Imperial Wharf railway station

Imperial Wharf is a railway station on the border of Chelsea and Fulham in west London on the West London Line. The station is between and Clapham Junction stations and services are provided by London Overground and Southern. The station opened on Sunday 27 September 2009 and is operated by London Overground. The station is located in Sands End where the line crosses Townmead Road. It takes its name from the adjacent redevelopment of a brownfield, former industrial, site, which has been developed into a luxury 1,800 apartment river-side complex by property developers St George over the last five years. As the Imperial Wharf development has continued to grow, so has the business case for the Imperial Wharf station. A further application for 1,500 residential units including a 37 storey tower was submitted to Hammersmith & Fulham Council in early 2009. The station is also adjacent to Chelsea Harbour, and was known by this name during early stages of development; indeed its TIPLOC code is "CseaH" in computerised timetable systems.

History
There have been calls for over 15 years by residents for a station to be opened at this site, to be funded by Transport for London and the local council. In 2005 the estimated cost was £3 million, of which £1.7 million had already been provided by St George, the developer of the Imperial Wharf site, leaving a funding shortfall of £1.3 million. In October 2007, Hammersmith and Fulham Council announced that St George had agreed to provide another £1.2 million, roughly enough to complete the project. That said, it is also reported that the planning permission for the all of Imperial Wharf was only given to St George on the basis that a station was built

The station opens
The station secured full funding on 28 April 2008. On 30 June 2008 a sign was erected at the site of the new station advertising that the new Imperial Wharf station will be "Opening soon". In the week commencing 7 July 2008, new hoardings were erected around the Imperial Wharf station site, these showed updated designs for the station. Construction was confirmed as being underway on 29 July 2008. By the summer 2009, the platforms and lift shafts for disabled access were complete and were visible from both the Imperial Wharf approach and from Chelsea Harbour, as well as from passing trains. The station opened on Sunday, 27 September 2009, in a ceremony attended by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Locale
The new station provides an important link for the Sands End area to Clapham Junction station in the south of London and northwards towards station. This will be particularly important as the area is further developed by both private and public organisations. This investment includes a new residential development called "The Gallery" which has been started on recently cleared land next to the Laura Ashley offices, between Bagleys Lane and Elbe Street. There are also plans by another developer to re-develop the Lots Road Power Station, into 395 residential units. The Lots Road Power Station, close to the Thames, is a large, disused, coal-fired power station. It was designed in 1902 and completed in 1905 and until 2003 was used to provide power for London Underground. The developers hope to complete the building by 2013. These developments and the planned expansion of Imperial Wharf mean that the overground line which is already, at peak times, over crowded will need to be addressed to support the additional residents to the area

Services
Typical off-peak services (trains per hour) from the station are:


 * 4tph to (London Overground)
 * 1tph to Milton Keynes Central (Southern)
 * 4tph to Clapham Junction (London Overground)
 * 1tph to East Croydon (Southern)

Transport links
Imperial Wharf station is served by London bus routes 391 and C3. Imperial Wharf offers interchange with London River Services from Chelsea Harbour Pier, which is located approximately 200 metres away. Thames Executive Charters operate peak-hour river bus services between Putney and Blackfriars. The development also has its own pier at Imperial Wharf Marina from where Thames Clippers operate services.

Future proposals
There are proposals to include a stop at this location, on the proposed Chelsea-Hackney Line. If these plans are carried forward, then it would provide an interchange between London Overground services and either London Underground or mainline commuter rail services, depending on which standards the new line is built to.