The Greenford branch line is a Network Rail suburban railway line in west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. It runs northerly from a triangular junction with the Great Western Main Line west of West Ealing to a central bay platform at Greenford station, where it has cross-platform interchanges to the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

's Central line. A triangular junction near Greenford connects to the Acton–Northolt line (formerly the New North Main Line). The line serves mainly the suburbs of

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

and Greenford.

History

The opening of the line in 1903 coincided with the opening of a station at Park Royal on the Acton–Northolt line to serve the Royal Agricultural Show held in the grounds of part of the Twyford Abbey Estate. The Show ran from 15 June 1903 to 4 July 1903 during which period trains operated a circular service to and from Paddington via Park Royal and Ealing. Normal services started on 2 May 1904 and the links to Greenford station were put in on 1 October 1904. The loop formed by the GWML, the branch and the ANL is sometimes used for turning trains for operational reasons such as balancing wheel wear. On weekends in 2008 during engineering works on the West Coast Main Line the line was used by Virgin Trains' Euston-Birmingham International "Blockade Buster" service which ran to Euston via Willesden, Acton Main Line, Ealing Broadway, Greenford, High Wycombe, Banbury and Coventry using pairs of 5-car Voyager sets. On two Sundays in February 2010, Chiltern and Wrexham & Shropshire trains were diverted to Paddington via the line while engineering work blocked the route to Marylebone. Locally the service is called the 'Push-and-pull', a term which dates from the days of steam, when the engine could not change ends at Greenford and so the locomotive pulled the carriages one way and pushed them on the return run (see GWR Autocoach). In the 1950s the service frequently ran with two auto-trailers, one either side of the engine. During the 1960s and 1970s the service was normally operated by a 'Bubble Car' two-carriage diesel railcar, although this was later reduced to a single carriage. As , and have short platforms the maximum length of train that can be used is two cars. In preparation for

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

, a new platform 5 was constructed at West Ealing, and most services now terminate there.

Current service

The passenger service is provided by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

. Trains on the branch run between Greenford and West Ealing, except for one service from Paddington at the start of the day, and to Paddington at the end of the day. There was a

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service operated by Chiltern Railways from 10 December 2018 that, on weekdays, started from South Ruislip and ran non-stop along the line to West Ealing, before returning to West Ruislip. It previously operated to

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, but was later curtailed. It then became unidirectional from West Ealing to West Ruislip, running once a week on Wednesday mornings. It was then replaced by a bus service operated by

Metroline Metroline is a bus operator operating primarily in Greater London and partially in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro and operates bus services for London Buses under contract to Transport for Lon ...

in 2022. All services are operated with two-car Class 165 Turbo diesel trains. There is no Sunday service.

Future

Introduction of battery-powered rolling stock

In February 2022, GWR announced plans to test fast-charge battery technology on the route. As electrification on the route was low-priority, the only realistic alternative option to replace diesel-powered rolling stock was with battery power. The test will see the existing Class 165 units replaced by battery-electric multiple unit trains produced by Vivarail, with the company's fast-charge equipment installed in the bay platform at West Ealing. This will entail the installation of a conductor rail that becomes live only when a train is above it. This is then used to charge the lithium-ion batteries on the train, a process that would take about ten minutes. In March 2024, following delivery of unit 230001 to GWR, trial running began of the new battery-powered train and fast-charge technology on the line. The trials demonstrated a charging time of 3½ minutes at West Ealing, using a bank of batteries installed adjacent to the platform, which charge continuously at a lower current, removing the need for expensive upgrades to the local supply network. GWR aim to build mileage on the technology to consider its introduction on other branch lines, such as the Windsor branch line, the Marlow branch line and the Henley branch line.

Passenger volume

These are statistics of passenger usage on the National Rail network along the Greenford branch line from the year beginning April 2002 to the year starting April 2023.

Connections

* At Greenford: London Underground Central line. * At :

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

to Paddington, Heathrow Airport, and .