Old Oak Common railway station

Crossrail Interchange

Proposed location
Crossrail Interchange Location of Crossrail Interchange in Greater London
Location	Old Oak Common
Local authority	London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Managed by	Unknown
Owner	Network Rail
Number of platforms	Unknown
Accessible
2025	Proposed to open
List of stations	Underground · National Rail
London Transport portal

Coordinates: 51°31′30″N 0°14′48″W / 51.524873°N 0.24672°W / 51.524873; -0.24672

Old Oak Common railway station (or Crossrail Interchange) is a proposed railway station in west London, England, in the United Kingdom.

The new station has been included as a part of the proposed High Speed 2 line from London Euston to Birmingham. The station would be constructed on the site of the Old Oak Common railway depot, and would provide a major transport interchange with a number of other mainline and commuter rail services, including Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line. The planned High Speed 2 line would be in tunnel at this point, with the Great Western Main Line and Crossrail tracks on the surface. The station may be the initial London terminus of High Speed 2, prior to its extension to Euston.^[1]

Interchange

According to the proposals issued in 2010 by the Department for Transport (DfT), Old Oak Common would provide direct interchange between HS2 and Crossrail and Great Western Main Line services, including those operated by Heathrow Express and First Great Western.^[2][3]

The station would also have connections with London Overground and Southern services on the North London and West London Lines.

The 2010 DfT proposal outlines a number of other possible transport links at Old Oak Common, including the addition of a direct link with the High Speed 1 route to Mainland European services via the Channel Tunnel.^[2]

The DfT report also raises the possibility of interchange with the London Underground Central Line (located west of the Old Oak Common site) and with the Bakerloo and Watford DC lines (which both pass to the north of the site)^[2]

Proposed services

While the station remains at the proposal stage, the following table illustrates the potential range of services, based on current DfT documentation but subject to change:

Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Acton Main Line towards Maidenhead or Heathrow Airport		Crossrail Line 1		Paddington towards Abbey Wood or Shenfield
Preceding station		London Overground		Following station
Acton Central towards Richmond		North London Line		Willesden Junction towards Stratford
Shepherd's Bush towards Clapham Junction		West London Line		Willesden Junction towards Stratford
Harlesden towards Watford Junction		Watford DC Line		Willesden Junction towards Euston
Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Willesden Junction towards Harrow & Wealdstone		Bakerloo line		Kensal Green towards Elephant & Castle
North Acton towards Ealing Broadway or West Ruislip		Central line		East Acton towards Epping, Hainault or Woodford (via Hainault)
National Rail
Birmingham International		Eurostar High Speed 2		Stratford International
Acton Main Line		First Great Western Great Western Main Line		Paddington
Ealing Broadway		First Great Western Great Western Main Line
Heathrow Central		Heathrow Express Paddington-Heathrow		Paddington
Shepherd's Bush		Southern East Croydon to Milton Keynes		Wembley Central
Birmingham International		Unknown High Speed 2		London Euston or Terminus

Other proposals

The construction company Parsons Brinckerhoff submitted a detailed plan to High Speed 2 which included West London Line, North London Line, West Coast Main Line and Dudding Hill Line platforms,^[4] although this pre-dated the announcement of the HS2 London terminus such that their proposed alignment would not be possible.

A separate proposal promoted by the Campaign for Better Transport advocacy group, the North and West London Light Railway, suggests running a light rail line past the Old Oak Common site between Ealing Broadway and Brent Cross.^[5] This scheme is not, however, supported by any government plans.

Political support

The Old Oak Common plans were unveiled two months before the 2010 United Kingdom General Election by the Labour government. While the present Conservative/Liberal Democrat administration supports the HS2 project, they have indicated a preference to an alternative proposal, put forward by Arup, for the HS2 line to go directly to a hub station at Heathrow Airport.^[6] Under this scheme, the west London interchange would be situated at Heathrow rather than at Old Oak Common.^[7] Conservative MP Theresa Villiers (now a Minister of State for Transport) referred to the Old Oak Common scheme as "Wormwood Scrubs International", and criticised it on account of its distance from the airport and the inconvenience to airport passengers having to change trains. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has been non-committal in supporting the Old Oak Common site, and takes the view that further evaluation is required.^[8]

When asked about a High Speed Rail / Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond stated "Lug your heavy bags down a couple of escalators along 600m of corridor and then change trains at a wet suburban station somewhere in north west London. That is not an option.".^[9]

