Clapham Junction railway station

On 21 May 1838 the London and Southampton Railway became the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR), and opened its line from Nine Elms as far as Woking.

Details of roof support columns

The second line, initially from Nine Elms to Richmond, 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. Clapham Junction opened on 2 March 1863, a joint venture of the L&SWR, the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) and the West London Extension Railway (WLER) as an interchange station for their lines.[8]

The railway companies, to attract a middle- and upper-class clientele, seized the nonindustrial parish 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.[9][10]

London Overground
Cheshunt Theobalds Grove Enfield Town Turkey Street Romford Bush Hill Park Southbury Emerson Park Upminster Edmonton Green Silver Street Chingford White Hart Lane Highams Park Watford Junction Bruce Grove Wood Street Watford Seven Sisters Walthamstow Central High Street () Harringay Blackhorse Road Walthamstow Queen's Road Bushey Green Lanes Carpenders Park Crouch Hill South Tottenham St. James Leyton Midland Road Hatch End Upper Holloway () Stamford Hill Street Leytonstone Headstone Lane Stoke Newington Clapton High Road Harrow & Kentish Town West Rectory Road Wanstead Park () Wealdstone Gospel Oak Camden Road () Hackney Woodgrange Park Kenton () () Caledonian Road Canonbury Downs Barking South Kenton & Barnsbury Barking Riverside () North Highbury & Islington Dalston Kingsland Hackney Central Wembley Hampstead Heath Dalston Wembley Finchley Road & Frognal () Junction London Fields Central West Hampstead ( ) Haggerston Cambridge Heath Stonebridge Brondesbury Hoxton Homerton Park Brondesbury Park Shoreditch High Street Bethnal Green Hackney Wick Harlesden Kensal Rise Stratford Kensal Green Liverpool Whitechapel Willesden Queen's Park Street Shadwell () Junction Kilburn High Road Wapping South Hampstead () Rotherhithe Shepherd's Bush () Euston () Canada Water Kensington (Olympia) Surrey Quays West Brompton Battersea Park Imperial Wharf () (limited service) New Cross Clapham Queens Road Peckham New Cross Gate Junction Peckham Rye Brockley Acton Central Wandsworth Road Denmark Hill Honor Oak Park South Acton () Clapham High Street Forest Hill Gunnersbury Sydenham Kew Gardens Richmond Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon ()
Legend
Station National Rail Accessible station Thameslink Interchange station Elizabeth line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway London Underground Internal interchange London Trams Out-of-station interchange London River Services

A British Rail Class 73 with track workers maintaining the railway in 1986 under British Rail.

A 1912 Railway 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
• Ludgate Junction at the eastern end of the Windsor Line platforms to the WLL
• Latchmere SW Junction connecting the WLL to the Windsor lines at Ludgate Junction.
• Latchmere Main Junction connecting the WLL to the Brighton Line at Falcon Junction.
• West London Extension Junction and Junction for Waterloo, relaid for Eurostar empty-stock moves from the Windsor Lines to the WLL.
• Pouparts Junction where the low-level and high-level approaches to Victoria split.

Railways around Clapham Junction
Waterloo Victoria Vauxhall Grosvenor Bridge over River Thames Linford curve built for Eurostar Stewarts Lane Junction Battersea Park limited service Chatham Main Line & South London line Queenstown Road South London line to Wandsworth Road Stewarts Lane TMD Longhedge Junctions by 1912 RCH map changed after grouping and end of freight service Poupart's Junction West London Extn Jcn Latchmere Junction for Waterloo Latchmere Main Junction Latchmere Southwest Jcn West London Line Ludgate Junction Clapham Junction Carriage sidings Falcon Junction Waterloo–Reading line to Reading Brighton Main Line to Brighton South West Main Line to Weymouth

Each day more than 2,000 trains, over half of them stopping, pass through the station, more than through any other station in Europe.[14] 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.[15]

In 2011 the station had three entrances, all with staffed ticket offices, though only the south-east entrance is open 24 hours a day. The most heavily used of the three, this leads 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 the Winstanley Estate on Grant Road to the same subway.[16][17] The subway is crowded during rush hours, with the ticket 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 the London, 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.[18]

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 of Sainsbury's supermarket, in the south-east entrance.

