Alexandra Palace | |
|---|---|
 The station buildings at street level | |
  Alexandra Palace Location of Alexandra Palace in Greater London | |
| Location | Wood Green |
| Local authority | London Borough of Haringey |
| Managed by | Great Northern |
| Station code | AAP |
| DfT category | D |
| Number of platforms | 4 (facing 7 tracks) |
| Fare zone | 3 |
| National Rail annual entry and exit | |
| 2019–20 |  1.736 million[1] |
| – interchange | 53,005[1] |
| 2020–21 | 0.409 million[1] |
| – interchange | 23,507[1] |
| 2021–22 |  0.969 million[1] |
| – interchange | 49,994[1] |
| 2022–23 | 1.340 million[1] |
| – interchange | 43,873[1] |
| 2023–24 | 1.596 million[1] |
| – interchange | 39,862[1] |
| Key dates | |
| 1 May 1859 | Opened asWood Green |
| 1 August 1864 | RenamedWood Green (Alexandra Park) |
| 18 March 1971 | RenamedWood Green |
| 17 May 1982 | RenamedAlexandra Palace |
| Other information | |
| External links | |
| Coordinates | 51°35′54″N0°07′11″W / 51.5983°N 0.1197°W /51.5983; -0.1197 |
 London transport portal | |
Alexandra Palace railway station is on theGreat Northern Route that forms part of theEast Coast Main Line, and takes its name from the nearbyAlexandra Palace in theLondon Borough of Haringey, north London. It is 4 miles 78 chains (8.0 km) down the line fromLondon King's Cross and is situated betweenHornsey and eitherNew Southgate on the main line orBowes Park on theHertford Loop Line which diverges from the main line just north of Alexandra Palace.[2]
It is inLondon fare zone 3. All trains serving it are operated byGreat Northern.
It is the only surviving station of three that have served Alexandra Palace. A former station also namedAlexandra Palace, sited actually at the venue, was on the Highgate-Alexandra Palace Line, whilePalace Gates (Wood Green) station was on thePalace Gates Line.
Just outside the station to the north isBounds Green train depot, used for storage and maintenance of the high-speed trains used on the main line. A line adjacent to the station platforms is used byshunters moving carriages and engines around in the depot.
It is proposed that the station should be a terminus onCrossrail 2.[3]
The station was opened by theGreat Northern Railway (GNR) on 1 May 1859 asWood Green, being renamed toWood Green (Alexandra Park) in 1864.[4] The GNR became part of theLondon and North Eastern Railway during thegrouping of 1923. The line then passed on to theEastern Region of British Railways onnationalisation in 1948. The station reverted to its original name ofWood Green on 18 March 1971, but was again renamed, this time toAlexandra Palace, on 17 May 1982.[5]
Under plans approved in 1897, the station was to be the northern terminus for theGreat Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR), a tube railway supported by the GNR which would have run underground beneath the GNR's tracks toFinsbury Park and then into central London. The next GN&SR station to the south would have beenHornsey. The GN&SR route and stations north of Finsbury Park were cancelled in 1902 when the GN&SR was taken over byCharles Yerkes' consortium which planned to merge it with theBrompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway to form theGreat Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway from Finsbury Park toHammersmith (now part of theLondon Underground'sPiccadilly line).[6]
Whensectorisation was introduced, the station was served byNetwork SouthEast until theprivatisation of British Rail.
In Autumn 2008, a new Shere FASTticket self-serviceticket machine, accepting both cash and credit cards, was installed here (and similarly at other localFirst Capital Connect stations).Oyster card readers were installed at the station during 2008 and activated on 2 January 2010 for use with the Oyster Pay As You Go System.
In May 2013 it was announced that the station would be a terminus on the latest proposed route forCrossrail 2.[7]
The station has old buildings on Buckingham Road, which house a refreshment kiosk and ticket machines, with a modern footbridge connection to the platforms and across the tracks to Bedford Road. On the platforms there are only rudimentary modern buildings for public use.
On 9 December 2012 the old platforms 1 and 2 were closed for reconstruction. A temporary new platform 1 was provided to the east of the up slow line. All up (London-bound) trains which stop (served from either the Welwyn or Hertford directions) did so at this platform face. On 2 April 2013 the reconstructed platform 1 opened, on the west of the up slow line as before, now numbered as platform 2. This new platform is narrower than the former and the track has been moved to the west. The old platform 2 is permanently closed and has a fence along the edge. This work is part of a scheme to provide greater segregation of stopping, semi-fast and high-speed services in the section between Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park, to allow a greater quantum of services.
The up fast line now has no platform face at this station. The down fast is a through road, without a platform face. Platforms 3 and 4 are faces on an island platform and provide for northbound local services. Platform 3 is used by northbound trains on the ECML down slow line and trains on theHertford Loop Line use platform 4. Trains to/from Hertford must use the outer platform lines.
London Buses routes184 andW3 serve the station.[8]
All services at Alexandra Palace are operated byGreat Northern usingClass 387 and717EMUs
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[9]
Additional services call at the station during the peak hours on both main routes. This includes some trains that start or terminate atGordon Hill. No Thameslink services stop here, but destinations on the network can be reached by changing at Finsbury Park.
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Northern Semi-fast Services | ||||
| Great Northern Stopping Services | ||||
| Great Northern | ||||
| Abandoned Plans | ||||
| Preceding station | LUL | Following station | ||
| Hornsey towardsStrand | Great Northern & Strand | Terminus | ||
In 2016, local volunteers established theFriends of Ally Pally Station. The group has created a station community garden of over forty planters across the platforms, as well as collaborative art projects in the foyer with Studio 306, The Friends of Alexandra Park, Alexandra Palace and young local origami artist, Eddie Holden. They encourage collaboration in the community with all forms of stakeholders - garden centres, schools, artists, businesses, the Palace, the council and GNR.
The Friends have won several awards since their inception, including from the Community Rail Network ('It's Your Station' Silver and Gold Certificates 2017 and 2018, and Winner of Small Projects 2018 for 'Hop on a Train'), Rail Partnerships Small Projects winner 2018 for 'Sleepers Awake', building benches along with a Bach workshop led by local pianist Stephen Barron, and Haringey in Bloom (2017 and 2020). Much work was done in raising their profile and telling their story by Giles Christian, who died in 2019. A memorial was held for Christian on 31 March 2019, and a healing herb garden in his memory is situated on Platform 1, next to the Back Yard.
As well as holding monthly Gardening Parties and other events, the Friends are also a Rail User Group, representing passengers' needs. In 2020–21, they worked closely with GNR and Groundwork to guide deployment of the Passenger Benefit fund, enhancing shelters and adding significant new planters to Platforms 3 & 4.
In 2020 the Friends used lockdown to create the Bedford Rose Garden[10] on a section of land given to them for community use by Network Rail. The garden has been built up with countless donations from locals, often passing by on their daily walks. It contains a great variety of roses, trees, climbing plants, fruit and vegetables and a pond.
