Southfields tube station

Southfields is a London Underground station in Southfields in the London Borough of Wandsworth. The station is on the District Line between and  stations. The station is located on Wimbledon Park Road at the junction with Augustus Road and Replingham Road. It is in Travelcard Zone 3.

Southfields is the most convenient station from which to reach the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, venue of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships; station is slightly closer as the crow flies but requires a longer walk.

History
The station was opened by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) on 3 June 1889 on an extension from Putney Bridge station to. The extension was built by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) which, starting on 1 July 1889, ran its own trains over the line from a connection at East Putney to its Clapham Junction to Barnes line.

The section of the District Line from Putney Bridge to Wimbledon was the last part of the line to be converted from steam operation to electric. Electric trains began running on 27 August 1905.

Mainline services through Southfields were ended by the Southern Railway (successor to the L&SWR) on 4 May 1941, although the line remained in British Rail ownership until 1 April 1994 when it was transferred to London Underground. Until the transfer, the station was branded as a British Rail station.

The route from Wimbledon to Point Pleasant junction, Putney is still used by South West Trains for empty stock movements and occasional service train diversions, as well as three daily SWT services which run to and from Waterloo via the route in the early hours of the morning, so SWT trains pass through Southfields station on a daily basis, but without stopping. There are very infrequent movements of Network Rail civil engineering trains and light engine movements through the station as well.

Developments
A lift from the platform to the ticket office/exit level has been installed (operational from 21st June 2010) as the station will be heavily used during the Olympic Games in 2012 when the Olympic Tennis Tournament will be held at the All England Club. Overall refurbishment and extension works to the station started in March 2009, and are due to be finished in late 2010. The shops formerly located on the eastern side of the street-level building have been demolished, the ticket office closed and the ticket gates removed. Most of the works have been carried out without closing the station, although several weekend closures have so far been necessary. Trains have continued to run throughout the works. The refurbishment has seen a new ticket hall replace the demolished shops.

A wide aisle ticket gate has been installed and normal ticket gates are to be installed in early September.

Future developments
If Crossrail Line 2 is built, it may follow the Chelsea-Hackney line route which would see it go through Southfields Station and supplement or replace the existing District Line service.

Design Changes
Southfields Station and station are of almost identical original design, although a mirror image of one another, but both stations have since been altered. Southfields Station has changed the most due to high passenger traffic during Wimbledon Tennis. The left side of the staircase at Southfields was widened (with the extension being built out of wood rather than brick construction) the pillar in the left side of the staircase was originally an external feature. A second doorway was opened up to the west of the original doorway into the ticket office area and a short footbridge was built from the top of the staircase over the railway to Wimbledon Park Road. (In recent times the footbridge had been closed and used as a storage area but after London Underground took over the station they reopened it as an exit.) The southern end of the waiting room on the platform has been converted into a kiosk and the rest of the building is used for LUL staff accommodation. There is therefore no enclosed public waiting facility on the platform.

When Southfields Station was transferred from British Rail to London Underground a temporary ticket office was built to the west of the station above the track and the parapet wall of the bridge was removed. This temporary ticket office and the floor it was on have now been removed, but the supporting steelwork that held them up is still there and is currently (2009) used to support a number of temporary structures in connection with the station refurbishment works.

The station platform undergoes a makeover each year to coincide with the tournament, funded by a particular company for advertising purposes. For instance, in 2006, the station platform was covered in red flooring, as were the benches, because of American Express's advertising campaign for a credit card that supports an AIDS charity. In 2005, Televisions were installed and played non-stop adverts, also for American Express. In 2009, the makeover was funded by HSBC. In 2010 it was funded by Asda and advertised their strawberries.

Services and Connections
As well as the District Line, Southfields Station is also served by two bus routes: the 39 and the 493.

The 39 bus runs from Clapham Junction to station via Wandsworth, Southfields and Putney.

The 493 bus runs from St George's Hospital to Richmond via, , , , Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Southfields, Putney Heath, Mortlake, North Sheen, Richmond Bus Station and.

The 156 bus and the N87 night bus route both run along Merton Road, which is five minutes walk from Southfields Station.

During the two weeks of Wimbledon Tennis a shuttle bus runs from Southfields Station to the tennis courts. Travelcards and bus passes are not accepted on this bus.

The 639 limited schooldays-only bus service runs from Clapham Junction to John Paul II School via Southfields.

The automated train announcements on board LUL's trains state, incorrectly, that Southfields is the station at which to alight "for the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club" (the correct short form is "The All England Lawn Tennis Club") as it is an easy 10–15 minutes' walk along a main road to the club and Southfields is better set up for large crowds than Wimbledon Park station.