White City & Shepherd's Bush

A new development at White City will include a new Tube station, a National Rail station for Shepherd's Bush, a bus station and associated improvements.

White City is a 40 acre brownfield site which is being developed into a new complex by the Westfield group, although it has changed hands a number of times via developers Multiplex and Chelsfield. A number of associated transport projects are either complete, underway or planned.

A grade-separated junction has already been completed for the A3220 West Cross Route as the primary road access to the site. This has already been finished to give lorries access to the the site. Once the centre opens in October 2007, access will also be available across this bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, via the Edward Woods Estate in the east; a pedestrian/cyclist access ramp has been installed as part of a new park which has been constructed to the east of the crossing, and a lift will also be available to provide easy level access.

Cars will not be able to cross the bridge into Kensington & Chelsea; car access will only be available to and from the West Cross Route or Wood Lane, to reach the new 4,500 space underground car park.

At the southern end of the West Cross Route, there is an option to either retain and refurbish the existing subway or install a new surface pedestrian crossing.

Further pedestrian and cycle access might be provided to the north by the Hammersmith & City line bridge if a further stage of development goes ahead with the land nearer to the Westway. [LB Hammersmith & Fulham]

Cycle parking will be available at the new Wood Lane (Hammersmith & City line) station, at the north western entrance on Wood Lane, at the south western entrance on Wood Lane; behind the acoustic screen on Shepherd's Bush Place in the south east; next to the West London line station in the south east; and next to the taxi rank on the eastern access road (which runs between the side of the shopping centre and the West London Line to provide bus and taxi access).

A new station - Wood Lane - for the Hammersmith & City line will be constructed on the western side of the development. This will be additional to the existing Shepherd's Bush Hammersmith & City station, which will be renamed Shepherd's Bush Market to avoid confusion with Shepherd's Bush Central line station.

Access to Wood Lane station will be to the north of the railway viaduct. This avoids demolition of an office block (Network House) and slightly shortens the walk to the existing White City station on the Central line.

Wood Lane is due to open in October 2008.

The Central line station at Shepherd's Bush is adjacent to the southern end of the White City development site. The station is being completely rebuilt at a cost of around £65m, doubling the size of the existing station.

There will be additional stairs, escalators and new lifts to platform level to provide step-free access, which will be achieved by sinking two new lift shafts - one linking a new passage from the lower concourse (at the bottom of the escalators) to a point approximately halfway down and between the platforms, and another linking the ticket hall to this lower concourse level [Faber Maunsell].

Work started in 2006, and an eight-month full closure began in February 2008. The station reopens in October 2008, with below-ground works continuing into early 2009.

See an east-west cross-section of the Central line station.

A new Shepherd's Bush station for London Overground's West London line is being constructed on the eastern side with associated links to the expanded Shepherd's Bush Central line station.

Construction started officially on 13 April 2005, although real construction work only started in December 2005.

Unfortunately the northbound platform has been deemed too narrow for the projected demand, and TfL are currently discussing works to widen the platform with Westfield. Once designs are agreed, works will take four months and thus the station is unlikely to open before summer 2008.

The following photos show some of the progression in the construction of the station (at low quality):

13 March 2006: Initial groundwork underway (taken from Holland Park Roundabout)

31 May 2006: Part of southbound platform in place on right of photo (taken from Holland Park Roundabout)

21 June 2006: Parts of both platforms in place (taken from Holland Park Roundabout)

19 August 2006: Majority of both platforms in place and footbridge installation underway (taken from Holland Park Roundabout)

11 October 2006: Ticket office structure under construction

3 February 2007: Little external change but big internal changes (not visible here)

Upon opening, peak frequency will be 3tph and offpeak service will be 2tph, although TfL hope to double this to 4tph as soon as possible.

The initial station will be for four-car trains - this is to accommodate it within the existing signalling, which would have to moved for eight-car platforms, with knock-on effects along the whole West London Line. Those changes cannot take place for five years; however, if they then go ahead, platforms could be extended for eight-car trains. On opening, only London Overground Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction local trains will serve this station, not Southern's Watford Junction to Brighton services which will continue to call at neighbouring Kensington Olympia.

A new hub is being built at White City - a bus station will be situated next to Wood Lane, with associated alterations to the local bus network to take this into account. These alterations include extending routes 31 and 148 plus 207, 260, 237 and 607 into White City via the southern interchange at Shepherd's Bush and the access road around the shopping centre. Additionally, route 316 will be extended from North Kensington to Shepherd's Bush, and a new route will be introduced from Park Royal via White City and Shepherd's Bush to Ladbroke Grove [TfL consultation]. Services routed along the new road would also stop at the northeastern corner of the shopping centre - also a short walk over the West Cross Route junction to the area around Latimer Road.

The listed Dimco buildings on Ariel Way (near the location of the former Wood Lane Central line station) will be restored and incorporated into the White City/Wood Lane bus station. The smaller, westernmost building will be used as an electricity substation; the adjacent building will become a bus stand, with buses being able to drive through the building.

The proposed West London Tram would have terminate at the southern end of the White City development, adjacent to the Shepherd's Bush (southern) interchange. Alternatively, it could have run into a terminus between the northern and southern carriageways of Uxbridge Road at the eastern end of the Green (between the pedestrian crossing and the roundabout).

The following portions of planning application diagrams illustrate the layouts of the southern (Central, London Overground, bus, tram) and northern (Hammersmith & City, bus) interchanges. The original file is a large PDF from on the LB Hammersmith & Fulham website, and can be zoomed in to offer better detail.

The bridge that carries the Hammersmith & City line over the Central line will be replaced this weekend as part of construction works for the White City development.