West Hampstead railway station is a

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...

station on the

North London Line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a rou ...

between and in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

and is in

Travelcard Zone 2 Fare zone 2 is an inner 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. Ba ...

. The station and all trains are operated by

History

The station opened on 1 March 1888 and was called West End Lane until 1975, when it became West Hampstead (making it one of three stations of essentially the same name along West End Lane). The train service was provided by the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell ...

until 1909, when management of the NLR was taken over by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

. Complete amalgamation with the LNWR followed in 1922, and the LNWR then amalgamated with other railways to form the LMS from January 1923. The LMS became the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and the shortened brand name

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

was used from 1965. The station and the rest of the North London Line was included in the reorganised BR business

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the netwo ...

in 1986. Following 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 ...

, the station was managed by the

Silverlink Silverlink was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the North London Railways franchise from March 1997 until November 2007. At the end of 2007 Silverlink Metro services were taken over by Lond ...

franchise (National Express) from 1997 until 2007, when operations passed to Transport for London's new London Overground. After privatisation,

Anglia Railways Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. History The InterCity Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of P ...

ran a regional service for a while between and which called here. This service, known as

London Crosslink London Crosslink was a passenger train service operated by Anglia Railways between Norwich and Basingstoke, using the North London Line to bypass central London. Class 170 ''Turbostar'' diesel multiple units were used, and the service operat ...

, was discontinued in Autumn 2002 because of a shortage of train paths on the North London Line and the financial return being less than forecast. The station was initially refurbished towards the end of 2007, to coincide with the takeover of the line by

. The station was comprehensively upgraded in the late 2010s thanks in part to the adjacent Ballymore West Hampstead Square development. The upgrade included a new station building, wider platforms and step free access, and was completed in December 2019.

Accidents and incidents

*On 23 February 1937, an express freight train was derailed near the station.

Interchanges

West Hampstead railway station has an out of station interchange with both

West Hampstead Thameslink railway station West Hampstead Thameslink is a National Rail station on the Midland Main Line and is served by Thameslink trains as part of the Thameslink route between Kentish Town and Cricklewood. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2. History The station wa ...

and West Hampstead Underground station. 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.

Development

West Hampstead interchange West Hampstead is an area in north-west London, England that is served by a number of different stations, all of which have very similar names. Although physically separate, they are near each other and the stations form a railway interchange. ...

proposal was put forward in 2004 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 ...

which would link the three West Hampstead stations with subterranean walkways. New platforms would be built for the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of tw ...

, and possibly also for the

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 ...

, 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

rail franchise. This has now been shelved with

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

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 The North and West London Light Railway (NWLLR), formerly known as the ''Brent Cross Railway'', was a proposal for a light rail system in North and West London in the UK. It was put forward by the London group of the Campaign for Better Transp ...

, sharing the orbital Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and taking over at least one of the two

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

freight lines which run through the neighbouring West Hampstead Thameslink station.

Connections

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 ...

routes

139 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 139 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 139 (New Jersey bus) 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 13 ...

, 328 and

C11 C11, C.XI, C-11 or C.11 may refer to: Transport * C-11 Fleetster, a 1920s American light transport aircraft for use of the United States Assistant Secretary of War * Fokker C.XI, a 1935 Dutch reconnaissance seaplane * LET C-11, a license-build var ...

serve the station.

Services

West Hampstead currently has the following London Overground (North London Line) services, which is operated by Class 378 trainsets. Off-peak: *6tph to Stratford *4tph to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

*2tph to

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances durin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Hampstead Railway Station Railway stations in the London Borough of Camden Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations served by London Overground