Shepherd's Bush tube station (Central Line)

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Shepherd's Bush is a London Underground station in Shepherd's Bush, west London. On the Central Line, the station is between White City and Holland Park stations, in Travelcard Zone 2. It re-opened on 5 October 2008 after being closed for eight months for refurbishment work, which included replacing the original building with a completely new one, and replacement of its escalators.

An entirely separate London Underground station, also called "Shepherd's Bush tube station" but on the Hammersmith and City Line was located approximately 600m away. However, that station was be renamed Shepherd's Bush Market in 2008.

History

The station opened on 30 July 1900 and was the original western terminus of the Central London Railway (CLR).cite web
url=http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/central.html#dates
title=Central Line, Dates
work=Clive's Underground Lines Guide
accessdate=2008-01-10] Like all CLR stations, the surface building was designed by Harry Bell Measures. To the north of the station was located the CLR's power station and Wood Lane depot which was originally accessed by a single track tunnel. The eastbound tunnel ended to the west of the station in a dead-end reversing siding with a cross-over junction connecting it to the westbound tunnel.cite web
url=http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/Woodlane%20whitecity.htm#The%20Central%20London%20Railway
title=The Central Line at White City
work=Tube Prune (The Tube Professionals' Rumour Network)
accessdate=2008-01-10] When the now disused Wood Lane station was opened on 14 May 1908 to the north, a loop tunnel was created connecting to the eastbound tunnel.

As part of London Transport's New Works Programme, 1935 - 1940, escalators were installed to replace the original lifts and in 1938, the platforms were lengthened along with those of the other existing Central Line stations to accommodate eight cars instead of the previous seven.

Current and future developments

As part of the proposals for the redevelopment of the White City site, an integrated bus interchange and connection to a new Network Rail Shepherd's Bush railway station on the West London Line is planned. The new Network Rail station opened on 28 September 2008 and is close to the site of the closed Uxbridge Road station site. The bus station is still under construction as of October 2008.

However, the closure of the Central line station caused local controversy, as it was felt by some that the works had been timed to benefit incoming businesses involved in the planned redevelopment of the area, at the cost of local residents and small business holders. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7223955.stm "Tube station closure sparks anger"] , BBC News]

The timing of the works to the station were indeed related to the incoming businesses as the Westfield London had to pay for the upgrading of the station as part of a Section 106 contribution

Closure Controversy

In February 2008 the station was closed by Transport for London for redevelopment work. However, in documents revealed by local MP Andy Slaughter, LU's contractor Metronet advised that they could complete the work without closure [Cite news| url=http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/xIEda |date=2008-07-16 |accessdate=2008-07-17 |title=LU internal documents retrieved by Andy Slaughter MP's Freedom of Information request |work=Andy Slaughter MP] .

Campaigners against the closure, led by Andy Slaughter, claimed vindication for their view that the station could have been kept open, and that London Underground closed the station in response to pressure from the Westfield development. [Cite news| url=http://www.labouronline.org/wibs/166818/home?PageId=b7276867-6620-3314-69b2-da9370cc66fd |date=2008-07-16 |accessdate=2008-07-17 |title=Secret Documents show Shepherds Bush Station did not have to close |work=Andy Slaughter MP] .

ee also

*Shepherd's Bush stations

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** ltmcollection|06/9920606.jpg|Ticket hall, 1926
** ltmcollection|s2/i0000ns2.jpg|Shepherd's Bush, 1935
** ltmcollection|65/9888765.jpg|Ticket hall, 1939
* [http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/24 Details of infrastructure improvements]

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