Abbey Wood railway station

Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood railway station (2008)
Abbey Wood Location of Abbey Wood in Greater London
Location	Abbey Wood
Local authority	London Borough of Bexley and Royal Borough of Greenwich
Grid reference	TQ473789
Managed by	TfL Rail
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	ABW
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	2
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	4
National Rail annual entry and exit
2015–16	2.929 million[2]
2016–17	2.989 million[2]
2017–18	3.125 million[2]
2018–19	3.769 million[2]
2019–20	3.825 million[2]
Railway companies
Original company	South Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
30 July 1849 (1849-07-30)	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°29′28″N 0°07′17″E / 51.4910°N 0.1214°E / 51.4910; 0.1214Coordinates: 51°29′28″N 0°07′17″E / 51.4910°N 0.1214°E / 51.4910; 0.1214
London transport portal

Abbey Wood is a National Rail station in Abbey Wood in southeast London, England. It is between Plumstead and Belvedere stations on the North Kent Line. It is 11 miles 43 chains (18.6 km) measured from London Charing Cross, with services to central London routed via Greenwich or Lewisham. The station is managed by TfL Rail with passenger services provided by Southeastern and Thameslink. The station is due to be served by Elizabeth line services from 2022. It is the closest railway station to the suburb of Thamesmead, which is connected to the station by local buses. Alphabetically, it is the first National Rail station in the UK, with the last being Ystrad Rhondda railway station in south Wales. The station platforms are located in the Royal Borough of Greenwich with the station entrance in the London Borough of Bexley.

History[]

Station platforms, looking eastbound

Opened by the South Eastern Railway on 30 July 1849, the operations of which were handed over to the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899, it became part of the Southern Railway during the grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. When BR was divided into sectors in the 1980s the station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Railways.

During the 1860s William Morris famously used a decorated wagon to commute between this station and his new home at Red House, Bexleyheath, occasionally with his eccentric and artistic house guests.

The ticket office at Abbey Wood was APTIS-equipped by November 1986, making it one of the first stations with the ticketing system which was eventually found across the UK at all staffed British Rail stations by the end of the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

The station has been rebuilt twice over the past 50 years to cater for the changing nature of the area.^[3] The station was to be served by the proposed Greenwich Waterfront Transit, however the project was cancelled by Mayor of London Boris Johnson owing to lack of funds.^[4]

Future[]

Construction of the new station, 2017

Abbey Wood was rebuilt in preparation for Crossrail, which was due to commence operation in 2018 but is now planned to open in 2022.^[5] The refurbished station opened on 23 October 2017.^[6]

Abbey Wood will be the terminus of one of two eastern branches of Crossrail and will offer interchange between terminating Crossrail services (at 12 trains per hour on new line) and existing Southeastern services. This is instead of continuing services to Ebbsfleet International along existing tracks as those lines are congested and may delay Crossrail services.^[7][8]

Crossrail will provide a link north west to ExCeL London and Canary Wharf, then onwards to the city centre, Heathrow Airport and Reading. As of 2012 there are proposals to extend Crossrail further east to Gravesend; the route is safeguarded but it is not intended to be implemented as part of the current phase.^[9]

A proposed extension of the London Overground from Barking across the river to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood was proposed in August 2015.^[10] An extension from Barking to Barking Riverside has already been confirmed, and it is possible a further extension to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood will follow suit. In 2016, the Mayor Sadiq Khan also proposed a Docklands Light Railway extension from Gallions Reach across the river to Thamesmead and Abbey Wood.

Station buildings[]

The first station opened with the line in 1849 and was a typical South Eastern Railway brick building with metal platform shelters. In 1987 a new station was constructed which, in 2014, was replaced by Network Rail with an interim station whilst the new Crossrail station is constructed. The new station has been designed by architects and includes step free interchange between platforms and bus connections with the Harrow Manorway, a dual carriageway which runs next to the ticket hall.

Services[]

The typical off-peak service from the station is:

• 4tph (trains per hour) to London Cannon Street via Greenwich.
• 2tph to London Charing Cross via Lewisham.
• 2tph to Luton via London Bridge, St Pancras International, St Albans City and Luton Airport.
• 2tph to Dartford.
• 2tph to Crayford, returning to London Cannon Street via Sidcup.
• 2tph to Barnehurst, returning to London Cannon Street via Bexleyheath.
• 2tph to Rainham via Dartford and Gravesend.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Plumstead		Southeastern North Kent Line		Belvedere
		Thameslink North Kent Line		Slade Green
	Future development
Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Woolwich towards Reading or Heathrow Airport		Crossrail Elizabeth line Abbey Wood Branch		Terminus
	Historic services
Church Manor Way Halt		Southern Railway North Kent Line		Belvedere

Connections[]

London Buses routes 180, 229, 244, 301, 469, B11, school routes 602, 669 and night route N1 serve the station.^[11]

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abbey Wood railway station.

Notes

Bibliography

External links[]

• The remodelled exterior of Abbey Wood station Image at Crossrail, London
• fereday pollard
• marks barfield
• Abbey Wood station on navigable O.S. map