West Croydon station

For the Australian station, see West Croydon railway station, Adelaide.

West Croydon is a combined railway, bus station and tram stop in Croydon, south London. It is served by National Rail, London Overground, Tramlink and London Buses services and is in Travelcard Zone 5.

West Croydon
West Croydon Location of West Croydon in Greater London
Location	Croydon
Local authority	London Borough of Croydon
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	WCY
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	3 (formerly 4)
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	5
Tramlink annual boardings and alightings
2009–10	1.312 million[2]
2010–11	1.502 million[3]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	5.419 million[4]
– interchange	0.523 million[4]
2019–20	5.056 million[4]
– interchange	0.464 million[4]
2020–21	1.738 million[4]
– interchange	0.124 million[4]
2021–22	3.148 million[4]
– interchange	0.241 million[4]
2022–23	3.692 million[4]
– interchange	0.257 million[4]
Railway companies
Original company	London and Croydon Railway
Pre-grouping	London Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
5 June 1839	Opened as Croydon
April 1851[5][6]	Renamed West Croydon
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.3782611°N 0.1025444°W / 51.3782611; -0.1025444
London transport portal

The East London line, part of London Overground, was extended to the station in 2010. On the National Rail network it is 10 miles 35 chains (10.44 miles, 16.80 km) measured from London Bridge.

Facilities

Railway station

West Croydon (2008 image) with Southern branding

The main entrance is on London Road, a short distance from the main shopping area. There are ticket barriers protecting the platforms. Trains run to London Victoria, London Bridge, Highbury & Islington, and Sutton and from there to west Surrey and West Sussex.

By December 2009 station remodelling and tracklaying were completed for the southern extension of the East London line, of which West Croydon is a terminus. The space occupied by former bay platform 2, out of use since the Wimbledon service was withdrawn in 1997 and replaced by Tramlink in 2000, has been utilised to extend platform 3, the London-bound platform. Bay platform 1 has been retained. There is no Platform 2.

In April 2012 a new entrance was constructed in Station Road, allowing direct access to the railway station from the adjacent bus and tram stops.^[7]

Bus station and tram stop

The tram and bus interchange at West Croydon in 2005

West Croydon Bus Station rebuilt in 2016

A short distance from the main entrance is Station Road, where West Croydon bus station and tram stop are located. The tram stop is next to, but was for a long time physically separate from, the rail platforms, until the construction of the new entrance. All Tramlink routes use West Croydon, which is a single platform stop on the unidirectional loop around central Croydon. The bus station is a hub for London Buses, with 24 bus routes terminating or passing through. A new bus station opened in 2016.^[8]

London Buses routes 50, 60, 64, 75, 109, 154, 157, 166, 194, 198, 250, 264, 289, 367, 403, 407, 410, 450 and 468, Superloop routes SL6 and SL7 and night routes N68, N109 and N250 serve the railway and bus stations.^[9][10]

History

v t e 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 () Stamford Hill Street Leytonstone Headstone Lane Holloway 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 Homerton Stonebridge Brondesbury Hoxton Heath Hackney Wick Park Brondesbury Park Shoreditch High Street Bethnal Green Stratford Harlesden Kensal Rise 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 Forest Hill Gunnersbury High Street Sydenham Kew Gardens Richmond Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon ()
Legend
Station National Rail Liberty line Accessible station Thameslink Lioness line Interchange station Elizabeth line Mildmay line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway Suffragette line Internal interchange London Underground Weaver line Out-of-station interchange London Trams Windrush line (   ) Nearby interchange London River Services The new London Overground line names and colours were introduced across the London rail network in November 2024

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around the Brighton Main Line between South Croydon and Selhurst/Forest Hill, and surrounding lines

From 1809 to 1836 the site was the terminal basin of the Croydon Canal. The canal was drained and became part of the route of the London & Croydon Railway, opening on 5 June 1839.^[5] In 1845 the L&C inaugurated the atmospheric system of propulsion; it worked for about a year but was not successful.^[5] On 23 September 1846, a fire broke out in a lamp room, severely damaging the station and destroying thirteen carriages. Damage was estimated at £10,000.^[11] The station was originally named Croydon; in April 1851 it became West Croydon.^[5]

The canal basin was served by a short private branch from the terminus of the Surrey Iron Railway (SIR) at Pitlake. From 1855 the station was the terminus of the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line, which followed much of the route of the SIR. This line closed on 31 May 1997, to be replaced by Tramlink. Platform 2, the terminal bay for the Wimbledon line, was trackless until 2008. Very little remains of this platform apart from a little section at the western end, as most of it was filled in to extend platform 3 to allow trains to stop closer to the stairs.

The first four coaches became derailed when an electric train hit the buffers at West Croydon Station in October 1948, crashed through a wall and damaged several cars.

In 1912 the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), who was a resident of Croydon, collapsed whilst on the station. This was due to overwork and pneumonia. He died at home a few days later.

During the 1930s the station saw major alterations and reconstruction. A new ticket office was built on London Road. The original station buildings, ticket office and entrance in Station Road were closed and are still standing, converted to a shop.

Services

West Croydon is Croydon's second station, used mainly by suburban trains: the main station is East Croydon, served by express trains to London and the South Coast and suburban trains.

Services at West Croydon are operated by Southern and London Overground using Class 377 and 378 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[12]

• 2 tph to London Bridge (non-stop from Norwood Junction)
• 4 tph to London Victoria (2 of these run via Norbury and 2 run via Crystal Palace)
• 4 tph to Highbury & Islington via New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction
• 2 tph to Epsom
• 2 tph to Epsom Downs

During the peak hours, the station is served by an additional half-hourly service between London Victoria and Sutton.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Selhurst		Southern Sutton & Mole Valley Lines		Waddon
Norwood Junction
Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Norwood Junction towards Highbury & Islington		Windrush line East London line		Terminus
Preceding station	Tramlink			Following station
Centrale One-way operation		Tramlink Wimbledon to Beckenham Junction		Wellesley Road towards Beckenham Junction
		Tramlink Wimbledon to Elmers End		Wellesley Road towards Elmers End
		Tramlink New Addington to Croydon town centre		Wellesley Road towards New Addington
Disused railways
Waddon Marsh		Connex South Central West Croydon to Wimbledon Line		Terminus

References

1. "Network Map". Southern Railway. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
2. "Tram Stop Usage 2009-10 (FOI)" (XLS). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2009-2010. Transport for London. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
3. "Tramlink numbers 2010-2011" (PDF). Tramlink annual passenger performance 2010-2011. Transport for London. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
4. "Estimates of station usage". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
5. Butt, RVJ (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens. pp. 73, 245. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
6. Forgotten Stations of Greater London by J.E.Connor and B.Halford
7. "New entrance to West Croydon station provides better access for all". Transport for London. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 27 June 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
8. ""Milestone" bus station opens as part of West Croydon's multimillion pound redevelopment". Your Croydon. Croydon Council. 14 October 2016.
9. "Buses and trams from West Croydon" (PDF). TfL. 19 August 2023. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
10. "Night buses from Croydon" (PDF). TfL. June 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
11. "Serious Fire at the Croydon Terminus". Hampshire Advertiser and Salisbury Guardian. No. 1207. Southampton. 26 September 1846. p. 3.
12. Table 171, 172, 177, 178 National Rail timetable, May 2022

External links

• West Croydon tram stop The Trams
• East London Line extension Archived 22 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine Transport for London
• Train times and station information for West Croydon station from National Rail