Clapham Junction railway station

Clapham Junction

Northern entrance
Clapham Junction Location of Clapham Junction in Greater London
Location	Battersea
Local authority	Wandsworth
Managed by	South West Trains
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	CLJ
Platforms in use	16
Fare zone	2
NR 2004/5 usage	12.550 million[1]
NR 2005/6 usage	12.427 million[1]
NR 2006/7 usage	18.868 million[1]
NR 2007/8 usage	19.881 million[1]
NR 2006/7 interchanges	12.868 million[1]
2 March 1863	Opened
List of stations	Underground · National Rail
External links	Departures • Facilities
London Transport Portal
UK Railways Portal

Coordinates: 51°27′53″N 0°10′14″W / 51.4646°N 0.1705°W / 51.4646; -0.1705

Clapham Junction railway station is near St John's Hill in the south-west of Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Many routes from London's two busiest termini, Waterloo and Victoria, funnel through Clapham Junction and so the station is one of the busiest in Europe by number of trains using it, more than one hundred an hour outside peak time. It is not in Clapham, but the area around the station is commonly known as Clapham Junction and it has been identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.^[2]

History

Before the railway came the area was rural and specialised in growing lavender; Lavender Hill is to the east of the station. The coach road from London to Guildford ran slightly to the south of the future station site, past The Falcon public house at a crossroads in the valley between St. John's Hill and Lavender Hill.

On 21 May 1838 the London and Southampton Railway, which became the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) that day, opened its line from Nine Elms as far as Woking. That was the first railway through the area but it had no station at the present site.

Details of roof support columns at Clapham Junction

The second line, from Nine Elms initially to Richmond, opened on 27 July 1846. Nine Elms was replaced in 1848 as the terminus by Waterloo Bridge station, now Waterloo. The line to Victoria opened by 1860. Clapham Junction station opened on 2 March 1863 as a joint venture of the L&SWR, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the West London Extension Railway (WLER) to be an interchange station for the Windsor, South Western Main Line, Brighton and WLER lines.^[3]

Additional station buildings were erected in 1874 and 1876.

When the station was built Battersea was regarded as a poor district while Clapham, a mile east, was more fashionable. The railway companies, seeking to attract a middle and upper class clientele, adopted the grander of the two names.

The station brought development to the area around it; the population rose from 6,000 in 1840 to 168,000 by 1910.

Clapham rail disaster

On the morning of 12 December 1988 two collisions involving three commuter trains occurred slightly south-west of the station. Thirty-five people died and more than 100 were injured.

Electronic Information board on a Clapham Junction platform

Clapham Junction platforms 2 to 10 at night

Today

v • d • e Railways around Clapham Junction

Legend London Waterloo Vauxhall London Victoria Linford curve, built for Eurostar HUB = Stewarts Lane Junc. To Wandsworth Road, CML To Wandsworth Road, CML Battersea Park Stewarts Lane TMD Queenstown Road (Battersea) || HUB = Longhedge Juncs by 1912 map || may have changed after grouping || and end of freight || Far left is West London Ext. Junc. Poupart's Jn Latchmere Jn for W'loo Latchmere Main Junc WLL. Latchmere SW Junc Ludgate Junc. Clapham Junction Carriage sidings Falcon Junc. To Wandsworth Common To Earlsfield. SWML To Wandsworth Town. Wloo-Reading Line

Each day about 2,000 trains, most stopping, pass through the station, more than through any other station in Europe. At peak times 180 trains per hour pass through of which 117 stop. It is not the busiest station by number of passengers, most of whom pass through. Roughly 430,000 pass through each weekday, of whom 135,000 are at rush hour times. Interchanges make some forty per cent of the activity and by that count too it is the busiest station in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

The main entrance, at the south from St. John's Hill, leads into a subway some 15 ft (4.6 m) wide which runs beneath the eastern ends of all platforms and on to a northern exit, which has restricted opening hours. The subway becomes very crowded during rush hours: ticket barriers at the ends are pinch points.