British Transport Police maintain a neighbourhood policing presence,[19] whereas the Metropolitan Police Service and the part-Transport for London funded Safer Transport Command provides a police presence in the area outside the station.

On 9 December 2012 a new platform for the East London Line opened, creating an orbital railway around inner London.[20]

Overcrowding is most frequent in the often convenient but narrow cross-platform subway. Using this rather than the wide, elegant flying concourse for interchange, a visitors' eyes assessment of fabric and environment listed Clapham Junction in the most needy 10% of Department for Transport category B stations.

Platforms

The subway at Clapham Junction during the night.

The station has seventeen platforms, numbered 1 to 17.[21] In general, platforms 1 and 2 are used by London Overground trains, platforms 3–11 by South Western Railway trains, and platforms 12–17 by Southern trains. Non-stop Gatwick Express trains pass through platforms 12 and 13.

• Platforms 1 and 2 are northeast-facing bay platforms connected to South London and West London Lines, used by London Overground services to and from Stratford and Dalston Junction. Usually, platform 1 is served by trains on the West London line, while platform 2 is used by services on the South London line, although this usage can be reversed.
• Platforms 3 and 4 are through platforms on the Waterloo–Reading line towards London Waterloo.
• Platforms 5 and 6 are through platforms on the Waterloo–Reading line towards Reading.
• Platform 7 is a through platform located at a siding off the South West Main Line fast line towards London Waterloo, used by stopping trains.
• Platform 8 is a through platform on the South West Main Line fast line towards London Waterloo, used by non-stop trains passing through this station.
• Platform 9 is a through platform on the South West Main Line fast line towards Woking.
• Platform 10 is a through platform on the South West Main Line slow line towards London Waterloo.
• Platform 11 is a through platform on the South West Main Line slow line towards Woking.
• Platform 12 is a through platform on the Brighton Main Line fast line towards London Victoria.
• Platform 13 is a through platform on the Brighton Main Line fast line towards East 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 the West London Line, used by Southern services. Platform 16 is the northbound platform (towards Watford Junction) and platform 17 is the southbound platform (towards East Croydon). Platform 17 can also be used by some terminating London Overground services as well.

Sidings leading into railway sheds at the west of the station are located between platforms 6 and 7.

Because the platform gap is too wide at platform 8, it must not be used for stopping trains unless in an emergency.[22]

All South Western Railway services from Waterloo pass through the station, as do Southern and Gatwick Express trains from Victoria. The West London line and South London line services of London Overground have Clapham Junction as one of the termini.

The typical off-peak service of more than 120 trains an hour comprises:

South Western Railway:

• 35 tph to London Waterloo
• 1 tph to Alton
• 1 tph to Basingstoke (slow)
• 1 tph to Exeter St Davids via Salisbury
• 1 tph to Haslemere
• 1 tph to Portsmouth and Southsea via Haslemere
• 1 tph to Salisbury (roughly 1tp2h extended to Yeovil Pen Mill)
• 1 tph to Weymouth
• 2 tph to Chessington South
• 2 tph to Dorking via Wimbledon
• 2 tph to Guildford via Cobham & Stoke d'Abernon
• 2 tph to Guildford via Epsom
• 2 tph to Hampton Court via Surbiton
• 2 tph to Shepperton via Wimbledon
• 2 tph to Woking (slow)
• 2 tph to London Waterloo by the Kingston Loop via Wimbledon, Kingston and Richmond
• 2 tph to London Waterloo by the Hounslow Loop via Brentford, Hounslow and Richmond
• 2 tph to London Waterloo by the Hounslow Loop via Richmond, Hounslow and Brentford
• 2 tph to London Waterloo by the Kingston Loop via Richmond, Kingston and Wimbledon
• 2 tph to Reading via Wokingham
• 2 tph to Weybridge via Brentford, Hounslow and Staines
• 2 tph to Windsor & Eton Riverside

