West Drayton railway station serves

West Drayton West Drayton is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hillingdon. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and from 1929 was part of the Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District, which became part of Greater London in 1965. The s ...

and

Yiewsley Yiewsley ( ) is a large suburban village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, 2 miles (3 km) south of Uxbridge, the borough's commercial and administrative centre. Yiewsley was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Hillingdon, Middl ...

, western suburbs of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It is served and managed by the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

. It is down the line from and is situated between to the east and to the west.

History

West Drayton station is on the original line of the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

, and was opened on 4 June 1838 at the same time as the line. The original station was located approximately to the west of the current station and was opened in its current position on 9 April 1884. This was four months before the Staines and West Drayton Railway branch line was opened on 9 August 1884. Initially trains operated as far as

Colnbrook Colnbrook is a village in the Borough of Slough, Slough district in Berkshire, England. It lies within the historic counties of England, historic boundaries of Buckinghamshire, and straddles two distributaries of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, ...

, with services to Staines commencing on 2 November 1885. From 1 March 1883, the station was served by

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the ...

services running between and Windsor. The service was discontinued as uneconomic after 30 September 1885. West Drayton was the

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated either on or close to a rail junction, where lines to two or more destinations diverge. Many junction stations have multiple platform faces to enable trains for multiple destinatio ...

for both the Staines branch, and an earlier branch to that opened on 8 September 1856. The Uxbridge branch line closed to passengers on 10 September 1962, but the line south of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...

was retained for freight traffic until 8 January 1979. The Staines branch closed to passengers on 29 March 1965, but freight trains still run from West Drayton serving the aviation fuel terminal for

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

at Colnbrook and aggregates depots at Thorney and Colnbrook. From 1895 the station was named ''West Drayton and Yiewsley''; it reverted to the original name ''West Drayton'' on 6 May 1974. In preparation for the introduction of Elizabeth line services, the operation of the station was transferred from

to MTR Crossrail on behalf of

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

at the end of 2017.

Description

West Drayton station is situated on Station Approach in

. It is north of the centre of

and immediately to the south of the

, in the

London Borough of Hillingdon The London Borough of Hillingdon () is a London borough in Greater London, England. It forms part of outer London and West London, being the westernmost London borough. It was formed in 1965 from the districts of Hayes and Harlington Urban Distr ...

. The station has five platforms. Platform 1 down main line (away from London), platform 2 is the up main line (towards London), platform 3 is the down relief line, platform 4 is the up relief line. A fifth platform on the up goods line is not used for passenger services. This is used for freight services to access the branch line to Colnbrook and also to wait to continue on the up relief line. The platforms on the main lines see little use, other than when the relief lines are closed for maintenance. Access between the platforms is via steps and a pedestrian underpass.

Crossrail and the Elizabeth line

The station received major improvements through the Crossrail construction project in preparation for Elizabeth line services which commenced in May 2022. A new glass and steel extension was built together with a redeveloped main ticket office and new platform canopies. The platforms were extended to be greater than long, accessed by a new over-platform footbridge with four lifts.

Services

Off-peak, all services at West Drayton are operated by the

using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 4 tph to * 4 tph to of which 2 continue to Additional services call at the station during the peak hours, increasing the service to up to 6 tph in each direction. The station is also served by a small number of early morning and late evening

services between and Reading.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

222 __NOTOC__ Year 222 ( CCXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Antoninus and Severus (or, less frequently, year 975 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomi ...

350 __NOTOC__ Year 350 ( CCCL) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus (or, less frequently, year 1103 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 3 ...

, 698, U1, U3 and U5 serve the station.

References

External links

TfL website

National Rail website
{{UK railway stations Railway stations in the London Borough of Hillingdon Great Western Main Line Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1838 Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations served by the Elizabeth line