An artist’s impression of the proposed West Hampstead station complex

Published: 31 December, 2014
by WILLIAM McLENNAN

PLANS to bulldoze a redbrick train station in West Hampstead and replace it with a modern complex more than five times the size have been filed at the Town Hall.

West Hampstead Overground station will be completely rebuilt in an attempt to reduce congestion as passengers travel between the nearby tube station and Thameslink line, part of the so-called West Hampstead Interchange. 

More than 5.6 million journeys were made through the station in 2012, a number that Transport for London expects to “dramatically increase” in coming years, and improvements to the station are said to be “necessary to accommodate this increased demand”.

As well as increasing the size of the station by more than 600 square metres, TfL hope to increase the number of normal-sized ticket barriers from three to eight. Longer and wider platforms will be introduced to accommodate longer trains and wheelchair access to the station will be improved. 

The new building will include room for a new retail unit and will increase the size of the pavement outside the station, which TfL said is “becoming a safety issue as passengers leaving the station sometimes spill out onto the road.”

Planning documents submitted to Camden Council said: “The concept is to create a station as a continuation of ‘the street’, merging the building frontage with the public realm.”