Type Suburban rail Status Operational Stations 7 Owner Network Rail | System National Rail Locale Greater London Opened 1856-1858 | |
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Termini Beckenham Junction station Rolling stocks British Rail Class 455, British Rail Class 319 | ||
London to brighton 2016 crystal palace line up
The Crystal Palace Line is a railway line in London which runs from Balham Junction to Beckenham Junction. The engineer's reference for this line is BBJ.
Contents
Route
The line runs from Balham Junction on the Brighton Main Line route into London Victoria to Beckenham Junction, via Streatham Hill and Crystal Palace. The line has a junction with the Portsmouth Line at Norwood, and again meets the Brighton Main Line, this time the line into London Bridge, just beyond Crystal Palace. The line runs alongside the London Tramlink between Birkbeck and Beckenham, and has junctions with the Mid-Kent Line and the Chatham Main Line where it terminates at Beckenham junction.
History
The first part of the line, between New Wandsworth and Crystal Palace (Low Level), opened 1 December 1856 as the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway. In 1857 the route was extended to Norwood. On 3 May 1858 the company opened an extension from Bromley Junction (near Norwood Junction) to Shortlands railway station (then called Bromley) via Beckenham Junction station. The following year the original line from Pimlico to Norwood Junction was sold to the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, and the section from Bromley Junction to Shortlands to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, but the WEL&CPR continued to provide its own passenger services. The two halves were reunited in 1921 as part of the Southern Railway following enactment of the Grouping Act.
Services
Southern provide most services on the line, with trains from London Victoria running all the way through to Beckenham Junction where they terminate, or via the Brighton Main Line junction at Crystal Palace to London Bridge. The line is used by Thameslink services avoiding London Bridge - generally this has only been in the peaks or during the night, but due to the current Thameslink 2000 works, the line is used by most Bedford to Brighton services throughout the day. These services generally do not stop at any of the stations on the route.
The line between Beckenham Junction and Birkbeck is partly converted for Tramlink, with trams running from Beckenham to Croydon and Wimbledon.