The Old Oak Common plans are supported by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.^[10] However Kensington and Chelsea Council has been pushing for a Crossrail station to the east of it (under the name of Kensal/Kensal Rise/Kensal Green) as a turn-back facility is needed in that area, and placing it at Kensal Rise, rather than next to Paddington itself, would provide a new station to regenerate the area.^[11][12][13] Mayor Boris Johnson stated that a station could only be added if it did not increase Crossrail's overall cost; in response Kensington and Chelsea Council agreed to underwrite the projected £33 million cost of a Crossrail station.^[14]

Lord Mawhinney, a former Conservative MP for Peterborough has concluded that High Speed 2 (HS2) the London terminus should be at Old Oak Common, not at Euston. This idea goes against the Conservative Party's first idea that Old Oak Common should not even be built. This is because of tunnelling cost along with fast turnaround times at Old Oak Common.^[1]

In summer 2011, Hammersmith and Fulham launched a wider 'Park Royal City' plan for Old Oak Common, including light-rail lines to the surrounding areas.^[15]

Site

The Old Oak Common site (2005)

The proposed site of the Old Oak Common interchange station is located to the north of Wormwood Scrubs. Currently this area is made up of the disused EWS train maintenance site to the north, which is currently being converted into a construction equipment marshalling area for the Crossrail Project. To the South of this site is the First Great Western Old Oak Common Traction Maintenance Depot. Should Old Oak Common Station be built as proposed it will leave the Great Western Main Line with no traction maintenance facilities east of Reading, Berkshire.

See also

• Old Oak Common Traction Maintenance Depot

References

1. ^ ^{a b} No business case' to divert HS2 via Heathrow, say Mawhinney Page 6-7, Rail Magazine, Issue 649, 28 July to 10 August 2010
2. ^ ^{a b c} "High Speed Rail". Department for Transport. p. 107. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/commandpaper/pdf/cmdpaper.pdf#page=107. Retrieved 7 January 2011. 
3. ^ "High Speed Rail London to the West Midlands and Beyond, A Report to Government by High Speed Two Limited p83". http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/hs2report/pdf/chapter3a.pdf. Retrieved 23 March 2010. 
4. ^ "Old Oak Common Interchange: A Supporting Submission to HS2". http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/stakeholdersubmissions/pdf/oldoak.pdf. Retrieved 23 March 2010. 
5. ^ "Diagram of Old Oak Common area". Campaign for Better Transport. http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/system/files/HS2OldOakCommonAreaMap.pdf. Retrieved 28 May 2010. 
6. ^ Milmo, Dan (4 March 2010). "No Heathrow direct link in high speed rail plans". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/04/heathrow-high-speed-rail. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
7. ^ "Heathrow Hub proposals published". Arup. 1 April 2010. http://www.arup.com/News/2010_04_April/01_Apr_2010_Heathrow_Transport_Super_Hub.aspx. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
8. ^ Cecil, Nicholas (12 March 2010). "Boris Johnson clashes with David Cameron on high-speed rail". http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23814764-boris-in-new-clash-with-cameron-as-he-fails-to-back-policy-on-high-speed-rail.do. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 
9. ^ http://www.estatesgazette.com/blogs/jackie-sadek/2010/08/transport-sec-chops-down-old-oak-high-speed-2.html
10. ^ "Old Oak Common: The Transport and Regeneration Case for a HS2 Interchange". London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. December 2009. http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Images/Old_Oak_Common_FINAL_tcm21-135272.pdf. Retrieved 28 May 2010. 
11. ^ "Case for a Crossrail station gains momentum" (Press release). Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 1 July 2010. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/pressrelease/pressrelease.asp?id=3387. 
12. ^ Bloomfield, Ruth (24 August 2010). "Study to explore adding Crossrail station at Kensal Rise". Building Design (London). http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/study-to-explore-adding-crossrail-station-at-kensal-rise/5004540.article. 
13. ^ Crossrail at Kensal Rise back on the cards, London Reconnections.
14. ^ Council to pay for Crossrail station Evening Standard 25 Mar 2011
15. ^ "Launch of 'Park Royal City'". London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. http://www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/News/YouTube_clip_reveals_Park_Royal_City_vision.asp. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 

External links

• "High Speed Rail". Department for Transport. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/. Retrieved 30 May 2010. 
• "Route 3 Plan and Profile". High Speed 2 Feasibility Study. Department for Transport/Arup. p. 2. http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/highspeedrail/hs2ltd/route/map02.pdf. Retrieved 30 May 2010.  - official DfT map of the Old Oak Common site
• "Old Oak Common area rail services". Campaign for Better Transport. http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/system/files/HS2OldOakCommonAreaMap.pdf. Retrieved 24 October 2010.