Southall railway station

Southall National Rail
Punjabi: ਸਾਊਥਾਲ
Southall
Location of Southall in Greater London
Location Southall
Local authority London Borough of Ealing
Managed by First Great Western
Station code STL
Number of platforms 2
Fare zone 4
National Rail annual entry and exit
2008–09 Decrease 1.465 million[1]
2009–10 Decrease 1.338 million[1]
2010–11 Increase 1.902 million[1]
2011–12 Increase 2.122 million[1]
2012–13 Increase 2.222 million[1]
2013–14 Increase 2.306 million[1]
Key dates
1839 Opened
Other information
Lists of stations
External links
London Transport portal
UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°30′22″N 0°22′42″W / 51.506°N 0.3783°W

Southall is a railway station in Southall, west London. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4 and passenger services are provided by First Great Western from London Paddington to Reading, Oxford and Newbury, and by Heathrow Connect from Paddington to Heathrow Airport.

Southall station has bilingual station signage, due to the large Punjabi community in the local area. Station signs on the platforms bear "Southall" and also "ਸਾਊਥਹਾਲ" in Gurmukhī, a script commonly used for Punjabi. In addition, some station information notices have also been provided in Punjabi, because many Punjabi-speaking people live in the station's catchment area.

History

Up freight passing Southall Station in 1961
Goods train coming off the Brentford Dock branch in 1961

The Great Western Railway opened Southall railway station on 1 May 1839, nearly one year after it opened its first railway line on 4 June 1838, between London Paddington and Maidenhead Bridge (the latter now known as Taplow).[2] In 1859 the Brentford Branch Line to Brentford Dock was opened for freight,[3] a passenger service ran on the branch from 1860 until 1942, using the unnumbered platform at the south of the station (the line serving this platform is now only used as a relief line). From 1 March 1883 to 30 September 1885 (when the service was discontinued as uneconomic) the District Railway ran trains between Mansion House and Windsor which called at the station.[4][5] The goods platforms opened as part of the original station and were closed and dismantled in 1967.[6]

Layout and facilities

Southall railway station has five platforms, one of which is unnumbered and used only for freight and special events. Access to all platforms is only by stairs. In normal circumstances platforms 1 and 2, on the fast lines, and the unnumbered platform are not used by passengers; platforms 3 and 4 are used by all trains serving the station. The station building, above the fast lines, has a ticket office and a newsagent's shop. A footbridge gives access to platforms 3 and 4, while gates prevents access to the other three, under normal circumstances.[7]

Oyster "pay as you go" has been available since October 2008 for journeys to or from Southall.[8] Although Southall is a busy station, automatic ticket barriers have not replaced manual ticket checks and standalone card readers, making the station vulnerable to fare evasion.

Future

On 16 March 2010, the Crossrail Specialist Scrutiny Panel recommended that Crossrail should give consideration to the proposed regeneration developments in the area, including the Southall Gas Works development and the landscaping of unused work sites.[9]

In May 2011 Network Rail announced that it would make various alterations to prepare the station for Crossrail:[10]

Connections

London Buses routes 105; 120; 195; 482; E5 and H32 serve the station.

Accidents and incidents

Main article: Southall rail crash

On 19 September 1997, a Great Western Trains passenger train from Swansea to London Paddington failed to stop at a red signal and collided with a freight train, killing 7 people and injuring 139 others.[11] The train driver, Larry Harrison (who had bent down to pack his bag), was charged with manslaughter, but the case against him was dropped. Great Western Trains was fined £1.5 million for the crash. Following this accident and the more serious Ladbroke Grove Rail Crash some miles east, First Great Western requires all its trains to have their ATP switched on at all times. If the equipment is faulty the train is stored out of use.

In 2007, analysis by First Great Western after several deaths at Southall station found that a third of railway suicides on English and Welsh railways occurred on the line between Slough and Paddington.[12]

Gallery

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southall railway station.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
  2. ↑ "Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society" 11. Bishopsgate Institute. 1953. p. 113.
  3. ↑ MacDermot, E T (1927). History of the Great Western Railway. 1 (1833-1863) (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway.
  4. ↑ Rose, Douglas (December 2007) [1980]. The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (8th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-315-0.
  5. ↑ Day, John R.; Reed, John (2008) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (10th ed.). Harrow: Capital Transport. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-85414-316-7.
  6. ↑ Brown, Joe (2009). London Railway Atlas (2nd ed.). Ian Allan Publishing. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-7110-3397-9.
  7. ↑ "Southall Station Plan". National Rail Enquiries. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Oyster PAYG on National Rail" (PDF). National Rail Enquiries. 2008-10-20.
  9. ↑ Unwin, Kevin, "Crossrail Specialist Scrutiny Panel 2009/2010" (PDF), Draft Final Report (London Borough of Ealing): 36–40, retrieved 23 June 2010
  10. ↑ "Crossrail Station Design Contract Awarded". Crossrail. 17 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  11. ↑ Wolmar, Christian (20 September 1997). "Southall, 1.15pm, Friday 19 September 1997. It's happened again.". The Independent. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  12. ↑ Owen, Glen; Oliver Wadeson (22 September 2007). "'Abused' Asian women behind soaring toll of railway suicides". The Daily Mail (Associated Newspapers). Retrieved 23 June 2010.
  • Baker, T.F.T., Cockburn, J.S. and Pugh, R.B. (Eds) (1971) "Norwood, including Southall: Introduction", A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner, Victoria County History online, p. 40-43, accessed 20 October 2007
  • Mitchell V. and Smith, K. (2000) "2. Brentford Branch, Southall", In: Branch Lines of West London, Midhurst : Middleton Press, ISBN 1-901706-50-8, p. 16-23

External links

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Hanwell or
Ealing Broadway		   First Great Western
Great Western Main Line		   Hayes & Harlington
Hanwell
Ealing Broadway on Sundays		  Heathrow Connect
Paddington - Heathrow		  
  Future Development  
Preceding station   Crossrail   Following station
Crossrail
Line 1
towards Abbey Wood or Shenfield
  Historical services  
Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
Hayes & Harlington
Line and station open
towards Windsor
District line
Line and station open
towards Mansion House
Disused railways
Terminus   Great Western Railway
Brentford Branch Line		   Trumpers Crossing Halte
Line and station closed