Routes from London's south and south-west termini, Victoria and Waterloo, funnel through the station, making it the busiest in Europe by number of trains using it: between 100 and 180 per hour, except for the five hours after midnight.[5][better source needed] The station is also the busiest UK station for interchanges between services,[6] as well as the only railway station in Great Britain with more interchanges than entries or exits.[7]
On 21 May 1838, the London and Southampton Railway became theLondon and South Western Railway (L&SWR), and opened its line fromNine Elms as far asWoking. The second line, initially from Nine Elms toRichmond, opened on 27 July 1846. Nine Elms was replaced in 1848 as the terminus by Waterloo Bridge station, now Waterloo. The line to Victoria opened by 1860.
The railway companies, to attract a middle- and upper-class clientele, seized the nonindustrialparish calculating that being upon the slopes of Clapham's plateau would only reinforce this distinction, leading to a long-lasting misunderstanding that the station is in Clapham.[10][11]
A£39.5 million planning application from Metro Shopping Fund was withdrawn before governmental planning committee consideration on 20 May 2009.[a]
A 'Heathrow Airtrack' to reduce the 95-minute journey by tube and Gatwick Express toGatwick Airport and unite theGreat Western Main Line with Heathrow, Gatwick and the South West Main Line was cancelled in 2011 following improvements to the 2005-builtHeathrow Connect track fromHayes and Harlington and practical impediments, such as pressure for continued high-frequency services on the three deemed-'entrenched' semi-fast and slow services between Clapham Junction andStaines. Overground, the change would have been at Clapham Junction.[12]
On the morning of 12 December 1988, two collisions involving three commuter trains occurred slightly south-west of the station due to a defective signal. 35 people died and 484 were injured.[13][14]
On the morning of 16 December 1991, a bomb ripped through tracks on one of the station's platforms, causing major disruption to the rail network. TheProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility.[15]
A 1912Railway Clearing House map of lines around Clapham Junction.Clapham Junction in 2022
The station is named Clapham Junction because it is at the junction of several rail lines. The name is not given to any rail junction near the station which, without end-on intercompany junctions, are:
Falcon Junction at the south end of the station, where the West London Line (WLL) joins the Brighton Slow Lines[16]
Ludgate Junction at the eastern end of the Windsor Line platforms to the WLL[17]
Latchmere SW Junction connecting the WLL to the Windsor lines at Ludgate Junction.[16]
Latchmere Main Junction connecting the WLL to the Brighton Line at Falcon Junction.[16]
West London Extension Junction and Junction for Waterloo, relaid for Eurostar empty-stock moves from the Windsor Lines to the WLL.[16]
Pouparts Junction where the low-level and high-level approaches to Victoria split.[18]
Each day more than 2,000 trains, over half of them stopping, pass through the station, more than through any other station in Europe.[19] At peak times up to 200 trains per hour pass through of which 122 stop. It is not the busiest station by number of passengers, most of whom (about 430,000 on a weekday, of which 135,000 are at rush hours) pass through. Interchanges make some 40% of the activity and on that basis too it is the busiest station in the UK.[20]
In 2011, the station had three entrances, all with staffed ticket offices:
Only the south-east entrance is open 24 hours a day; it is the most heavily used of the three, leading from St John's Hill via a small indoor shopping centre into a subway, some 15 feet (4.6 m) wide, that connects to the eastern ends of all platforms.
The north entrance, which has restricted opening hours, leads from theWinstanley Estate on Grant Road to the same subway.[21][22] The subway is crowded during rush hours, with theticket barriers at the ends being pinch points.
The south-west entrance, also known as the Brighton Yard entrance, as the buildings still bear signage for theLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway, has a more traditional appearance, with a Victorian station building set at the back of a large forecourt. This entrance leads to a very wide covered footbridge, which joins the western ends of all platforms. This entrance includes cycle parking and a taxi rank. It was re-opened in May 2011 as part of a wider programme of access improvements that included installing lifts to the platforms.[23]
There are public and disabled toilets at the south-west entrance. There are refreshment kiosks in the subway, on the footbridge and on some platforms; and a small shopping centre, including a small branch ofSainsbury's supermarket, in the south-east entrance.
