Richmond station (London)

The station building dates from 1937, designed by Southern Railway chief architect James Robb Scott in Art Deco style. Its Portland stone facade includes a square clock. The area in front of the station main entrance was pedestrianised in 2013 and includes a war memorial to soldier Bernard Freyberg, who was born in Richmond. ==History==

The Richmond and West End Railway (R&WER) opened the first station at Richmond on 27 July 1846, as the terminus of its line from . This station was on a site to the south of the present through platforms, which later became a goods yard and where a multi-storey car park now stands. The Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WS&SWR) extended the line westward, resiting the station to the west side of The Quadrant, on the extended tracks and slightly west of the present through platforms. Both the R&WER and WS&SWR were subsidiary companies of the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR). On 1 January 1869, the L&SWR opened the Kensington and Richmond line from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station) on the West London Joint Railway. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station, since closed, and and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) near . Most of this line is now part of the London Underground District line; the line south from Gunnersbury was also served by the North London Railway (NLR) and is now used also by London Overground. Before this line was built, services north from Richmond ran somewhat circuitously via chords at Kew Bridge and Barnes. The Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870) and the installation of a new mural commemorating twinning with Fontainebleau in France and Konstanz in Germany. Accident On 18 September 1987, an accident occurred at Richmond when a westbound District line hit the buffers of platform 6 and broke the glass/perspex panels behind. No passengers were seriously injured. Crossrail A Crossrail branch to Kingston upon Thames via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, complex choices and engineering at the start of the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment. It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to and on the existing track through to Richmond (which would have lost the District line service) and thence to Kingston. ==Platforms==

The station has seven platforms numbered from south to north: • Platforms 1 and 2 are through platforms for South Western Railway services. • Platforms 3 to 7 are terminating platforms used by: • London Overground Mildmay line services (normally platforms 4 and 5 but sometimes 3, 6 and 7) • London Underground District line services (normally platforms 6 and 7. Occasionally 4 and 5 but never 3 due to 3's lack of a fourth rail, which the District Line uses for electric power). As of September 2011, work was under way to extend platforms 1 and 2 to accept 10-car trains. The bulk of the lengthening was to be at the west (country) end; extending eastwards was deemed unviable by Network Rail as Church Road Bridge would have needed widening. As part of these works, the platform canopies were also being refurbished. The wide gap between platforms 3 and 4 originally had a third, run-around track for steam locomotives. The station has eight retail units. There are four eatery-cafés on alternate sides of the barriers (two on the rail side being thin and smaller) and two kiosks, the upper one being a hot drinks kiosk through to a M&S Simply Food grocery store. A florist and a WH Smith flank the entrance. ==Services==

Services at Richmond are operated by South Western Railway, London Overground on the Mildmay line and London Underground on the District line. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: • 2 tph between and . These services are the fastest services to London Waterloo, calling at only intermediately. • 2 tph between London Waterloo and . These services call at Putney, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall on the way to London Waterloo. • 2 tph in each direction on the loop service via , returning to London Waterloo via and , calling at all stations. • 4 tph to via • 6 tph to via Additional services, including trains to and from , , and London Waterloo via call at the station during the peak hours. ==Connections==

A large number of London Buses routes serve the station day and night. ==References==