Kensington (Olympia) station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by National Rail and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. On the Underground it is the terminus of a short District line branch, built as part of the Middle Circle, from Earl's Court; on the main-line railway it is on the West London Line from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction by which many trains bypass Central London.

A station was opened by the West London Railway as its southern terminus on 27 May 1844 as "Kensington", located just south of Hammersmith Road; it closed at the end of November 1844 due to the losses made. Although a scant and erratic goods service ran, the line re-opened to passengers with a new station called "Addison Road" on 2 June 1862, located to the north of Hammersmith Road. Metropolitan Railway trains started serving the station in 1864, via a link to Latimer Road, with District Railway trains arriving in 1872. This enabled the so-called "Middle Circle" service to operate via Paddington to the north and South Kensington to the south. From 1869, the L&SWR operated trains from Richmond to London Waterloo via Addison Road, until their branch via Shepherd's Bush closed in 1916. In 1940 Addison Road, as well as the link to the Metropolitan line at Latimer Road, closed along with the other West London Line stations, but in 1946 it was renamed "Kensington (Olympia)" and became the northern terminus of a peak-hour shuttle service to Clapham Junction, as well as a District line shuttle to Earl's Court. The current District Line bay platform opened in 1958, but the previous (1872) connection between the District and the main line south of the station wasn't finally lifted until 1992. Two years later, a full passenger service between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction was reinstated after a gap of 54 years.

The railway here forms the boundary between two London Boroughs and the southbound platform lies in Kensington and Chelsea while the northbound and London Underground platforms are in Hammersmith and Fulham. The station appears in some National Rail maps and timetables as Kensington Olympia. However, on London Underground maps and the London Overground-maintained station signage it appears as Kensington (Olympia). The name Kensington (Olympia) is also used on the latest National Rail "London Connections" map. The variant with parentheses (brackets) is the name given to the station in the London Railway Atlas, published by Ian Allan in 2009.

There are plans for London Overground to connect Kensington (Olympia) to an orbital rail line to improve access between East and West London during the 2012 Olympics.

Services

Mainline

Mainline services are provided by London Overground and Southern. The London Overground service operates between Willesden Junction to the north and Clapham Junction to the south, typically every 30 minutes every day of the week. Additional peak-period services continue on the North London Line beyond Willesden Junction to Stratford. Southern operate between Milton Keynes and East Croydon typically once an hour.

Kensington (Olympia) Station is used for rail connection to Gatwick Airport, passengers need to change trains at Clapham Junction, and the journey takes approximately 50 minutes.

Former Services

London Underground

The District line has a rather irregular short shuttle service of three or four trains per hour to High Street Kensington via Earl's Court. One late evening train runs daily from Kensington (Olympia) to Upminster.

Former Services

Description

This station is quieter than in the past, even though for many years the passenger service was only a few peak-hour main-line trains to and from Clapham Junction, with Underground trains only during exhibition times. Many freight trains pass through the station, as the West London Line is the main freight route from north of London to the south-east of England and the Channel Tunnel.

Before Eurostar services transferred in November 2007 to St Pancras International Eurostar trains passed through Kensington Olympia going from Waterloo International station to North Pole depot and the station was a backup terminus for the services should Waterloo International have become unusable and immigration facilities were maintained there. The former British Rail Motorail services which carried passengers and their cars between London and many parts of the country used to terminate here.

The link to the Great Western Main Line at North Pole Junction, three miles to the north, avoiding the western central London terminus of Paddington station, meant that the station was to play an important role in the Cold War should a nuclear exchange have seemed likely.

Secret plans entailed use of the station, in the prelude to a nuclear war, to evacuate several thousand civil servants to the Central Government War Headquarters underground bunker in Wiltshire..

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It is planned to install ticket gates at the station in the near future .

Gallery

File:Addison Road station sign.jpg|Former station entrance sign, showing the original name, Addison RoadFile:Kensington South Main-1988.jpg|Kensington Olympia in 1988File:Silverlink 313122 and 313123 at Kensington Olympia 02.jpg|Silverlink EMUs 313122 and 313123 at Kensington (Olympia)File:kensington_olympia_from_above.jpg|Aerial view of Kensington (Olympia)File:Addison Rd and Olympia platforms.jpg|Current (right) and former (left) southbound platforms at Kensington (Olympia)File:Olympia station Sep 07.jpg|Mainline platformsFile:Kensington Olympia stn Overground signage.JPG|London Overground platform signage installed 2007.File:Kensington Olympia stn Underground signage.JPG|London Underground platform signage

External links

• Kensington Olympia, Subterranea Britannica disused station project. Extensive history of the station, and the West London Line.

References

1. London Railway Atlas, J. Brown (Ian Allan, 2009)
2. National Rail Enquiries - Maps
3. Page 5
4. Belgian Branch Line News 1996
5. House of Commons - Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs - Fifth Report