South Ruislip station

South Ruislip
Station building
South Ruislip Location of South Ruislip in Greater London
Location	South Ruislip
Local authority	London Borough of Hillingdon
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	London Underground
Station code	SRU
DfT category	F1
Number of platforms	4
Fare zone	5
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	1.76 million
2012	1.71 million
2013	1.77 million
2014	1.76 million
National Rail annual entry and exit
2010–11	0.136 million
2011–12	0.136 million
2012–13	0.143 million
2013–14	0.166 million
2014–15	0.179 million
Key dates
1906	Tracks laid (GW&GCR)
1908	Opened (GW&GCR)
1948	Started (Central line)
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

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

A 1914 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of South Ruislip (shown here as Northolt Junction)

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 terminating at West Ruislip rather than going further west to Denham as originally planned. The rounded booking hall was not completed until 1960. The concrete, glass and granite chip frieze in the booking hall is one of the earliest public works by glass artist, Henry Haig.

In late 1973 and early 1974 the track layout was simplified and the manual signal box was removed in early 1990, along with other manual signal boxes on this line, 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 trackwork at this station has been upgraded and now permits higher speed running up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

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 formerly passed either side of West Waste. Part of Evergreen 3 has remodelled Northolt Junction and includes provision to the north of the waste transfer depot of a new down main line alongside the existing up main to allow Chiltern services to be accelerated. The new down main line has a line speed limit of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) compared with the former 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). The existing down main has been remodelled to become the down loop line, used by trains stopping at South Ruislip station.

The bridge outside which carries the lines over Station Approach is lower than others locally at 11 feet 9 inches (3.58 m) and is often hit by high vehicles. Either side of it false deck beams have been installed so the danger of any impacts causing damage to the bridge itself has been lessened.

Connections

London Buses route 114 and E7 serve the station.

Lines

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Ruislip Gardens towards West Ruislip		Central line		Northolt towards Epping, Hainault or Woodford (via Hainault)
	National Rail
West Ruislip		Chiltern Railways London-Birmingham		Northolt Park

References

Bibliography

• Edwards, Dennis. F. (1985) Bygone Ruislip and Uxbridge. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. ISBN 0-85033-592-2

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • South Ruislip and Northolt Junction station, 1937
  • Rotunda ticket hall under construction, 1954
  • Temporary booking hall, 1955