A very wide covered footbridge joins all platforms at their western ends but does not provide entry to or egress from the station. In 2007 Network Rail announced access improvements to be completed in 2009 which included re-opening the Brighton Yard entrance on St John's Hill and installing lifts to the platforms.^[4]

The station has limited public toilet facilities; refreshment kiosks in the underpass, on the overpass, and on some platforms; and a small shopping centre in the St. John's Hill entrance.

British Transport Police maintain a neighbourhood policing presence at Clapham Junction.^[5]

Future

Clapham Junction has no London Underground service but in 2007 the alignment of the proposed Chelsea-Hackney line possibly connecting to Clapham Junction was safeguarded . Secretary of State for Transport Geoff Hoon announced in February 2009 the allocation of £75m for extending the London Overground East London Line to Clapham Junction, a link which will permit travel from Clapham Junction through Brixton and Peckham to Shoreditch in east London.

A planning application from Metro Shopping Fund for a £39.5 million project at the station was withdrawn shortly before Wandsworth Planning Committee was to consider it on 20 May 2009. Clapham Junction is overcrowded during rush-hours and it is generally agreed that improvement is needed. The plan included a new entrance on St John's Hill, straightened and extended platforms 15-17, more ticketing facilities, an enhancement of current works to give step-free access to all platforms by 2011, a new step-free entrance on Grant Road, and a new 'high street' from St John's Hill to Falcon Road with retail space and an art house cinema. To pay for the rail improvements there would have been two 42-storey residential buildings above the station.

In 2009 the station was identified as second worst National Interchange station on the network, scoring a satisfaction rating of only 39% in a mystery shopper exercise conducted as part of a "Better Rail Stations" review undertaken for the Department for Transport. The station is one of ten set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements, referenced in the review as "upgrade interchange: new entrances & more retail".^[6][7]

Heathrow Airtrack is a proposed new UK rail link from Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 (T5) towards the south, built on the disused southern portion of the former West Drayton to Staines railway line with direct services to Reading, Guildford, and London Waterloo, which will call at Clapham Junction. This will create a major interchange for those in the south and those travelling from Gatwick Airport to Heathrow avoiding central london. If permission is granted, work is forecast to begin in 2010, with rail services operating by 2014

Services

The railway junction at Clapham Junction, facing east

All services from Waterloo, by South West Trains, and many from Victoria, by Southern and Gatwick Express, pass through the station as do the West London Line services of London Overground and Southern.

Typical off-peak service an hour is about 110 trains (one train every 30 seconds) is:

• 27 London Waterloo
• 22 London Victoria
• 2 Alton
• 2 stopping to Basingstoke
• 2 Brighton (express)
• 2 Caterham (via Norbury)
• 2 Chessington South
• 1 Dorking (via Sutton)
• 2 Dorking (via Wimbledon)
• 1 East Croydon (via Norbury)
• 2 East Grinstead
• 1 Epsom Downs
• 2 Epsom (via Hackbridge)
• 1 Epsom (via Norbury)
• 2 Guildford (via Cobham)
• 2 Guildford (via Epsom)
• 2 Hampton Court
• 1 Haslemere
• 1 Horsham (via Sutton and Dorking)
• 1 Littlehampton and Eastbourne (divides at Haywards Heath)
• 2 London Bridge
• 2 London Waterloo (via Brentford, Hounslow and Richmond)
• 2 London Waterloo (via Richmond, Hounslow and Brentford)
• 2 London Waterloo (via Wimbledon, Kingston and Richmond)
• 2 London Waterloo (via Richmond, Kingston and Wimbledon)
• 1 Milton Keynes Central (via Kensington Olympia and Watford Junction)
• 1 Ore and Littlehampton (divides at Haywards Heath and Eastbourne)
• 1 Poole
• 2 Portsmouth Harbour (via Haslemere)
• 1 Portsmouth and southsea (stoping via Guildford)
• 1 Portsmouth Harbour and Bognor Regis (divides at Horsham)
• 2 Reading
• 2 Shepperton
• 1 Southampton Central and Bognor Regis (divides at Horsham)
• 2 Sutton (via Norbury)
• 2 West Croydon (via Crystal Palace)
• 2 Weybridge (via Brentford, Hounslow and Staines)
• 1 Weymouth
• 2 Willesden Junction
• 2 Windsor & Eton Riverside
• 2 Woking (slow)
• 1 Yeovil Junction (some continue to Exeter and beyond)

