Westbourne Park tube station

Not to be confused with Westcombe Park railway station.

Westbourne Park is a London Underground station. It is located in the Notting Hill area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The station is on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 2.^[6]

Westbourne Park
Circle line trains at the station
Westbourne Park Location of Westbourne Park in Greater London
Location	Notting Hill
Local authority	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019	4.13 million[1]
2020	2.25 million[2]
2021	1.82 million[3]
2022	3.21 million[4]
2023	3.53 million[5]
Railway companies
Original company	Hammersmith and City Railway
Key dates
1 February 1866	H&C station opened
30 October 1871	GW main line station opened
1 November 1871	H&C station resited
13 March 1992	GW main line station closed
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
Coordinates	51.52111°N 0.20111°W / 51.52111; -0.20111
London transport portal

History

Although the Metropolitan Railway (MR) had been extended to Notting Hill and Hammersmith on 1 June 1864, the first station by this name did not open until 1 February 1866.^[7][8] In 1867, with the companies on better terms, the MR bought a share of the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) from the Great Western Railway (GWR), after which it eliminated the broad gauge track and operated almost all the trains (the H&CR's identity being effectively lost).^[7]

The original station closed on 31 October 1871, and was replaced the following day by a new station,^[7] constructed to the west of the original.^[9] To remove this traffic from its own busy main line, the GWR built a new pair of tracks from Paddington to Westbourne Park, and on 12 May 1878 it opened a dive-under to remove conflicts where the service crossed the main line.^{[7][note 1]} A bomb planted by the Suffragettes was discovered at the station on 16 May 1913.^[10]

The Circle line was extended to Hammersmith in 2009.^[11] The line now operates between Hammersmith and Edgware Road via a single complete circuit of the previous route.^{[11][note 2]} This was done with the aim of improving reliability by providing a place for trains to terminate after each trip rather than letting delays accumulate.^[11] However, it means that no trains through Notting Hill Gate go east of Edgware Road.^[11]

National Rail platforms

Victorian turntable excavated near the station

Victorian engine shed excavated near the station

The GWR opened platforms on the Great Western Main Line on 30 October 1871, but these closed in March 1992.^[12] The Up line through the station had a 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit, which was deemed unacceptable for the planned Heathrow Express services; instead of modifying the station's platforms; British Rail decided that it would be more cost-effective to permanently close and remove them, and closure notices were published on 13 December 1990.^[13]

Royal Oak, another station on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, was also once served by the GWR, but its services were withdrawn in 1934.^[14] Today, the first stop away from Paddington is at Acton Main Line. Industrial archaeologists have found the remains of buildings including a broad gauge train shed for Brunel's original lines, a turntable, and engine sheds in excavations east of the station as part of the land clearance work for the Crossrail project.^[15]

Connections

London Bus day and night routes serve the station.^[16][17]

In popular culture

Early railway buff Fanny Johnson, fourteen years old, recorded passing engines in her notebook ‘Names of Engines on the Great Western that I have Seen’ in 1861.^[18]

The station was featured in the video of the Boris Gardiner song "I Want to Wake Up with You".^[19][20]