of a style dating from c. 1908, three of which are replicas made in 1992.[14][15]

Accidents and incidents
  • On 16 November 1937, a steam railcar overran signals and crashed into the signal box.[16]
  • On 20 December 1973, an express passenger train was derailed when an unsecured inspection door on the locomotive hauling it struck point rodding, causing a set of points to move under the train. Ten people were killed, 94 were injured.[17]
  • On 19 July 2000, a Real IRA bomb was planted near tracks in the station. It was discovered and destroyed by police under a controlled explosion.[18]

The station today
Ealing Broadway
GWR
to Slough
TfL Rail and GWR
to West Ealing
1 20 
3 40 
5
6 70 
8 90 
 Ealing Broadway
TfL Rail to Acton Main Line
GWR to Paddington
GWR
to Paddington
District line
to Ealing Common
Central line
to West Acton

The combined station has nine platforms:

  • four National Rail (platforms 1 to 4). Trains do not stop at platforms 1 and 2, except during engineering works or other disruption. Platforms 1 and 3 are on lines leaving London, while 2 and 4 are on lines into London. Most of the National Rail platforms are open to the elements, although there are some waiting rooms on each platform.
  • two Central line (5 and 6), which have a shared awning canopy.
  • three District Line (7 to 9). District Line platforms 8 and 9 are partially covered by a short canopy, and retain one original example and a number of replicas of early solid-disc Underground signs, used before Edward Johnston designed the familiar roundel in 1919.

All platforms are accessed through a gateline of ticket barriers.

Services

National Rail services are provided at the four Great Western Main Line platforms by Great Western Railway and TfL Rail.[19] London Underground provide services to the three District line and the two Central line platforms.

Frequency

The typical off-peak service frequency (trains per hour – tph) is:

Great Western Railway

TfL Rail

London Underground

Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
TerminusCentral line
Ealing Broadway Branch
towards Epping, Hainault
or Woodford (via Hainault)
District line
Ealing Broadway Branch
National Rail
London Paddington   Great Western Railway
Great Western Main Line		   Southall or Hayes & Harlington
Crossrail
Acton Main Line
   TfL Rail
Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4
Monday-Saturday service		   West Ealing
Acton Main Line
   TfL Rail
Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4
Sunday service		   Southall
London Paddington   TfL Rail
Paddington - Reading		   Southall
  Future development  
Preceding station   Crossrail   Following station
towards Reading
Crossrail
Elizabeth line
towards Shenfield
towards Heathrow Airport
Crossrail
Elizabeth line
towards Abbey Wood
  Former services  
Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
West Ealing
towards Windsor
District line
towards Mansion House

Connections

London Buses routes 65, 112, 207, 226, 297, 427, 483, 607, E1, E2, E7, E8, E9, E10 and E11, and night routes N7, N11, N83 and N207 serve the station.

Forthcoming improvements

Crossrail will call at Ealing Broadway. Through services across London are expected to commence in autumn 2019.[20] To accommodate Crossrail services, various alterations will be made by Network Rail:

  • Platforms 1–3 extended
  • Step-free access[21]
  • Enlarged booking hall with more ticket gatelines
  • New footbridge to the east end of the station linking platforms 1–4
  • Construction of a new canopy on platform 4.[22][23][24]
  • Enlarged and remodelled pedestrian forecourt

Proposals

The West London Business group backs a Surbiton-to-Brent Cross light metro tube line, called the West London Orbital underground railway, based on Copenhagen Metro technology, which would include a station underground at Ealing Broadway.[25][26] The London Borough of Ealing does not support the proposal, saying "no consensus to progress this project [due] to extremely high costs".[27]

The London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a plan in 2008[28] for an off-road orbital North and West London Light railway (NWLLR), sharing the Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and using the middle two of the six track beds at North Acton. In April 2009 Ealing Council voted to call on Transport for London to look into the proposal.[29]

References
  1. Station facilities for Ealing Broadway
  2. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007-2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  3. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  4. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  5. MacDermot, E T (1927). History of the Great Western Railway. 1 (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway.
  6. Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley - page 54
  7. Connor, Piers (1993). "The District Looks West". Going Green: The Story of the District Line. Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. pp. 14, 16. ISBN 1-85414-157-0.
  8. Day, John R. (1963). "The Metropolitan District and the Inner Circle". The Story of London's Underground (1st ed.). Westminster: London Transport. pp. 24–25.
  9. Demuth, Tim (2004). "1881-1890". The Spread of London's Underground (2nd ed.). Harrow: Capital Transport. pp. 8–9. ISBN 1-85414-277-1.
  10. Rose, Douglas (December 2007) [1980]. The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (8th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-315-0.
  11. "Ealing Broadway District Line Station in 1903" on Flickr. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  12. Railway Magazine January 1961 p. 62
  13. "Stop 3: Ealing Broadway station". londonpostcodewalks.wordpress.com. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  14. Clarke, Hedley (2007). Underground Bullseyes 1972-2000. Colchester: Connor & Butler. pp. 6, 7, 50. ISBN 978-0-947699-40-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  15. Leboff, David (1994). London Underground Stations. Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 42. ISBN 0-7110-2226-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  16. Trevena, Arthur (1980). Trains in Trouble. Vol. 1. Redruth: Atlantic Books. p. 41. ISBN 0-906899-01-X.
  17. Vaughan, Adrian (1989). Obstruction Danger. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Limited. pp. 235–38. ISBN 1-85260-055-1.
  18. "BBC News | UK | Bomb scares hit capital".
  19. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Tables 117 & 118
  20. "Capital's key services protected, says Johnson". The Press Association. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  21. Step-free Access - Transport for London
  22. Russell, Michael (7 October 2009). "Boris faces calls to improve Ealing Station". Ealing Gazette. Trinity Mirror.
  23. "Crossrail Station Design Contract Awarded". Crossrail. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  24. "Chapter 22 Route window W5 Ealing Broadway station". Crossrail. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  25. West London Orbital Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  26. "West London Orbital 2008 Update" (PDF). February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  27. "LIP Public Consultation Meetings". London Borough of Ealing. 7 June 2011. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
  28. London Campaign for Better Transport North and West London light railway (NWLLR) / Brent Cross Railway (BCR) plan
  29. "Notes Of Council Meeting - 21st April 2009". Ealing Council. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
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