On 9 December 2012, a new platform for theEast London line opened, creating an orbital railway around inner London.[25]
Overcrowding is most frequent in the often convenient but narrow cross-platform subway. Using this rather than the elevated concourse for interchange, a visitors' eyes assessment of fabric and environment listed Clapham Junction in the most needy 10% of Department for Transportcategory B stations.[citation needed]
In an attempt to reduce overcrowding, a staircase to platforms 13 and 14 was replaced with a new wider staircase in April 2023.[26]
The station has seventeen platforms, numbered 1 to 17.[27] In general, platforms 1 and 2 are used byLondon Overground trains, platforms 3–11 bySouth Western Railway trains and platforms 12–17 bySouthern trains. Non-stopGatwick Express trains pass through platforms 12 and 13.
Platforms 1 and 2 are north-east facing bay platforms connected to theMildmay andWindrush lines of theLondon Overground, handling services to and fromStratford via Willesden Junction andDalston Junction via Peckham. Usually, platform 1 is served by trains on the Mildmay line, while platform 2 is used by services on the Windrush line, although this usage can be reversed.
Platform 13 is a through platform on the Brighton Main Line fast line towardsEast Croydon.
Platform 14 is a through platform on the Brighton Main Line slow line towards London Victoria.
Platform 15 is a through platform on the Brighton Main Line slow line towards East Croydon.
Platforms 16 and 17 are platforms connecting the Brighton Main Line slow line and theWest London line, used by Southern services. Platform 16 is the northbound platform (towardsWatford Junction) and platform 17 is the southbound platform (towards East Croydon). Platform 17 can also be used by some terminatingLondon Overground services as well.
Sidings leading into railway sheds at the west of the station are located between platforms 6 and 7.
Platform 8 must not be used for stopping trains, unless in an emergency, because the platform gap is too wide.[28]
Aerial view of the station and carriage sidings from the northDetails of roof support columns
All South Western Railway services from Waterloo pass through the station, as do Southern and Gatwick Express trains from Victoria. The Mildmay and Windrush lines of the London Overground have Clapham Junction as one of their termini.
The typical off-peak service of 104 trains an hour (tph) is:
2 tph toBognor Regis and Portsmouth Harbour/Southampton Central dividing atHorsham (the front unit of each service goes to Bognor while the rear unit alternates between Portsmouth and Southampton).
During peak hours on weekdays express services on the South West Main Line and outer suburban services to Alton and Basingstoke typically do not stop at the station.
In the 2010s, a Clapham Junction station was proposed as part of theCrossrail 2 project. A large underground station dug underneath the existing station was proposed to serve Crossrail 2 service.[29] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the project was indefinitely postponed in 2020, although the route has been safeguarded.[30]
TheNorthern line extension to Battersea Power Station was criticised for not extending to Clapham Junction. During the public inquiry into the extension in 2014, it was noted that although an extension to Clapham would be desirable, it was unnecessary to meet the needs of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea regeneration area.[31] Additionally, it was noted that a further extension could overwhelm the extension, due to the high demand.[32] However, provision has been made for a future extension of the line to the station, with a reserved course underneathBattersea Park.[33][34][35]
Government and Network Rail funding[clarification needed] in the early 2010s of £50 million of improvements was granted.[36] This was an upgrade to the main interchange: new entrances and more retail.[37]
In a Network Rail study in 2015, it was proposed that platform 0 could reopen for 8-car operations of the West London Line.[38][needs update]
^The 2009Metro Shopping company plan included a new entrance on St John's Hill, the straightening and extension of platforms 15 to 17, more ticketing facilities, step-free access to all platforms by 2011, a new step-free entrance on Grant Road and a new 'high street' from St John's Hill to Falcon Road with retail space and arthouse cinema. Profitable immediate funding was planned via radical height 42-storey residential buildings above the station
^Sherwood, Tim (1994).Change at Clapham Junction : The Railways of Wandsworth and South West London. Wandsworth:Wandsworth Borough Council Leisure and Amenity Services Department. p. 91.ISBN0-902837-26-5.
^"Great British Railway Journeys (Series 4, Episode 7): Woking to Clapham Junction" BBC2, UK TV Channel, 15/01/13
^Lydall, Ross (21 May 2021)."First extension to London Underground this century to open in Sept".Evening Standard.Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved12 September 2021.Engineers have previously said that extending the Northern line to Clapham Junction could have overwhelmed the new route due.
^Johnson, Boris; Darren, Johnson (8 October 2012)."Extension of Northern Line to Clapham Junction".Mayor's Question Time.Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved11 September 2021.There are no current plans to extend further to Clapham Junction; however it is a requirement that the extension be designed so that a further extension would be possible in the future.
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