Alperton is a London Underground station in Alperton, north-west London. It is on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly line between Sudbury Town and Park Royal stations, in Travelcard Zone 4.[6] It is located on Ealing Road (A4089), a short distance from the junction with Bridgewater Road (A4005), and is close to the Paddington branch of the Grand Union Canal.

Alperton London Underground
Station building
Alperton is located in Greater London
Alperton
Alperton
Location of Alperton in Greater London
LocationAlperton
Local authorityLondon Borough of Brent
Managed byLondon Underground
Number of platforms2
Fare zone4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Increase 2.86 million[1]
2020Decrease 2.06 million[2]
2021Decrease 1.35 million[3]
2022Increase 2.30 million[4]
2023Increase 2.60 million[5]
Railway companies
Original companyDistrict Railway
Key dates
28 June 1903Opened as Perivale-Alperton
7 October 1910Renamed Alperton
4 July 1932District line service replaced by Piccadilly line
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°32′27″N 0°17′59″W / 51.54083°N 0.29972°W / 51.54083; -0.29972
London transport portal

History

edit

Alperton was opened on 28 June 1903 by the District Railway (now the District line), with its name being "Perivale Alperton", on its new extension to South Harrow on electrified tracks from Park Royal & Twyford Abbey,[7][8] which it was opened five days earlier.[8] This new extension was, together with the existing tracks back to Acton Town, the first section of the Underground's surface lines to be electrified and operate electric traction instead of steam.[7] The deep-level tube lines open at that time (City & South London Railway, Waterloo & City Railway and Central London Railway) had been electrically powered from the start.

The station was subsequently renamed "Alperton" on 7 October 1910.[8]

On 4 July 1932, from Ealing Common to South Harrow, the District line service was replaced by the Piccadilly line.[7][8][9] Piccadilly line services were extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith, sharing the route with the District.[7] It non-stops stations between Hammersmith and Acton Town, apart from Turnham Green, which the Piccadilly only calls during early mornings and late evenings. At Acton Town, the District and Piccadilly lines use separate platforms. They join back west of Acton Town towards Ealing Common.[9]

The station was refurbished in 2006. [10]

Incidents and accidents

edit

On 2 March 1944 during the Second World War, bomb damage prevented through services to and from Uxbridge for five days.[11]

Design

edit

The original station building was a modest timber-framed structure built in 1910. In 1930 and 1931, this was demolished and replaced by a new station in preparation for the handover of the branch from the District line to the Piccadilly line. The new station was designed by Charles Holden in a modern European style using brick, reinforced concrete and glass.[12][13] Like other stations such as Sudbury Town and Sudbury Hill to the north and others that Holden designed elsewhere, and also for the east and west Piccadilly line extensions such as Acton Town and Oakwood, Alperton station features a tall block-like ticket hall rising above a low horizontal structure that contains station offices and shops. The brick walls of the ticket hall are punctuated with panels of clerestory windows and the structure is capped with a flat concrete slab roof.[14]

Alperton formerly shared with Greenford (on the Central line) the distinction of being one of the only two stations to have an escalator going up to the platforms.[note 1] In 1955, an up escalator was installed to the eastbound platform. It had originally been used at the South Bank exhibition of the Festival of Britain.[16] The escalator fell out of use in 1988,[17] and its machine remains in place behind a wall.[18]

Services and connections

edit

Services

edit

The off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is:[19]

  • 6tph to Cockfosters (Eastbound)
  • 3tph to Rayners Lane (Westbound)
  • 3tph to Uxbridge via Rayners Lane (Westbound)

The peak time service in trains per hour (tph) is:[19]

  • 12tph to Cockfosters (Eastbound)
  • 6tph to Rayners Lane (Westbound)
  • 6tph to Uxbridge via Rayners Lane (Westbound)

During disruption on the District Line, Piccadilly Line trains have sometimes been used to provide a service to Ealing Broadway, either by diverting some trains bound for Rayners Lane and Uxbridge, or as a shuttle from Acton Town.[9] Trains may also run along the District Line tracks from Hammersmith to Acton Town in order to serve those stations with no platforms on the Piccadilly Line.[9]

Connections

edit

London Buses routes 79, 83, 224, 245, 297, 483, 487 and night route N83 serve the station, with route 297 providing a 24-hour service.[20]

Notes and references

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Greenford had the wooden up escalators, which was removed in 2014 to fit in new inclined lifts for step-free access. The left staircase will be replaced by an up escalator.[15]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  6. ^ Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. April 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Feather, Clive. "District line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.
  9. ^ a b c d Feather, Clive. "Piccadilly line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 27 December 2014.
  10. ^ "Station Refurbishment Summary" (PDF). London Underground Railway Society. July 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  11. ^ "The Underground at War". Nick Cooper. 2010. Archived from the original on 28 April 2015.
  12. ^ Horne 2007, p. 61.
  13. ^ "Alperton". Modernism in Metro-Land.
  14. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 1991, p. 140.
  15. ^ "Step-free access for Greenford Tube". Transport for London. September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  16. ^ "caption to picture of escalator". Photographic Archive. London Transport Museum. Archived from the original on 3 June 2012.
  17. ^ Horne 2007, p. 128.
  18. ^ Feather, Clive. "Vertical Transport - Escalators". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014.
  19. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ "Buses from Alperton" (PDF). TfL. June 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.

Bibliography

edit

Further reading

edit
edit
Preceding station   London Underground Following station
Sudbury Town Piccadilly line Park Royal
Former services
Preceding station   London Underground Following station
Sudbury Town District line
(1903–1931)
Park Royal & Twyford Abbey
towards Upminster
District line
(1931–1932)
Park Royal
towards Upminster