Before Crossrail – Acton Main Line
A Very Draughty Station – Rating 4/10
Acton Main Line station is not an attractive one and I certainly found it very draughty today.
This is a Google Map of the station.
Acton Main Line Station – Downloaded 7th July 2015
It is a station that will be rebuilt for Crossrail and their plans are comprehensive. They say this.
Crossrail is building a new Acton Main Line station just to the south of the existing building on the junction of Horn Lane and Friary Road with a location and orientation that creates a new station forecourt east of the station and a new space to the rear.
With four trains an hour under Crossrail, you won’t have to do what I did today and catch a bus to get away from the area.
I think Acton Main Line shows how areas around Crossrail stations will benefit.
Before Crossrail – Ealing Broadway
More Romford Than Stratford – Rating 5/10
Ealing Broadway station will be one of the more important stations on Crossrail, ranking with Stratford. Just as Stratford will be a major interchange with suburban rail, the Overground, the Underground, the DLR and buses in the East, Ealing Broadway will in a slightly lesser fashion perform a similar role in the West.
This is a Google Map of the station.
Ealing Broadway Station – Downloaded 7th July 2015
At the moment, the station is rather a jumble of connections, with none of the elegance of Stratford or Reading. It’s got a lot of the run-down feel of Romford or Ilford.
Ealing deserves better and this station has been through a major rethink in recent months. But will there be the right connectivity between Crossrail and the Underground?
Suppose you want to get between Wimbledon or Richmond and Heathrow. Transport for London, recommend getting a bus for the first and going to Paddington for the second.
So London gets a new fifteen billion pound railway and it doesn’t easily connect to where it is needed.
I would assume that if Ealing gets full step-free interchanging between all lines, some of this will be easier, but connecting to Richmond probably needs a new Crossrail station at Old Oak Common connecting to the North London Line. Wimbledon would hopefully be a change at Farringdon onto Thameslink.
Before Crossrail – West Ealing
An Untidy Smaller Station – Rating 3/10
West Ealing station is due a major refurbishment for Crossrail, with the details given here.
Crossrail also have their usual ambitious plans for outside the station. They say this.
Crossrail will relocate the station from its existing position on Drayton Green Road, which carries significant through-traffic, to Manor Road – a quieter side street.
This would seem sensible, as this would make the station entrance nearer to the shopping street.
Before Crossrail – Hanwell
A Relic From The Past – Rating 3/10
Hanwell station is very much a relic of a time long passed. With a sympathetic refurbishment, it would have a style not unlike that of Birmingham Moor Street.
The station like Slough is a Grade 2 Listed building, but as the pictures show, except for the flowers, very little is what passengers expect these days.
It must have the worst staircases on any station in the UK.
On the other hand a fellow passenger, who was speaking what sounded like an East European language into his phone and to his child, thought it was rather a nice station with lots of heritage.
Finding the station was also difficult and on their web site Crossrail feels Hanwell is very much a station, where a good job can be done. They say this.
Hanwell station is a smaller and comparatively lightly-used station located in a predominantly residential area on a quiet street some distance away from the nearest major road. Despite the attractiveness of the Grade II listed station and the nearby houses, the streetscape generally suffers from inconsistent paving quality and a lack of step-free pedestrian crossings.
It will be a challenge to get this station fit for the twenty-first century.
Ealing Borough Council are also pushing to open up the station on the other side of the tracks. It would certainly make it easier to find the station.
Before Crossrail – East Is East And West Is West
I have now seen a good proportion of the Crossrail stations and they range from the spectacular new stations like Reading and Stratford to some much simpler ones like Taplow and Goodmayes.
But there is an East-West divide with the former Great Western stations being generally better designed and in a superior state of repair to those that were built by the Great Eastern.
Crossrail has a section on its web site called Urban Realm, which details their plans for all the stations.
Some of the more ambitious schemes involve virtually new stations like Hayes and Harlington and Southall, but they tend to be in the west.
