South Ruislip

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South Ruislip is a station served by London Underground and Chiltern Railways in South Ruislip in West London. The station is owned by London Underground but managed by Chiltern Railways.

The GWR/GCR Joint line to High Wycombe carried services from both Paddington and Marylebone. They met at Northolt Junction, situated slightly to the east of the station, from where four tracks ran westwards to Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip; there the route shrank to two tracks only. Opened in May 1908 and originally known as Northolt Junction, the station became South Ruislip & Northolt Junction from September 1932 and received its present name in July 1942.

The station was first served by Central Line trains on 11 November 1948 when the Central Line extension from London towards Buckinghamshire was completed after being delayed by World War II but with services truncated to West Ruislip rather than going further as originally planned.

At the time of the Chiltern Line improvements some years ago, the manual signal box was removed, and its function replaced by colour light signalling and power operated points, both controlled from Marylebone. The track alignments were improved to allow higher speed running at the junction for the services from Marylebone, and the pointwork which had allowed trains from Paddington to call at the westbound Chiltern station platform was removed.

All eastbound services were moved to the former through road; the eastbound road, which had formerly extended from the platform road at West Ruislip, was closed and lifted, and the eastbound platform widened. The alignment of the turnout towards Marylebone was improved to allow higher-speed running. Fragments of the old trackwork can still be seen to the north of the line at this point.

Not all Chiltern trains stop at all stations. Travellers are recommended to consult a timetable before travelling. A single train on weekdays runs from Gerrards Cross on the Chiltern line to Paddington, over the little used former GWR route between Northolt Junction and Old Oak Common Junction, but it does not call at South Ruislip, instead calling at neighbouring West Ruislip at 1012 hrs (as of July 2008). The return service departs Paddington at 1112 hrs but does not call anywhere south of Gerrard’s Cross, and terminates at Princes Risborough.

A large West London Waste Authority bulk rubbish handling depot lies east of the stations with running links to the line from Paddington; a daily waste train is in operation.

London Underground maintenance contractors Metronet are currently refurbishing the station, which necessitated a short closure of the station in early February 2006 when brown asbestos was discovered.

This station has no public toilets.