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Russell Road, LONDON, W14 8HW

Kensington Olympia Station part District line underground and main line

Electric multiple unit No 378010 calls at Kensington Olympia Station

A Class 313 electric unit stops at Kensington Olympia. Originally with British Railways, the units of this type operating on North London Line and associated services became part of the Silverlink fleet following privatisation. Silverlink services were taken over by London Overground in 2007 as part of, the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone's plans to improve services for the customers. The white stickyback plastic signs on the sides give away the sudden nature of this change - they were applied over the Silverlink name without any changes to the livery. New units were ordered to replace the ageing 313's around that time and these finally started to be delivered under a new Mayor, Boris Johnson, in 2009. Please see Image for an example. The change out of the types is ongoing and on the day this photo was taken both were in service on the route. The 313's are reportedly destined for further service on the south coast Coastway routes.

A District Line train waits in the London Underground bay on the shuttle service to Kensington High Street. The tracks through the centre of the station form the West London Line, connecting Willesden Junction with Clapham Junction. At one time there were 4 tracks here, along with sidings in the area on the left of the photo. The original platform on the left is disused and hidden in the vegetation behind the fence of the current platform. The current platform for southbound trains has been built on the site of the loop on that used to exist on that side of the station. This line is an important freight route through the capital as well as forming part of the London Overground network. The buildings on the left are the Olympia London Exhibition Centre.

A class 377 unit of Southern collects passengers at Kensington Olympia station. It is operating the hourly service between Milton Keynes and East Croydon. The footbridge still bears remnants of its past display of the Underground Roundel and British Railways double arrow symbols. Why this side of the bridge has only been half painted in grey is a mystery - perhaps they ran out of paint? On the left, the platform number sign carries the words 'temporary sign' in the bottom left corner. Quite why a platform number would be temporary is beyond me, but these words are common to many signs along London Overground routes - perhaps they aren't sure about the chosen colours or whether to sell the routes off again!

This is both a railway and underground station