So are we seeing another manifestation of the policy of not giving rail lines to the east, the investment they deserve?
Surely, if Southall needs a new station, then so does Manor Park?
Manor Park may well get a substantially rebuilt station, as the future development of the station is described like this in Wikipedia.
Manor Park station will be served by Crossrail from 2018. The platforms will not be lengthened so selective door operation will be used instead, allowing the freight loop to remain in use. Due to the narrow platforms, and the layout of the station, fitting lifts for disabled access would be difficult and expensive, requiring the walkways to be rebuilt and closing the station for several months. Like all the other Crossrail stations, this station will be made accessible.
As full step-free access has been promised, we may see more development at Manor Park.
Before Crossrail – Southall
The Manor Park Of The West – Rating 2/10
Southall is not quite as much of a ruin as Manor Park, but it has a great air of demolition about it.
A lot of these pictures are irrelevant as Southall will be replaced completely according to Crossrail. They say this.
A new Crossrail station will be built just to the north of the existing building on the South Road railway bridge. The wider Southall area is likely to change substantially in future years due to large scale redevelopment sites such as the Southall Gas Works site which has permission for 3,750 homes. There is enormous potential for improvement in the area around Southall station.
The plans look a darn sight better, than what is there today.
Before Crossrail – Slough
Not A Station That Needs Friendly Bombs – Rating 7/10
Slough station is actually Grade 2 Listed, although today I didn’t have time to venture outside.
This is the Google Map of the station.
Slough Station – Downloaded 6th July 2015
Crossrail has big plans for Slough station and say this.
In recent years the southern forecourt to the Grade II listed station has been improved. In contrast, the northern forecourt is somewhat neglected and is poorly utilised as a public space and arrival point to the town. Most of the space is given over to car parking and the forecourt surfaces are of poor quality with little footway space.
The traffic at Slough would also appear to be very similar to that at Shenfield, in that some long-distance services stop to pick-up and set down passengers.
So I do wonder that after Crossrail opens, the pattern of services between Paddington and the West will change and the station becomes a more important interchange.
Before Crossrail – Burnham
One Of The Simplest Stations -Rating 6/10
Burnham station has just one island platform, which will serve both lines for Crossrail.
This is a Google Map of the station, clearly showing the island layout.
Burnham Station – Downloaded 6th July 2015
It does appear that work has started at the station to make it fully Crossrail-ready.
So are the contractors starting with the easy stations first?
They still have to put in a lift and add a roof.
Before Crossrail – Taplow
Crossrail Meets The Countryside – Rating 7/10
Taplow station is possibly the remotest Crossrail station.
This is a Google Map of the station.
Taplow Station – Downloaded 6th July 2015
As it has car parks and because it is used for events at Dorney Lake, the station must be needed by commuters and other passengers.
But it is a station with a very different profile to all of the others on Crossrail.
Will a probable frequency of four Crossrail services an hour, in addition to other stopping trains on the Great Western Main Line generate extra passengers at this station?
But as with many other questions about Crossrail, we won’t know the answers until the line is fully open.
Before Crossrail – Hayes And Harlington
Another Work In Progress – Raring 7/10
Hayes and Harlington was busy with engineers, as they were dealing with the slow lines, that will be part of Crossrail.
This is a Google Map of the station.
Hayes And Harlington Station – Downloaded 7th July 2015
It was good to have a cabaret, whilst I waited for my train back to Paddington.
As with West Drayton, Crossrail have impressive plans for this station. They say this.
The existing Hayes and Harlington station building is located on the bridge over the railway tracks. A new larger Crossrail station will be built just north of the existing site. The local area is largely made up of low density, suburban housing, with the exception of the recent High Point Village residential development, the first of a number of developments set to substantially change the character of the station environs.
I have no reason to go to this station at the moment, but years ago in the days of Metier, we had our headquarters nearby for a time.
Looking at Crossrail’s plans, this could well be one of the better stations outside the centre of London.
The Anonymous Widower 