Imperial Wharf railway station

Imperial Wharf is a station located in Sands End in West London for London Overground and National Rail services.

Imperial Wharf
Western (northbound) entrance, 27 September 2009
Imperial Wharf Location of Imperial Wharf in Greater London
Location	Sands End
Local authority	Hammersmith and Fulham
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Transport for London
Station code(s)	IMW
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	2
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	3.123 million[2]
2019–20	2.863 million[2]
2020–21	1.010 million[2]
2021–22	2.324 million[2]
2022–23	2.707 million[2]
Key dates
27 September 2009	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
Coordinates	51.47517°N 0.18281°W / 51.47517; -0.18281
London transport portal

The station is located on the West London line in between West Brompton and Clapham Junction stations and services are provided by the Overground and Southern National Rail services.

The station opened on Sunday 27 September 2009 and is managed by London Overground.^[3]

The station is in the sub-district of Sands End where the railway passes over Townmead Road. Its name is taken from the adjacent redevelopment of a brownfield former industrial site, which has been developed into a luxury 1,800 apartment river-side complex by property developers St George since 2004. As the Imperial Wharf development continued to grow, so did the business case for the Imperial Wharf station. A further application for 1,500 residential units including a 37-storey tower was submitted to Hammersmith & Fulham Council in early 2009.^{[citation needed]}

The station is also adjacent to Chelsea Harbour, and was known by this name during early stages of development.

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Legend
Station National Rail Liberty line Accessible station Thameslink Lioness line Interchange station Elizabeth line Mildmay line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway Suffragette line Internal interchange London Underground Weaver line Out-of-station interchange London Trams Windrush line (   ) Nearby interchange London River Services The new London Overground line names and colours are to be introduced across the London rail network in autumn 2024

v t e West London Route
Legend
Watford Junction Greater London boundary Harrow & Wealdstone Wembley Central West Coast Main Line to Euston North London line to Stratford Grand Union Canal Shepherd's Bush Kensington (Olympia) West Brompton Imperial Wharf River Thames Brighton Main Line to Victoria Clapham Junction Wandsworth Common Balham Streatham Common Norbury Thornton Heath Selhurst East Croydon Brighton Main Line and Oxted line

History

Calls for a station here were met in 2005 with a fully costed station and signalling at £3 million, of which £1.7 million had already been provided by Berkeley Homes Plc through its St George upmarket London-focused subsidiary,^[4] the developer of the Imperial Wharf site, leaving a funding shortfall of £1.3 million.^[5]

In October 2007, Hammersmith and Fulham Council announced that St George Homes had agreed to provide another £1.2 million, roughly enough to complete the project. It is also reported that the planning permission for the whole of the Imperial Wharf development was only given on the basis that a station was built.^{[citation needed]}

The station secured full funding on 28 April 2008.^[6][7] The total cost of the station was £7.8 million with the following contributions: £4.8 million from St George, £1 million from Transport for London, £650,000 from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and £1.35 million from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.^[8] The first services from the station ran on Sunday 27 September 2009, with a formal opening ceremony by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, on 29 September.^[8]

Locale

The new station provides an important link for the Sands End area to Clapham Junction station in the south of London and northwards towards Willesden Junction station. This will be particularly important as the area is further developed by both private and public organisations. This investment includes a new residential development called "The Gallery" which has been started on recently cleared land next to the Laura Ashley offices, between Bagleys Lane and Elbe Street.

There are also plans by another developer to redevelop the Lots Road Power Station into 395 residential units. The semi-derelict building, on Chelsea Creek close to the River Thames, is a large, disused, coal-fired power station. It was designed in 1902 and completed in 1905 and until 2003 was used to provide power for London Underground. The developers had hoped to complete the redevelopment by 2013.

Services

A London Overground train at Imperial Wharf

Services at Imperial Wharf are operated by Southern and London Overground using Class 377 and 378 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[9][10]

• 4 tph to Stratford via Willesden Junction
• 1 tph to Watford Junction
• 4 tph to Clapham Junction
• 1 tph to East Croydon

Additional services call at the station during the peak hours.

During the late evenings, London Overground services at the station run between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction only.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
West Brompton		Southern West London Line		Clapham Junction
Preceding station		London Overground		Following station
West Brompton towards Stratford		West London Line		Clapham Junction Terminus

Connections

• London Bus routes 306, 424 and C3 serve the station.^[11]
• Chelsea Harbour Pier, which is approximately 250 metres away provides river buses services.^[12]

Abandoned future proposal

There were proposals, supported by RBK&C, to include a stop at this location, on the proposed Crossrail 2 line (known for a time as the 'Chelsea-Hackney Line'). If these plans were carried forward, then it would provide an interchange between London Overground services and either London Underground or main line commuter rail services, depending on which standards the new line is built to.^[13]

However, as of 2014, it is unlikely that Crossrail 2 will route via this location due to the engineering complexities of a kink in the route between the proposed Chelsea station and Clapham Junction. The nearest London Underground stations will remain Fulham Broadway, West Brompton and Sloane Square. Fulham Broadway was also once planned for the Crossrail 2 route but aborted.^[14]

References

1. "London and South East" (PDF). National Rail. September 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009.
2. "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. Chuffed by new train station Archived 27 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine, London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
4. Imperial Wharf planning report Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, paragraph 35
5. Westlondonlinegroup.org.uk – funding shortfall, 13 April 2005
6. "Hammersmith & Fulham to give green light to new Imperial Wharf railway station" (Press release). 24dash.com. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
7. "Imperial Wharf station saved". London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 26 May 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
8. Abbott, James, ed. (November 2009). "Imperial Wharf station opens". Modern Railways. Vol. 66, no. 734. p. 9.
9. Table 59, 66, 170, 176 National Rail timetable, June 2024
10. "London Overground Timetable: Stratford to Richmond and Clapham Junction" (PDF). Transport for London. Retrieved 12 December 2023.^{[permanent dead link]}
11. "Buses from Imperial Wharf and Chelsea Harbour" (PDF). Transport for London. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
12. "Boats from Chelsea Harbour Pier" (PDF). Transport for London. Spring 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
13. "Disused Stations: Imperial Wharf Station".
14. "Crossrail 2 June 2014". TfL Consultations Portal. Transport for London. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2014.

External links

• "Imperial Wharf station". Always Touch Out. 28 October 2007. Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
• Imperial Wharf station work begins.
• Imperial Wharf, SubBrit stations project
• London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham – Chuffed by new train station.
• BBC News Website – A new station opens in South London.