page_title: Hounslow West tube station
section_title: Heathrow extension
hierarchical_section_title: Hounslow West tube station / History / Heathrow extension
context_page_description: Hounslow West is a London Underground station in Hounslow of the London Borough of Hounslow, West London. It is located on Bath Road about 600m from its junction with A4 Great West Road and Great South West Road. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line, between Hatton Cross and Hounslow Central stations and is in Travelcard Zone 5.
  The station has an island platform reached by stairs. There is step-free access via a stairlift for manual wheelchair users only.
context_section_description: In the early 1970s work began on extending the Piccadilly line from Hounslow West to Heathrow Airport. The original alignment of the tracks and platforms at Hounslow West was SW/NE. If the tracks had been extended directly on that alignment towards the airport, much of residential west Hounslow would have had to be demolished. Instead, a route needing little demolition was found by following the Bath Road and Great South West Road in a cut and cover tunnel in a trench alongside the road which passed the Traveller's Friend junction around 1971. The line surfaces briefly over the River Crane before descending towards Hatton Cross and under Heathrow. Extending the District line to Hounslow West again is still a possibility which has recently been re-evaluated, although it cannot continue to Heathrow as the extension was only built to tube line standards. The first phase of the extension works was to build two new platforms at Hounslow West in a covered trench with a more westerly alignment to reach the chosen route. The new platforms were adjacent to and to the north of the existing three platforms, and the access from the 1930s station building was extended to reach them. The new platforms were brought into use on 14 July 1975 and the line was opened as far as Hatton Cross five days later on 19 July 1975.
caption: Indicative layout of Hounslow West station
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