The station footbridge

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
London Waterloo		South West Trains South Western Main Line West of England Main Line		Earlsfield or Woking
		South West Trains Waterloo to Basingstoke Alton Line		Surbiton
Vauxhall		South West Trains Waterloo to Woking Mole Valley Line Kingston Loop via Wimbledon Shepperton Branch Hampton Court Branch New Guildford Line		Earlsfield
London Waterloo		South West Trains Waterloo to Reading		Richmond
Vauxhall		South West Trains Waterloo to Windsor		Putney
Queenstown Road (Battersea)		South West Trains Kingston Loop via Richmond Hounslow Loop Reading and Windsor Lines		Wandsworth Town
London Victoria		Southern Brighton Main Line		East Croydon
London Victoria		Southern Oxted Line		East Croydon
Imperial Wharf		Southern West London Line		Wandsworth Common
Battersea Park		Southern South London Line (Outer)		Wandsworth Common
		Southern London Victoria to East Croydon
London Overground
Imperial Wharf towards Willesden Junction		West London Line		Terminus
		Under Construction
Terminus		South London Line under construction		Wandsworth Road

Platforms

The subway at Clapham Junction at night

The station has 17 platforms, numbered 1 to 17 (number 1 is disused), divided in two groups. Platforms 1-6, the northern group, lie a west-southwesterly direction and platforms 7-17, the southern group are oriented in a southwesterly direction. Sidings leading into railway sheds at the west of the station separate the two groups.

The main service usage at the platforms is:

• 1: The northernmost platform, out of use. The proposed East London Railway extension to Clapham Junction might use this platform.
• 2: West London Line for Willesden Junction.
• 3 and 4: Up Windsor line.
• 5 and 6: Down Windsor line.
• 7 and 8: A few express trains to Waterloo from the South West mainline.
• 9: South West Trains main line destinations.
• 10: South West Trains up suburban services coming through Wimbledon; the busiest up platform with 16 trains per hour.
• 11: South West Trains down suburban services going through Wimbledon.
• 12: Fast trains on the Brighton mainline to Victoria.
• 13: Brighton mainline southbound to all destinations. All trains call at East Croydon.
• 14: Up suburban services on the Brighton Mainline.
• 15: Down Southern suburban services.
• 16: West London Line to Milton Keynes Central.
• 17: West London Line to East Croydon via Balham and Selhurst

Platforms 11-17 have very wide gaps between platforms and trains.

Technology

Until 2003, when an extensive electronic train information display system was installed throughout the site, the large number of destinations sharing platforms made the station confusing for those unfamiliar with it.
In May 2004 the ticket machines were moved and reduced from six to four with only two taking credit cards.After complaints the two removed machines were reinstalled in winter 2004. Although there are seven staffed ticket windows purchasing tickets in the morning rush hour, and even during the day, can involve a lengthy delay. In March 2005 work began to alter the layout of the travel centre, and eight new ticket machines were installed in April 2006. Only two of these machines take cash and the excessive queueing times for these has provoked complaints.

The junction

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Clapham Junction

The station is named Clapham Junction because it forms the junction of several rail lines. The name is not shared by any actual rail junction in or near the station. Nearby rail junctions are:

• Falcon Jn at the south end of the station, where the West London Line (WLL) joins the Brighton Slow Lines.
• Ludgate GW Jn at the eastern end of the Windsor Line platforms with the WLL and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.
• Latchmere Jns where the three curves join the WLL.
• West London Jn where Eurostar empty stock left the Windsor Lines to get to the WLL.
• Pouparts Jn where the low-level and high-level approaches to Victoria split.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clapham Junction railway station

• Short History of Clapham Junction prepared by Wandsworth Council, and from which much of the information in the history section of this entry is sourced.
• BBC News report on the 1988 train collisions
• Local news site
• Yes, Clapham Junction is that bad. The sun shone, but the roof still leaks, Zoe Williams, The Guardian Nov 18, 2009

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