West Kensington tube station

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).

West Kensington London Underground
West Kensington is located in Greater London
West Kensington
West Kensington
Location of West Kensington in Greater London
LocationWest Kensington
Local authorityLondon Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Managed byLondon Underground
Station code(s)WEK[1]
Number of platforms2
Fare zone2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Increase 4.87 million[2]
2020Decrease 2.10 million[3]
2021Decrease 2.03 million[4]
2022Increase 3.61 million[5]
2023Increase 3.76 million[6]
Key dates
9 September 1874Opened (DR)
5 May 1878Started "Super Outer Circle" (Midland)
30 September 1880Ended "Super Outer Circle"
14 July 1965Goods yard closed[7]
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°29′27″N 0°12′23″W / 51.4908°N 0.2063°W / 51.4908; -0.2063
London transport portal

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

The station is situated in a cutting with the ticket office at street level.

History

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The station was opened by the District Railway (DR, now the District line) on 9 September 1874 as 'North End (Fulham)'[8][9] 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. Despite its name, the station is located in Hammersmith and Fulham.

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.

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.[10] 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.[11]

Services

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The off-peak service pattern is:

Connections

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London Buses Routes 28, 306 and Night Route N28 serve the station.

References

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  1. ^ "Station Codes" (PDF). Transport for London. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  7. ^ Hardy, Brian, ed. (March 2011). "How it used to be - freight on The Underground 50 years ago". Underground News (591). London Underground Railway Society: 175–183. ISSN 0306-8617.
  8. ^ Forgotten Stations of Greater London
  9. ^ Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley
  10. ^ "Disability and Deaf Equality Scheme (DES) 2009-2012". TfL. Retrieved 1 December 2010.
  11. ^ "TfL wastes £64million abandoning disabled access plans on the Tube". Evening Standard. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
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Preceding station   London Underground Following station
Barons Court District line
Earl's Court
Former service
Hammersmith
towards St Pancras
Midland Railway
(1878–1880)
Earl's Court
Terminus