The station was opened in 1871 as Castle Hill and Ealing Dene on the Great Western Railway, which was constructed from London Paddington through Ealing to Maidenhead in 1836–1838. From 1 March 1883, the station – then named Castle Hill – was served by District Railway services running between and Windsor. This service was discontinued as uneconomic after 30 September 1885. The station was located next to the London Co-operative Society's main creamery, and so was equipped with a dedicated milk train platform in the mid-1900s. Originally the station consisted of four platforms in a staggered layout: platform 1 and the island comprising platforms 2 and 3 to the west of the Drayton Green Road bridge, and platform 4 on the east side. Platform 1 and its siding were demolished in the late 1960s; platform 4 was demolished and moved west of the bridge by early 1990, partially covering the site of the then long-closed milk depot; platform 2 was partially demolished and fenced off by early 1991 as trains on the main line no longer served the station. From around 1985 to 1990, access to the original platform 4 was opposite the station building, across Drayton Green Road bridge. The current station building was completed in early 1987, following demolition of the previous century-old building a year earlier. A west-facing terminating platform, platform 5, was completed in 2016 for trains on the Greenford branch.
Accidents and incidents
On 5 August 1989, an express passenger train travelling from Oxford to Paddington collided with a piece of rail left on the track, probably by vandals, and the locomotive, Class 50 50025 Invincible, was derailed along the points near to platform 2. There were no serious injuries.
Description
West Ealing is on the original line of the Great Western Railway. The restricted facilities are an intermittently open booking office and a ticket machine. The station is in Travelcard Zone 3. Presently there are five lines, but only platforms 3–5 exist. There are also the remains of another platform next to platform 5, which is the now long-closed LCS dedicated milk depot platform.
Services
Timetable
Trains at West Ealing are operated by TfL Rail and Great Western Railway with a limited service provided by Chiltern Railways. The typical Monday-Saturday service is:
4tph to
2tph to
2tph to
2tph to
There is also one train per day on Mondays-Fridays only to, operated by Chiltern Railways. Previously, the services from London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington were operated by Great Western Railway using pairs of Class 387 EMUs The typical Sunday service is:
2tph to
2tph to
Before May 2019, the station was not served by any trains on Sundays. This was because the TfL Rail services to Heathrow did not call on Sundays and both the TfL Rail service to Hayes & Harlington and GWR Greenford Shuttle services did not run. As of May 2019, the TfL Rail service to Hayes & Harlington now runs on Sundays giving West Ealing a half-hourly service on Sundays. Since October 2008, Oyster "pay as you go" can be used for journeys originating or ending at West Ealing. In September 2016, Great Western Railway began operating services from Paddington with Class 387 EMUs, which led to some Greenford services that had previously run to Paddington to terminate at West Ealing using the newly converted terminal platform. All Greenford services terminate at West Ealing from January 2017. In December 2018, Chiltern Railways commenced operating a once per day parliamentary service on weekdays from South Ruislip and to High Wycombe via the Greenford line. It replaced a service to London Paddington via the Acton-Northolt line.
There are plans to provide through Crossrail services across central London at the station from autumn 2019. As part of this proposal, services from the Greenford Branch Line now terminate at West Ealing. Network Rail created capacity for this by converting the former LCS milk train bay into an extra bay platform. In addition, various further alterations will be made by Network Rail by the end of 2017:
New station building with a larger ticket hall with level access from Manor Road
Step-free access
Platforms 3–4 extended to enable 9-car trains to stop
Improved passenger facilities including increased lighting, a new canopy on platform 4, and information and security systems
