South Ruislip station

South Ruislip is a station served by London Underground and Chiltern Railways in South Ruislip in west London. The station is owned, managed and staffed by London Underground. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5.

History


The GWR/GCR Joint line to High Wycombe carried services from both Paddington and Marylebone. They met at Northolt Junction, situated slightly to the east of the station, from where four tracks ran westwards to Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip; there the route shrank to two tracks only. Opened in May 1908 and originally known as Northolt Junction, the station became South Ruislip & Northolt Junction from September 1932 and received its present name in July 1942.

The station was first served by Central Line trains on 21 November 1948 when the Central Line extension from London towards Buckinghamshire was completed after being delayed by World War II but with services truncated to West Ruislip rather than going further as originally planned.

At the time of the Chiltern Line improvements in late 1973 and early 1974, the manual signal box was removed, and its function replaced by colour light signalling and power operated points, both controlled from Marylebone. The track alignments were improved to allow higher speed running at the junction for the services from Marylebone, and the pointwork which had allowed trains from Paddington to call at the westbound Chiltern station platform was removed. All eastbound services were moved to the former through road; the eastbound road, which had formerly extended from the platform road at West Ruislip, was closed and lifted, and the eastbound platform widened. The alignment of the turnout towards Marylebone was improved to allow higher-speed running. Fragments of the old trackwork can still be seen to the north of the line at this point.

The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.

The station today
Not all Chiltern trains stop at all stations. Travellers are recommended to consult a timetable before travelling.

Ticket Barriers control access to all platforms.

A large West London Waste Authority bulk rubbish handling depot lies to the east of the station which sees a daily waste train in operation. There is also a single line connection with the line to/from Paddington;

The lines to Marylebone presently pass either side of West Waste. Part of Evergreen 3 will see Northolt Junction remodelled which will include the installation of a new Down Main track alongside the existing Up Main to the north of the waste transfer depot that will allow Chiltern & WSMR services to be accelerated. The existing Down Main will become the Down Loop line that will continue to be used for down trains stopping at South Ruislip station. The new Down Main will have a line speed limit of 100 mph compared with the existing 60 mph.

Transport links
London bus route 114 and E7.