Crystal Palace Railway Station

From Virtual Norwood

Crystal Palace Railway Station was opened on 10 June 1854 by the London Brighton & South Coast Railway which opened a branch from Sydenham. This line was extended to Wandsworth Common by the West End of London and Crystal Palace Junction Railway (WEL&CPR) and on 1st December 1856. The stations at Gipsy Hill, Streatham (renamed Streatham Hill on 1st September 1868), Balham and Wandsworth Common opened on the same day. It was then extended to a pier on the Thames at Battersea on 29th March 1858, with the terminus at Victoria opened on 1st October 1860. The Norwood Junction route opened on 1st October 1857, and then the route to Beckenham and Bromley (renamed Shortlands) opened on 3rd May 1858.

Originally called Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood, it was renamed as Crystal Palace (Low Level) when the High Level station was opened in 1865 and reverted to plain Crystal Palace when the High Level line closed. Crystal Palace will become one of the two southern termini of the East London Line Extension that is due to open in 2010.

Contents 1 Refurbishment 2000-2002 2 Freight Train Derailment, Thursday 5th July 2001 3 East London Line Extension 4 Links 5 Map

[edit] Refurbishment 2000-2002

With a £4.5 million regeneration boost by Railtrack the first major work started at the station on 24th June 2000. It was originally scheduled for completion by March 2001. The official opening ceremony for the refurbished offices for The Railway Consultancy Ltd was held on 19th July 2002. Work on the historic grade 2 listed station is part of Railtrack's national £1 billion Station Regeneration Programme which saw almost all of the 2,500 stations across the network refurbished by 2001.

The extensive programme of works will included:

• the complete replacement of the timber and glass train shed roof using modern materials
• re-roofing of the footbridge between platforms 1 and 2
• repair of the footbridge and staircases to platforms 3 and 4
• internal and external refurbishment of the old station buildings
• restoration of the train shed area including improved lighting
• restoration of the 'mansard' roof to the north tower
• erection of a porte cochere entrance canopy to the front of the station building

[edit] Freight Train Derailment, Thursday 5th July 2001

At about 2am on Thursday 5th July 2001 a freight train was derailed at Crystal Palace. Train services from Tulse Hill and Balham to Streatham Hill, West Norwood, Gipsy Hill, Crystal Palace and Norwood Junction were all affected. Virtual Norwood was told 'off the record' that the train was unloading replacement rail for engineering due to take place over the following couple of weekends. It apparently reversed out of Platform 4 whilst the points were set against it. From that direction the points would merely have been pushed open. However, when the train subsequently moved forward again, the front half of the train went back into Platform 4 whilst the rear half went the other way, towards Platform 2. This caused the train to come off the tracks.

Railtrack declined to comment on the incident saying that it was now subject to an internal review. Their press officer did confirm the time of the derailment was around 2am on Thursday 5th July 2001 and that the engineers working had 'possession of the line'. This means that no other trains would have been running on the same section of track. The press officer also said that the train was travelling slowly at about 5 miles per hour.

Connex South Central published reports on their web site, station information screens and a noticeboard in the ticket office. On the day of the derailment the web site reported that engineers had been able to re-rail the train but that it would take several days for repairs to be completed. The noticeboard didn't make any special mention of the derailment and electronic display screens showing departure details for trains to Victoria and London Bridge were simply highlighted as cancelled. Connex ran a shuttle bus between Birkbeck and Crystal Palace and Croydon Tramlink allowed Connex ticket holders on their services. On Friday afternoon a station worker said that things were getting back to normal. He seemed quite unfazed by the incident and clearly no stranger to a bit of disruption.

[edit] East London Line Extension

Crystal Palace will be redeveloped for the East London Line Extension (ELLE, ELLP, ELLX). Additonal platforms will be created between platforms 3 and 4 and the old ticket hall will be brought back into service as the main entrance. Engineering works are scheduled for completion by 2010.

[edit] Links

• Live Train Departure Boards for Crystal Palace (CYP)
• Network Map of London and South East - PDF download
• Route of The East London Line (London Overground) - Crystal Palace, Sydenham, Forest Hill, Honor Oak Park, Brockley, New Cross Gate, Surrey Quays, Canada Water ... Highbury & Islington
• Virtual Norwood Forum - discussion of the latest news affecting the East London Line Extension

[edit] Map