Clapham Junction railway station is a train station in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is on St. John's Hill in the south west of Battersea.
The station
The services
All services to Waterloo and many services to Victoria and Croydon stations pass through the junction; these include South West Trains, Gatwick Express and Southern services. Services from Clapham Junction also head north along the West London line, through West Brompton and Kensington (Olympia), on to Willesden Junction and Watford Junction - services (to Willesden Junction) are operated by London Overground.
Typical off-peak service of about 110 trains (one train every 30 seconds) is: 27 London Waterloo 22 London Victoria 1 Alton 1 stopping to Basingstoke 2 Brighton 2 Caterham 2 Chessington South 1 Dorking (via Sutton) 2 Dorking (via Wimbledon) 1 East Croydon (via Norbury) 2 East Grinstead 1 Epsom Downs 2 Epsom (via Hackbridge) 1 Epsom (via Norbury) 2 Guildford (via Cobham) 2 Guildford (via Epsom) 2 Hampton Court 1 Haslemere 1 Horsham 1 Littlehampton and Eastbourne (divides at Haywards Heath) 2 London Bridge 2 London Waterloo (via Brentford, Hounslow and Richmond) 2 London Waterloo (via Richmond, Hounslow and Brentford) 2 London Waterloo (via Wimbledon, Kingston and Richmond) 2 London Waterloo (via Richmond, Kingston and Wimbledon) 1 Milton Keynes Central (via Kensington) 1 Ore and Littlehampton (divides at Haywards Heath and Eastbourne) 1 Poole 1 Portsmouth Harbour (via Haslemere) 1 Portsmouth Harbour and Bognor Regis (divides at Horsham) 2 Reading 2 Shepperton 1 Southampton Central and Bognor Regis (divides at Horsham) 2 Sutton (via Norbury) 2 West Croydon (via Crystal Palace) 2 Weybridge (via Brentford, Hounslow and Staines) 1 Weymouth 2 Willesden Junction 2 Windsor & Eton Riverside 2 stopping to Woking 1 Yeovil Junction (some continue to Exeter and beyond)
The facilities
The station has 17 platforms, numbered 1 to 17, and arranged in two groups. Platform 1, the northernmost platform. The station's main entrance is from St. John's Hill, into a foot tunnel which is 15 ft (4.6 m) wide. It runs under the eastern end of the 17 platforms, and to a northern exit, which has restricted opening hours. The foot tunnel becomes very crowded during the morning and evening rush hours, and ticket barriers at the end of the tunnel are a particular pinch point.
A covered footbridge connects the platforms at their western end. The footbridge does not have an exit to or from the station.
The Junction
The station is named Clapham Junction because it is close to the joining point of a number of major rail lines—although the name is not shared by any junction near the station. The names of the nearby rail junctions are: Falcon Jn Ludgate GW Jn Latchmere Jns West London Jn Pouparts Jn
References
Other websites
Mirror of the Unofficial CJ Guide (original site seems to have been removed) Short History of Clapham Junction prepared by Wandsworth Council, and from which much of the information in the history section of this entry is sourced. BBC News report on the 1988 train collisions