Harrow-on-the-Hill is an interchange railway station in Harrow, served by suburban

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...

services and commuter

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...

services on the

London–Aylesbury line The London–Aylesbury line is a railway line between Marylebone station, London Marylebone and Aylesbury, going via the Chiltern Hills; passenger trains are operated by Chiltern Railways. Nearly half of the line is owned by London Underground, a ...

. It is down the line from . Harrow-on-the-Hill is the final Metropolitan line stop from

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

before the line splits with the main branch towards Moor Park and the diverged Uxbridge branch towards

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

. It is in

Travelcard Zone 5 Fare zone 5 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The ...

History

The station was opened as "Harrow" on 2 August 1880, when the Metropolitan Railway was extended from its previous terminus at

Willesden Green Willesden () is an area of northwest London, situated 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933, and has formed p ...

. Its name was changed to "Harrow-on-the-Hill" on 1 June 1894. Like some other Underground stations, the name is an example of marketing rather than precision; in this case the town "proper" of the same name is at the top of Harrow Hill (i.e.

Harrow-on-the-Hill Harrow on the Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) and is located some half a mile south of the mod ...

), while the station is located at the foot of the hill to the north, which at the time of opening was a small hamlet called Greenhill and has since become the main town proper of Harrow. Had the governors of

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

not made objections during the planning stage, it is possible that the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

might have followed a different route taking it closer to the town centre on the hill. The station is at the heart of Metroland. The National Rail service began as the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

(GCR) on 15 March 1899. The GCR ran on the former

Great Central Main Line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), is a former railway line in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899 and built by the Great Central Railw ...

, an

intercity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

trunk route and provided services from Harrow to destinations such as

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. The passenger service north of Aylesbury ceased in 1966 due to the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

. There was a goods yard, which closed on 3 April 1967.

Railway geography

The station is a major junction with numerous crossovers north and south of station enabling flexibility when routing trains. South of the station there are four LU tracks paired by direction as "Fast" and "Local" lines to/from Baker Street and two "Main line" tracks to/from Marylebone. North of the station, the Uxbridge branch diverges from the other routes by means of a burrowing junction. Above this, Harrow North Junction separates the "Local line" towards North Harrow and the "Main line" towards Moor Park.

Services

London Underground

London Underground services at Harrow-on-the-Hill are provided by the

. The adjacent Underground stations are

Northwick Park Northwick Park is a large green public park between Harrow and Kenton in north-west London, forming part of the London Borough of Brent. Most of the park consists of playing fields. It is also the name of the electoral ward of Brent that cover ...

(all stations southbound), Moor Park (fast northbound),

North Harrow North Harrow is a suburban area of North West London, situated north-west of central Harrow within the London Borough of Harrow. Its residential roads have expanded from North Harrow tube station, a station on the Metropolitan line of the Lo ...

(all stations northbound) and

West Harrow West Harrow is a locality directly to the west/southwest of Harrow town in the London Borough of Harrow, in the county of Greater London and historically in the county of Middlesex. Location As its name suggests, West Harrow is located on ...

(towards Uxbridge). The Metropolitan line is unique in operating an express service. "Fast" and "Semi-fast" services (now mostly reserved for peak times) do not stop ''between'' Harrow-on-the-Hill and

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels often freque ...

. The "Fast" lines at stations between Moor Park, Harrow and Wembley Park have no platforms. Southbound services go to either

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

(4tph) or continue beyond to the line's terminus at

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

(12tph). Off-peak trains from Amersham (2tph), Chesham (2tph) and Uxbridge (8tph) generally terminate at

, with a 4tph service from

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

to Baker Street, however during peak hours trains from all branches go to/from all destinations.

Bus Network

Adjacent to Harrow-on-the-Hill Underground station is Harrow Bus Station.

National Rail

The National Rail service at Harrow-on-the-Hill is provided by

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

. Services operate between

Marylebone station Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern ter ...

and

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

using the separate Network Rail tracks from London to Harrow and sharing London Underground tracks between Harrow and Amersham. Chiltern Railways started operating in 1996 after the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...

and typically provide two trains per hour between Aylesbury and London via Harrow.

Station layout

The station building is above ground with the six platforms in a cutting. Two (on the South side) are predominantly used by NR services and the other four by the Metropolitan line; the NR platforms are electrified with the LU system (normal services are operated by diesel trains) and ''incoming'' LU trains on some routes can be diverted into them should this be necessary during closures of tracks in the area. The station has two entrances, one on Station Approach (leading to Lowlands Road and Harrow Hill) and one on College Road (for Harrow Bus Station and the main shopping area). During opening hours the Station is popular as a shortcut, removing the longer walk via the bridge at Station Road, as it is possible to walk through the bridge and use the public toilets without passing through the ticket gates. The present main station building replaced older structures at the London end of the platforms (thus leaving Station Road with no station); it consists of a circulating area above the tracks with stairways leading down to all platforms and both street entrances. A pedestrian tunnel once connected all the platforms to the adjacent and now closed

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

sorting office, whose site was redeveloped. An office block called Avanta House was built in the 1980s on top of the station's College Road entrance. Harrow-on-the-Hill gained step-free access from College Road as part of a tranche of access improvements scheduled for completion in 2020; that work, which also introduced lifts to the platforms served by Chiltern Railways, was completed in March 2022 but passengers approaching the station from the south (Lowlands Road) are still required to ascend flights of steps.

Bus station

There is a bus station located next to the station offering

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

services right across North London.

Gallery

File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn south entrance.JPG, Alternative, southern entrance File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 1 look south.JPG, Northbound Chiltern Railways Platform 1 looking south. Note start of fourth rail. File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 2 look north.JPG, Southbound Chiltern Railways Platform 2 looking north. Note end of fourth rail on the platform's southern end. File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 3 look north.JPG, Northbound Metropolitan line Platform 3 looking north. Chiltern railways platforms are on the left. File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 4 looking south.JPG, Northbound Metropolitan line Platform 4 looking south File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 5 look north.JPG, Southbound Metropolitan line Platform 5 looking north File:Harrow-on-the-Hill stn platform 6.JPG, Southbound Metropolitan line Platform 6 looking south File:Harrow-on-the-Hill station roundel.jpg, Station platform

Roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

References

External links

* {{Railway Stations served by Chiltern Railways Metropolitan line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Harrow Railway stations in the London Borough of Harrow London Underground stations located above ground Former Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1880 Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways Harrow on the Hill