Southern:

• 16 tph to London Victoria
• 1 tph to Bognor Regis and Portsmouth Harbour, dividing at Horsham
• 1 tph to Bognor Regis and Southampton Central, dividing at Horsham
• 1 tph to Littlehampton
• 1 tph to East Grinstead via Oxted
• 2 tph to Eastbourne, with 1 continung to Ore
• 2 tph to Reigate
• 1 tph to Dorking via Sutton
• 2 tph to Epsom Downs
• 1 tph to Horsham via Sutton and Epsom
• 2 tph to London Bridge via Crystal Palace
• 2 tph to West Croydon
• 1 tph to East Croydon via Norbury
• 1 tph to Watford Junction via Kensington Olympia

London Overground:

• 4 tph to Dalston Junction via Canada Water
• 4 tph to Stratford via Highbury & Islington

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.

The footbridge.

Clapham Junction in 2001.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
London Waterloo		South Western Railway South West Main Line West of England Main Line		Woking or Basingstoke
		South Western Railway Waterloo to Basingstoke Alton Line		Wimbledon or Surbiton
Vauxhall		South Western Railway Waterloo to Woking Mole Valley Line Kingston Loop via Wimbledon Shepperton Branch Hampton Court Branch New Guildford Line		Earlsfield
London Waterloo or Vauxhall		South Western Railway Waterloo to Reading		Richmond
Vauxhall		South Western Railway Waterloo to Reading		Putney
Queenstown Road		South Western Railway Kingston Loop via Richmond Hounslow Loop		Wandsworth Town
London Victoria		Southern Brighton Main Line Oxted Line		East Croydon or Selhurst
Battersea Park		Southern London Victoria to London Bridge Victoria to East Croydon London Victoria to Sutton via Crystal Palace		Wandsworth Common
Imperial Wharf		Southern West London Route		Terminus or Wandsworth Common
Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Wandsworth Road towards Dalston Junction		South London Line		Terminus
Terminus		West London Line		Imperial Wharf towards Willesden Junction or Stratford
Proposed Future Development
Preceding station	Crossrail			Following station
Balham towards Hampton Court, Shepperton, Chessington South or Epsom		Crossrail 2		Chelsea towards New Southgate or Broxbourne
Historical railways
Terminus		West London Line		Battersea

In the 2010s, a Clapham Junction station was proposed as part of the Crossrail 2 project. A large underground station dug underneath the existing station was proposed to serve Crossrail 2 service.[23] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was indefinitely postponed in 2020, although the route has been safeguarded.[24]

The Northern 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.[25] Additionally, it was noted that a further extension could overwhelm the extension, due to the high demand.[26] However, provision has been made for a future extension of the line to the station, with a reserved course underneath Battersea Park.[27][28][29]

Government and Network Rail funding for in the early 2010s of £50 million of improvements was granted.[30] This comprised an upgrade to the main interchange: new entrances and more retail.[31]

In a Network Rail study in 2015, it was proposed that platform 0 could reopen for 8-car operations of the West London Line.[32]

London Buses routes 35, 37, 39, 49, 77, 87, 156, 170, 219, 295, 319, 337, 344, 345, 639, 670, C3 and G1 and night routes N19, N31, N35 and N87 serve the station.[33][34]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clapham Junction railway station.

• Network Rail Details
• Short History of Clapham Junction prepared by Wandsworth Council, and from which much of the information in the history section of this entry is sourced
• 1988: 35 dead in Clapham rail collision BBC News report on the 1988 train collisions
• Local news website
• Yes, Clapham Junction is that bad. The sun shone, but the roof still leaks, Zoe Williams, The Guardian 18 November 2009
• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (4 October 1935), "Clapham Junction", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 1129–1132, description of the station in the 1930s