Hounslow East tube station

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Hounslow East
Location
Place	Hounslow
Local authority	London Borough of Hounslow
Operations
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	2
Transport for London
Zone	4
Annual entry/exit	3.088 million †
History
1884 1909 1933 1964	Track laid (MDR) Opened (District Line) Start (Piccadilly Line) End (District Line)
Transport for London List of London stations: Underground \| National Rail
† Data from Transport for London [1]
Tube Portal

Hounslow East is a London Underground station in Hounslow in west London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line, between Hounslow Central and Osterley. The station is located on Kingsley Road about 400m north of Hounslow High Street. Hounslow bus garage is a short walk to the south. It is in Travelcard Zone 4.

[edit] History

The history of the station is linked to that of Hounslow Town which it replaced in 1909.

The route through Hounslow East station was opened by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) on 21 July 1884 as a branch to Hounslow Barracks (now Hounslow West). The branch line was constructed as single track from the MDR's existing route to Hounslow Town station located at the eastern end of Hounslow High Street where the bus garage is now located. That station had opened in 1883. Initially the branch had to Hounslow Barracks had no stations between there and Osterley & Spring Grove (now Osterley).

Hounslow Town station was closed on 31 March 1886 and Heston & Hounslow station (now Hounslow Central), opened as its replacement the following day, 1 April 1886.

In 1903 Hounslow Town was reopened and trains would be divided at Osterley with part running to Hounslow West and the other part to Hounslow Town as a short shuttle. Electrification of the MDR's tracks took place between 1903 and 1905 with electric trains replacing steam trains on the Hounslow branch from 13 June 1905. When the branch was electrified, the track between Osterley and Hounslow Central was closed and a new loop was opened from Hounslow Town back to Hounslow Central. Trains would run from Osterley to Hounslow Town then reverse and run to Hounslow West.

Map showing operational dates for lines and stations in Hounslow

This method of operation was unsuccessful and short-lived. On 2 May 1909 the track between Hounslow Central and Osterley was reopened with Hounslow East station (initially called Hounslow Town) as a new station located about 300m west of the loop to the old station. The old Hounslow Town station and its two loop tracks were closed for good.

On 1 December 1925 the station was given its present name at the same time that Hounslow West and Hounslow Central received their current names.

Piccadilly Line services, which had been running as far as Northfields since January 1933 were extended to run to Hounslow West on 13 March 1933. From this date, the branch was operated jointly by both lines until District Line services were withdrawn on 9 October 1964.

The station has recently been rebuilt with a modern glass enclosed ticket hall on the south side of the tracks replacing the small 1909 station entrance located on the north side.