Abbey Wood railway station

Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood railway station (2008)
Abbey Wood Location of Abbey Wood in Greater London
Location	Abbey Wood
Local authority	Royal Borough of Greenwich
Grid reference	TQ473789
Managed by	Southeastern
Station code	ABW
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	4
National Rail annual entry and exit
2010–11	3.030 million[2]
2011–12	3.134 million[2]
2012–13	3.175 million[2]
2013–14	3.282 million[2]
2014–15	3.319 million[2]
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°29′28″N 0°07′17″E / 51.4910°N 0.1214°ECoordinates: 51°29′28″N 0°07′17″E / 51.4910°N 0.1214°E
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Abbey Wood railway station serves the suburb of Abbey Wood in south east London. It is served by Southeastern, and is between Plumstead and Belvedere stations on the North Kent Line. The station will be served by Crossrail from 2018, giving a direct service to Central London and onto Heathrow, Maidenhead and Reading.

It is the closest railway station to the suburb of Thamesmead (buses run from the station to Thamesmead proper). Alphabetically, it is the second station in the UK, after Abbey Road DLR station.

History

Station platforms, looking eastbound

Opened by the South Eastern Railway on 30 July 1849, the operations of which were handed over to the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899, it became part of the Southern Railway during the grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. When BR was divided into sectors in the 1980s the station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Railways.

During the 1860s William Morris famously used a decorated wagon to commute between this station and his new home at Red House, Bexleyheath, occasionally with his eccentric and artistic house guests.

The ticket office at Abbey Wood (NLC5131) was APTIS-equipped by November 1986, making it one of the very first stations with the ticketing system which was eventually found across the UK at all staffed British Rail stations by the end of the 1980s.

The station has been rebuilt twice over the past 50 years to cater for the changing nature of the area.^[3] The station was to be served by the proposed Greenwich Waterfront Transit, however the project was cancelled by Mayor of London Boris Johnson due to lack of funds.^[4]

Future

Abbey Wood is being rebuilt in preparation for Crossrail, due to commence operation in 2018.^[5] Abbey Wood is the terminus of one of two eastern branches of Crossrail and will offer cross-platform interchange between terminating Crossrail services (at 12 trains per hour on new line) and existing Southeastern services (along existing tracks). This is instead of continuing services to Ebbsfleet International along existing tracks as those lines are congested and may delay Crossrail services.^[6][7]

Crossrail will provide a link north west to ExCeL London and Canary Wharf, then onwards to the city centre, Heathrow Airport and Maidenhead. There are proposals to extend Crossrail further east to Gravesend; the route is safeguarded but it is not intended to be implemented as part of the current phase.^[8] A proposed extension of the London Overground to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood was proposed in August 2015.^[9]On 8 December 2015 it was proposed that a DLR Extension across the Gallions Reach Crossing could link with Thamesmead, Abbey Wood and Woolwich.^[10]

Station building

When the Southeastern Main Line was opened in 1847 the first station building opened. It was a typical 1800s brick station with metal platform shelters. In 1987 a new station was constructed which, in 2014, was replaced by Network Rail with an interim station whilst the new Crossrail station is constructed. The Crossrail station has been designed by architects Fereday Pollard and will include step free interchange between platforms and bus connections with the Harrow Manorway, a dual carriageway which runs above the station.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is:^[11]

Westbound;

• 6tph (trains per hour) to London Cannon Street via Greenwich
• 2tph to London Charing Cross via Lewisham

Eastbound;

• 2tph to Barnehurst via Slade Green returning to London via the Bexleyheath line
• 2tph to Dartford
• 2tph to Gillingham (Kent)
• 2tph to Crayford via Slade Green returning to London via the Dartford Loop line

Connections

London Buses routes 180, 229, 244, 469, B11 and 602 and night route N1 serve the station.

References

Notes

1. "London and South East" (PDF). National Rail Enquiries. National Rail. September 2006. Archived from the original (pdf) on 6 March 2009.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. David Glasspool (2007). "Abbey Wood". Kent Rail. Retrieved 2007-03-29.
4. "Boris Spins Another Cancellation". Boris Watch. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
5. "Capital's key services protected, says Johnson". The Press Association. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
6. "Crossrail, London". Railway Technology. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
7. Dave Arquati. "Crossrail". alwaystouchout.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
8. "Abbey Wood to Hoo Junction". Crossrail. Retrieved 2012-06-08.
9. "Thamesmead & Abbey Wood Extension". Retrieved 11 August 2015.
10. "Vision for East London 8 new crossings". Retrieved 8 December 2015.
11. Table 200 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Bibliography

• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7
• A. Jowett, (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas. Atlantic Publishing. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1

External links

• The remodelled exterior of Abbey Wood station Image at Crossrail, London
• fereday pollard
• marks barfield
• Abbey Wood station on navigable O.S. map