North Acton tube station

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This article is about the London Underground station on the Central Line. For other stations in Acton, see Acton station.


North Acton
Location
Place	Acton
Local authority	London Borough of Ealing

Operations
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	3

Transport for London
Zone	2 and 3
2005 annual usage	3.796 million †
2007 annual usage	4.992 million †
History
Key dates	Opened 1923
Transport for London List of London stations: Underground \| National Rail
† Data from Transport for London [1]
London Transport Portal

North Acton is a London Underground station in Acton, West London.

[edit] History

The station was opened in 1923 by the Central London Railway (the precursor to the Central line) on its 1920 extension to Ealing Broadway station. For many years the platform layout had only two platforms with the running lines between them, with passenger access down from the booking hall. Some years ago to improve operational flexibility a third platform was created. The waste railway land (old track bed) to the north of the eastbound platform was cleared of scrub, and a northern platform face created in place of the fence. The eastbound road was diverted to a new stretch of running line at this platform, and the former eastbound platform (and now the middle platform) resignalled so that it can be used as a two-way bay road, in addition to its existing run-through signalling facilities. These changes provide the ability to run shuttle services to White City, from Ealing Broadway and/or West Ruislip in the event of problems elsewhere on the Central Line. Also, some trains coming from central London are scheduled to terminate at North Acton at certain times of the day.

The Great Western Railway opened a station in 1904 immediately to the north on its main line to Birmingham (opened in 1903) but this closed when the Central line was extended on new tracks from North Acton to Greenford station in 1947. Between South Ruislip station and Old Oak Junction, the GWR line was progressively run down and in many places is now single-track, including the stretch running past the Tube station. As of May 2008, only freight trains and the skeleton (once daily) passenger service use this stretch of the main line.

[edit] The Station Today

The station is on the Central Line, between East Acton and Hanger Lane, and on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3.

This is the last station before the Central Line splits in to the West Ruislip and Ealing Broadway branches. Approximately half the trains stopping at the station head to each destination. The support centre for Carphone Warehouse, NEC and numerous other companies have offices in the vicinity. There are approximately 600 new flats directly opposite the station which are currently being populated,^[when?] and there is a Holiday Inn Express hotel next door to the station with the Ramada Encore hotel another five minutes' walk away. A new Tesco 'Express' store is now open and a Lebanese restaurant will open in the opposite block during the first quarter of 2008.

[edit] Gallery

looking west, with westbound (left) and eastbound trains	Looking east, island platform on left	Looking west, island platform on right	Looking east, disused GWR station on extreme left
Looking west, disused GWR station on extreme right	Roundel on westbound platform

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Hanger Lane towards West Ruislip		Central line		East Acton towards Epping, Hainault or Woodford via Hainault
West Acton towards Ealing Broadway		Central line