West Kensington tube station

West Kensington
West Kensington Location of West Kensington in Greater London
Location	West Kensington
Local authority	London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	4.95 million[1]
2013	5.04 million[1]
2014	5.14 million[1]
2015	5.32 million[1]
Key dates
1874	Opened (DR)
1878	Started "Super Outer Circle" (Midland)
1880	Ended "Super Outer Circle"
14 July 1965	Goods yard closed[2]
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
WGS84	51°29′27″N 0°12′23″W / 51.4908°N 0.2063°WCoordinates: 51°29′27″N 0°12′23″W / 51.4908°N 0.2063°W
London Transport portal

West Kensington is a London Underground District line station in West Kensington. It is located on North End Road (B317) close to its junction with West Cromwell Road/Talgarth Road (A4).

The station is between Earl's Court and Barons Court and is in Travelcard Zone 2.

In 2009, because of financial constraints, TfL decided to stop work on a project to provide step-free access at West Kensington and five other stations, on the grounds that these are relatively quiet stations and some are already one or two stops away from an existing step-free station.^[3] Earl's Court and Hammersmith stations which have step-free access are respectively one stop to the east and two stops to the west. £5.05 million was spent on West Kensington before the project was halted.^[4]

History

The station was opened by the District Railway (DR, now the District line) on 9 September 1874 as 'North End (Fulham)' ^[5][6] when it opened its extension from Earl's Court to Hammersmith. At that time the next station west was Hammersmith - Barons Court did not open until 1905. It was renamed West Kensington in 1877.

On 5 May 1878 The Midland Railway began running a circuitous service known as the "Super Outer Circle" from St Pancras to Earl's Court via Cricklewood and South Acton. It operated over a now disused connection between the NLR and the London and South Western Railway's branch to Richmond (now part of the District line). The service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880.

The entrance building was rebuilt in 1927. The design, by Charles Holden, uses similar materials and finishes to those Holden used for the Northern line's Morden extension opened in 1926.

Services

The off-peak service pattern is:

• 6 trains per hour to Ealing Broadway
• 6 tph to Richmond
• 12 tph to Upminster.

Connections

London Buses Routes 28, 391 and Night Route N28 serve the station.

References

1. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. April 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
2. Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News. London Underground Railway Society (591): 175–183. ISSN 0306-8617.
3. "Disability and Deaf Equality Scheme (DES) 2009-2012". TfL. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
4. "TfL wastes £64million abandoning disabled access plans on the Tube". Evening Standard. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
5. Forgotten Stations of Greater London
6. Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Booking hall, 1927
  • Booking hall, 1928
  • Eastbound platform, 1972. The branch track to Lillie Bridge depot is just visible at the end of the platform.
• Tube Professional's Rumour Network - Lillie Bridge depot