West Ealing railway station

History

The station was opened in 1871 as Castle Hill and Ealing Dene on the Great Western Railway, which was constructed from London Paddington through Ealing to Maidenhead in 1836–1838. From 1 March 1883, the station—then named Castle Hill (Ealing Dean)—was served by District Railway services running between Mansion House and Windsor. This service was discontinued as uneconomic after 30 September 1885. The station was located next to the London Co-operative Society's main creamery, and so was equipped with a dedicated milk train platform.

Originally the station consisted of four platforms in a staggered layout: platform 1 and the island comprising platforms 2 and 3 to the west of the Drayton Green Road bridge, and platform 4 on the east side. Platform 1 (along with a siding leading up to it) was demolished in 1973, followed by platform 2 being fenced off in early 1991 as trains on the main line no longer serviced the station. Platform 4 was demolished and moved west of the bridge in 1990, partially covering the site of the then long-closed milk depot. The current station building was completed in early 1987, following the demolition of the previous one a year earlier. A west-facing terminating platform, platform 5, was added in 2016 for trains on the Greenford branch.

Accidents and incidents

On 5 August 1989, an express passenger train travelling from Oxford to Paddington collided with a piece of rail left on the track, probably by vandals, and the locomotive, Class 50 50025 Invincible, was derailed along the points near to platform 2 (these points were removed by November of that year). There were no serious injuries.

Services

Presently there are five lines (two for fast services out of Paddington), but only platforms 3–5 exist. There are also the remains of another platform next to platform 5, which is the now long-closed LCS dedicated milk depot platform.

The station is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway from Paddington to Hayes and Harlington and Heathrow Connect services from Paddington to Heathrow Airport. It is on the original line of the Great Western Railway. The restricted facilities are an intermittently open booking office and a ticket machine. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3. On weekdays and Saturdays, West Ealing is served by ten trains an hour, four going to London Paddington, four going to Hayes and Harlington, of which two continue to Heathrow Airport, and two to Greenford that terminate at West Ealing. The station is closed on Sundays.

Since October 2008, Oyster "pay as you go" can be used for journeys originating or ending at West Ealing.

In September 2016, Great Western Railway began operating services using EMUs, which led to some Greenford services that had previously run to Paddington to terminate at West Ealing using the newly converted terminal platform. All Greenford services terminate at West Ealing from January 2017.

Connections

London Buses routes E7 and E11 serve the station.

Future

There are plans to provide Crossrail services at the station from 2018. As part of this proposal, services from the Greenford Branch Line will terminate at West Ealing. Network Rail is creating capacity for this by converting the former LCS milk train bay into an extra bay platform, which was completed in mid-2016. In addition, various further alterations will be made by Network Rail by the end of 2017: