West Hampstead Thameslink railway station

West Hampstead Thameslink is a National Rail station on the Midland Main Line and is served by First Capital Connect trains as part of the Thameslink Line service between Kentish Town and Cricklewood. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2. East Midlands Trains InterCity services from Leeds, Sheffield and Leicester run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with InterCity services can be made at Luton and St Pancras International.

History
The station was built by the Midland Railway on its extension to St. Pancras, to serve the newly-developed area around the hamlet of West End. It opened on 1 March 1871, and was originally named West End for Kilburn and Hampstead.

For a short period from 1878 the station formed part of the Super Outer Circle, Midland trains running through from St Pancras to Earl's Court via Acton Central and Turnham Green.

It was renamed several times: to West End on 1 July 1903; to West End and Brondesbury on 1 April 1904; to West Hampstead on 1 September 1905; West Hampstead Midland on 25 September 1950; and finally West Hampstead Thameslink on 16 May 1988. It was popular for many years for people taking a day out on Hampstead Heath and those visiting the chalybeate springs in Hampstead itself.

Oyster Pay as you go was introduced in late 2007.

From March 2009, Southeastern and First Capital Connect began running some peak hour trains from Sevenoaks to Luton, though in the off-peak these services turn back at Kentish Town.

Current developments
As part of the Thameslink Programme the platforms have been extended to allow trains of twelve carriages and also a new larger enclosed station footbridge with lifts to all platforms accessible from Iverson Road to the south. A new ticket office has been constructed, which opened in December 2011, and the pavement along Iverson Road and onto West End Lane has been widened with the removal of pedestrian pinch-points. The original Black Path access point that connects to the original footbridge, reopened on Monday 30 January 2012 with a new ticket gate enclosure to make the station more secure.

West Hampstead station linkage
The present arrangement of three separate stations (Thameslink, Overground and Jubilee line) means that passengers wishing to change lines must walk along or cross West End Lane, a busy main road. A redevelopment proposal was put forward in 2004 by Chiltern Railways which would link the three West Hampstead stations with subterranean walkways. New platforms would be built for the Chiltern Main Line, and possibly also for the Metropolitan line, and the Thameslink and London Overground (formerly Silverlink) stations would be relocated on the east side of West End Lane. The redevelopment would involve demolishing existing buildings and the redevelopment of West End Lane as "a tree-lined boulevard". The plans were put on hold in 2007 due to uncertainty over the North London Line rail franchise.

Additional Thameslink services
Additional trains from destinations across the larger Thameslink network may call at the station from 2018.

Transport links
London bus route 139, 328 and C11.