Greenford branch line

The Greenford branch line is a 2 miles 40 chains (4.0 km) Network Rail suburban railway line in west London, England. It runs northerly from a triangular junction with the Great Western Main Line west of West Ealing to a central bay platform at Greenford station, where it has cross-platform interchanges to the London Underground's Central line. A triangular junction near Greenford connects to the Acton–Northolt line (formerly the New North Main Line). The line serves mainly the suburbs of Ealing and Greenford.

Greenford branch line
A Paddington train at the bay platform at Greenford
Overview
Type	Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Greenford West Ealing
Stations	5
Services	1
Operation
Opened	1903
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Great Western Railway Chiltern Railways
Depot(s)	Old Oak Common TMD
Rolling stock	Class 165 "Turbo"
Technical
Track length	2 miles 40 chains (4.0 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map (Click to expand)

Greenford branch line
Acton–Northolt line 2½ Greenford 2⅓ Central Line A40 Western Avenue 1¾ South Greenford River Brent 1⅓ Castle Bar Park ½ Drayton Green Great Western main line 0⅓ West Ealing

History

A Class 121 diesel multiple unit in BR Network SouthEast livery at London Paddington station for the Greenford service (1988).

The opening of the line in 1903 coincided with the opening of a station at Park Royal on the Acton–Northolt line to serve the Royal Agricultural Show held in the grounds of part of the Twyford Abbey Estate. [1]The Show ran from 15 June 1903 to 4 July 1903 during which period trains operated a circular service to and from Paddington via Park Royal and Ealing. Normal services started on 2 May 1904 and the links to Greenford station were put in on 1 October 1904.

The loop formed by the GWML, the branch and the ANL is sometimes used for turning trains for operational reasons such as balancing wheel wear. On weekends in 2008 during engineering works on the West Coast Main Line the line was used by Virgin Trains' Euston-Birmingham International "Blockade Buster" service which ran to Euston via Willesden, Acton Main Line, Ealing Broadway, Greenford, High Wycombe, Banbury and Coventry using pairs of 5-car Voyager sets. On two Sundays in February 2010, Chiltern and Wrexham & Shropshire trains were diverted to Paddington via the line while engineering work blocked the route to Marylebone.

Locally the service is called the 'Push-and-pull', a term which dates from the days of steam, when the engine could not change ends at Greenford and so the locomotive pulled the carriages one way and pushed them on the return run (see GWR Autocoach). In the 1950s the service frequently ran with two auto-trailers, one either side of the engine.

During the 1960s and '70s the service was normally operated by a Class 121 'Bubble Car' two-carriage diesel railcar, although this was later reduced to a single carriage.

As Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park and South Greenford have short platforms the maximum length of train that can be used is two cars.[2]

In preparation for Crossrail, a new platform 5 has been constructed at West Ealing, and (as of January 2017) all services have been diverted to terminate there.

Current service

The passenger service is provided by Great Western Railway. Trains from the branch terminate at West Ealing, except for one service from Paddington at the start of the day, and to Paddington at the end of the day.

There is a parliamentary service operated by Chiltern Railways from 10 December 2018 that - during the weekday - starts from South Ruislip and non-stops through to West Ealing and returns to High Wycombe. [3]

All services are operated with two-car Class 165 Turbo diesel trains. There is no Sunday service.

Passenger volume

These are statistics of passenger usage on the National Rail network along the Greenford branch line from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2019.

Station usage
Station name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Greenford	No data	No data	No data	85,234	90,343	74,196	105,452	152,542	173,868	190,658	195,998	232,160	260,132	229,870	150,800	152,698
South Greenford	7,018	5,804	6,106	14,207	16,059	14,524	16,480	31,888	31,292	38,360	41,338	47,324	62,184	53,110	26,502	28,084
Castle Bar Park	40,678	13,522	19,893	97,363	100,705	92,768	84,868	124,492	124,364	144,182	158,806	180,504	188,120	151,942	80,386	79,866
Drayton Green	6,039	6,597	5,254	75,414	80,235	66,908	67,552	104,732	106,874	123,038	137,600	152,710	153,146	102,372	33,578	29,228
West Ealing	646,608	384,890	371,096	1,078,954	1,264,480	895,372	759,796	1,069,164	1,109,636	1,170,790	1,302,320	1,347,024	989,068	923,710	1,034,658	1,077,698
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Barking and Blackhorse Road are affected by usage of the ticket gates for the underground and that Gospel Oak connects to the North London Line section of the London Overground and is similarly affected. Barking is further affected by the ticket gates used to access C2C services.

Connections

• At Greenford: London Underground Central line,
• At West Ealing: GWR local services and TFL Rail to Heathrow Airport

References

1. "Twyford and Park Royal, Brent, London". www.brent-heritage.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-07-25. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
2. "Quail Track Diagrams by TRACKmaps – Railway Track | Book 3 Western". www.trackmaps.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2018-12-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Further reading

• Conolly, W.P. (1997). Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3.
• MacDermot, Edward Terence (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. Volume II, 1863-1921. London: Great Western Railway Co. OCLC 55853736.
• Mitchell, V.; Smith, K. (2000). Branch Lines of West London. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1-901706-50-8.
• Network Rail (2007). "Current Timetables, Electronic National Rail Timetable (eNRT)". Network Rail. Retrieved 2007-06-11. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• 3 Western (Map) (4th ed.). Railway Track Diagrams. Cartography by John Yonge. Trackmaps. November 2005. ISBN 0-9549866-1-X.