Acton Main Line railway station

Acton Main Line is a National Rail station on the Great Western Main Line in Acton, west London. It is 4 miles 21 chains (6.9 km) down the line from London Paddington. Train services are provided by TfL Rail.

Acton Main Line
Looking west from platform 4 in 2019
Acton Main Line Location of Acton Main Line in Greater London
Location	Acton
Local authority	London Borough of Ealing
Grid reference	TQ203812
Managed by	TfL Rail[1]
Station code	AML
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	3
Fare zone	3
National Rail annual entry and exit
2014–15	0.454 million[2]
2015–16	0.262 million[2]
2016–17	0.239 million[2]
2017–18	0.264 million[2]
2018–19	0.311 million[2]
Railway companies
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Key dates
1 February 1868 (1868-02-01)	Opened as Acton
1 November 1949	Renamed Acton Main Line
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51.5171°N 0.2668°W / 51.5171; -0.2668
London transport portal

Its three-letter station code is AML. It is in Travelcard Zone 3.[3]

History

Acton Main Line was opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on 1 February 1868.[4] Originally simply named Acton, it was operated by the Western Region of British Railways following nationalisation in 1948. On 1 November 1949 it was renamed Acton Main Line.[4] When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Railways in 1994.

Together with the underground stations at West Acton and North Acton, Acton Main Line serves the GWR garden estate. This large area of family housing, bordered on three sides by the stations named and on the fourth side by the A40 road, was developed by GWR in the 1920s to accommodate its staff, particularly drivers from the Old Oak Common depot.[5]

By 1947 the station had four platforms, all partially covered along their length by wooden canopies, as well as a siding next to platform 1.[6][7] Both platform 1 and its siding were demolished in the late 1960s, whilst the imposing Victorian station building was pulled down and replaced with a small booking office in 1974.[8][9] As a result of this, the current three platforms no longer have canopies and are numbered 2, 3 and 4. The platform 1 permanent way is still intact, and is used as a fast through line for non-stopping trains; all trains on the Great Western Main Line pass through the station.

The current station building was completed in early 1996; there was also extensive renovation of the adjacent bridge on Horn Lane throughout 1995 and 1996. In mid-2013 a gated barrier was built, dividing platforms 2 and 3 for their entire length. In May 2018, extensions to all three platforms were completed for the purpose of Crossrail.

Services

The typical daytime service from the station is:

• 2 trains per hour to London Paddington
• 2 trains per hour to Heathrow Terminal 4

As of May 2019, the station is now served on Sundays as the Paddington-Hayes & Harlington service now runs on Sundays.[10]

Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Ealing Broadway		TfL Rail Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 4		London Paddington
	Future service
Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Ealing Broadway towards Heathrow Airport		Crossrail Elizabeth line		Paddington towards Abbey Wood
Future service when a station is built at Old Oak Common (e.g. for HS2)
Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Ealing Broadway towards Heathrow Airport		Crossrail Elizabeth line		Old Oak Common towards Abbey Wood
	Historical railways
Ealing Broadway Line and station open		Great Western Railway Main Line		Westbourne Park Line and station open
		Great Western Railway West London Railway		St. Quintin Park and Wormwood Scrubs Line and station closed

Crossrail

Crossrail trains call at Acton Main Line under the interim TfL Rail brand, with 2 services an hour in both the peak and off-peak. To accommodate Crossrail services, various alterations will be made by Network Rail:

• New station building with a larger ticket hall with level access from Horn Lane
• Step-free access between street level and all platforms via a new footbridge with stairs and two lifts
• Platforms 2–4 extended to enable 10-car trains to stop
• Improved passenger facilities including a new canopy on platform 4, along with information and security systems.[11]

Connections

London Buses routes 260, 266 and 440 serve the station.

References

1. Station facilities for Acton Main Line
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. A. Jowett (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas. Atlantic Publishing.
4. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. See section "The Railway Expansion" at Acton History.
6. "Wall's Ice Cream and Sausage Factory and environs, Acton, from the west, 1947". Britain from Above. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
7. "Acton Main Line Railway Station, the Wall's Ice Cream and Sausage Factory and environs, Acton, 1947. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing.". Britain from Above. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
8. Lane, Kevin (July 2017). "Hanimex Hymek" on Flickr. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
9. "Acton Main Line station, 1960 & 2012" on Flickr. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
10. "Paddington to Heathrow Airport (TfL Rail)" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
11. "Western section". Crossail. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2015.

External links

• Train times and station information for Acton Main Line railway station from National Rail