Abbey Wood railway station

Abbey Wood railway station serves the suburb of Abbey Wood in South East London. It is served by Southeastern, and is between Plumstead and Belvedere stations on the North Kent Line.

It is the closest railway station to the suburb of Thamesmead (buses run from the station to Thamesmead proper). Alphabetically, it is the first station in the UK.

History
Opened by the South Eastern Railway on 30 July 1849, the operations of which were handed over to the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899, it became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. When BR was divided into sectors in the 1980s the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways.

During the 1860s William Morris famously used a decorated wagon to commute between this station and his new home at Red House, Bexleyheath, occasionally with his eccentric and artistic house guests.

The station has been rebuilt twice over the past 50 years to cater for the changing nature of the area. The station was to be served by the proposed Greenwich Waterfront Transit, however the project was cancelled by Mayor of London Boris Johnson due to lack of funds.

Future
Abbey Wood is being rebuilt in preparation for Crossrail, due to commence operation in 2018. Abbey Wood is the terminus of one of two eastern branches of Crossrail and will offer cross-platform interchange between terminating Crossrail services (at 12 trains per hour on new line) and existing Southeastern services (along existing tracks). This is instead of continuing services to Ebbsfleet International along existing tracks as those lines are congested and may delay Crossrail services.

Crossrail will provide a link north west to ExCeL London and Canary Wharf, then onwards to the city centre, Heathrow Airport and Maidenhead. There are proposals to extend Crossrail further east to Gravesend; the route is safeguarded but it is not intended to be implemented as part of the current phase.

Services
The typical off-peak service from the station is:


 * 6tph (trains per hour) to London Cannon Street, calling at Plumstead, Woolwich Arsenal, Woolwich Dockyard, Charlton, Westcombe Park, Maze Hill, Greenwich, Deptford and London Bridge
 * 2tph to London Charing Cross, calling at Woolwich Arsenal, Charlton, Blackheath, Lewisham, London Bridge and Waterloo East
 * 2tph to Barnehurst, calling at Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green
 * 2tph to Dartford, calling at Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green
 * 2tph to Gillingham (Kent), calling at Dartford, Greenhithe, Gravesend, Higham (Kent), Strood, Rochester and Chatham
 * 2tph to Hither Green, calling at Belvedere, Erith, Slade Green, Crayford, Bexley, Albany Park, Sidcup, New Eltham, Mottingham and Lee