Kensington (Olympia) station

Kensington (Olympia)
Southbound view from Platform 2
Kensington (Olympia) Location of Kensington (Olympia) in Greater London
Location	Olympia
Local authority	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Managed by	London Overground
Station code	KPA
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	3 (2 NR/LO, 1 LU)
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2018	3.08 million[2]
2019	0.11 million[3]
2020	0.04 million[4]
2021	0.03 million[5]
2022	2.10 million[6]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	3.637 million[7]
– interchange	23,402[7]
2019–20	3.353 million[7]
– interchange	16,581[7]
2020–21	0.739 million[7]
– interchange	8,100[7]
2021–22	1.743 million[7]
– interchange	11,729[7]
2022–23	2.282 million[7]
– interchange	3,443[7]
Railway companies
Original company	West London Railway
Pre-grouping	West London Railway
Post-grouping	West London Railway
Key dates
27 May 1844	first station opened
1 Dec.1844	first station closed
2 June 1862	second (present) station opened
1940	station closed
1946	station reopened
Other information
External links	[ TfL station info page] Departures Layout Facilities Buses
Coordinates	51°29′55″N 0°12′39″W / 51.4986°N 0.2108°W / 51.4986; -0.2108
London transport portal

Kensington (Olympia) is an interchange station located in Kensington, in West London for London Overground and National Rail services. Limited London Underground services also run here.

Services are provided by London Overground, who manage the station, along with Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. On the Underground it is the terminus of a short District line branch from Earl's Court, originally built as part of the Middle Circle. On the main-line railway it is on the West London Line from Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction, by which trains bypass inner London. The station's name is drawn from its location in Kensington and the adjacent Olympia exhibition centre in West Kensington.

The station was originally opened in 1844 by the West London Railway but closed shortly afterwards. It reopened in 1862 and began catering for Great Western services the following year. In 1872 it became part of the Middle Circle train route that bypassed central London. The station was bombed during World War II and subsequently closed. It reopened in 1946 but the limited service to Clapham Junction was recommended for withdrawal in the 1960s Beeching Report. The main-line station was revitalised later in the decade as a terminus for national Motorail, and upgraded again in 1986 to serve a wider range of InterCity destinations. The station's Underground connection after World War II was limited to a shuttle service to and from Earl's Court.

With around 2.10 million passenger journeys recorded in 2022, Kensington (Olympia) is the 210th busiest station on the entire Underground network.^[5]