West Hampstead railway station

For other uses, see West Hampstead station.

West Hampstead
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	WHD
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
OSI	Template:LUL stations West Hampstead Thameslink
National Rail annual entry and exit
2004–05	0.690 million
2005–06	0.680 million
2006–07	1.897 million
2007–08	1.108 million
2008–09	1.500 million
– interchange	0.129 million
2009–10	1.315 million
– interchange	0.132 million
2010–11	1.897 million
– interchange	0.138 million
2011–12	2.881 million
– interchange	0.263 million
2012–13	3.674 million
– interchange	0.362 million
Key dates
1888	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London transport portal

West Hampstead is a National Rail station on the North London Line between Brondesbury and Finchley Road & Frognal. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.

The station and all trains are operated by London Overground.

History

The station originally opened in 1888 and was called West End Lane until its name was changed in 1975. Rail services were operated by the North London Railway until British Rail took control of operations. The station later became part of the Network SouthEast system.

Following the privatisation of British Rail, the station was operated by the Silverlink train franchise from 1997 until 2007, when operations passed to Transport for London's London Overground system.

Anglia Railways used to run a regional rail service that called here, between Norwich and Basingstoke. This service known as London Crosslink, was discontinued in Autumn 2002 due to congestion on the North London Line and the financial return being less than that forecast.

The station received a major refurbishment towards the end of 2007, to coincide with the London Overground takeover. The ticket office has a new layout including automatic ticket gates and machines and the station is now staffed throughout traffic hours (as are all London Overground stations).

Accidents and incidents

• On 23 February 1937, an express freight train was deraileed near the station.

Interchanges

The station is situated within close walking distance of two nearby stations:

• London Underground: West Hampstead tube station (Jubilee line)
• National Rail: West Hampstead Thameslink railway station (First Capital Connect).

Development

The arrangement of three separate stations (Thameslink, Overground and Jubilee Line) means that passengers wishing to change lines must walk along or cross West End Lane, a busy main road. A West Hampstead interchange proposal was put forward in 2004 by Chiltern Railways which would link the three West Hampstead stations with subterranean walkways. New platforms would be built for the Chiltern Main Line, and possibly also for the Metropolitan line, and the Thameslink and London Overground (formerly Silverlink) stations would be relocated on the east side of West End Lane. The redevelopment would involve demolishing existing buildings and the redevelopment of West End Lane as "a tree-lined boulevard". The plans were put on hold in 2007 due to uncertainty over the North London Line rail franchise. This has now been shelved with Network Rail instead redeveloping the Thameslink station by installing a second footbridge with lift access leading to a new station building on Iverson Road.

In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a plan for an off-road, mainly orbital North and West London Light railway, sharing the orbital Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and taking over at least one of the two Midland Railway freight lines which run through the neighbouring West Hampstead Thameslink station.

Connections

London Buses routes 139; 328 and C11 serve the station.

Services

The normal off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 4 westbound to Template:LUL stations.
• 2 westbound to Clapham Junction.
• 6 eastbound to Template:LUL stations.