Acton Town tube station
District line and Piccadilly line · Zone 3 · Ealing
About Acton Town station
Trains first called here on 1 July 1879, when the District Railway pushed its extension from Turnham Green on to Ealing Broadway and opened a stop called Mill Hill Park. Branches soon fanned out from it: to Hounslow Town in 1883, the ancestor of today’s Heathrow branch, and north to Park Royal & Twyford Abbey in 1903, the first stretch of the Underground’s surface network to run on electricity rather than steam. The building was reconstructed in February 1910 and took the name Acton Town on 1 March that year. The Piccadilly line arrived on 4 July 1932, and from October 1964 the Hounslow and Uxbridge branches were left to it alone.
The station you see now dates from the 1931–32 rebuild by Charles Holden: a tall, almost square ticket hall of brick, concrete and glass with clerestory windows and a flat slab roof, above a low parade of shops that still keeps its original bronzed glazing. It has been Grade II listed since 17 May 1994. Look out for the fifth platform north of the eastbound island, a short stub built for the single-car shuttle to South Acton, which closed on 28 February 1959; it was never removed. Eastbound Piccadilly trains then run almost three miles without stopping to Hammersmith, the longest gap between stops on the line.
First and last trains from Acton Town
| Line and direction | Mon–Thu first – last | Friday first – last | Saturday first – last | Sunday first – last |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| District towards Ealing Broadway | 05:44 – 01:11 | 05:44 – 01:11 | 05:44 – 01:11 | 06:54 – 00:31 |
| District towards Upminster, Barking or Dagenham East | 04:58 – 00:28 to Hammersmith (District and Piccadilly lines) | 04:58 – 00:28 to Hammersmith (District and Piccadilly lines) | 04:58 – 00:28 to Hammersmith (District and Piccadilly lines) | 06:13 to Earl's Court – 00:00 to High Street Kensington |
| Piccadilly towards Heathrow Terminal 5, Northfields or Heathrow Terminal 4 | 05:02 – 00:59 to Uxbridge | 05:02 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 00:04 to Uxbridge |
| Piccadilly towards Cockfosters, Arnos Grove or Oakwood | 05:26 – 00:28 to Hammersmith (District and Piccadilly lines) | 05:26 – all night | 24 hours | all night – 23:52 |
Times are TfL’s published timetable departures from this station; on Saturday the list follows TfL’s “Saturdays and public holidays” timetable.
At the busiest hour on a weekday there are up to 11 District trains an hour per direction and 24 Piccadilly trains an hour per direction from Acton Town, counting both directions separately.
Next stations from Acton Town
Running times between Acton Town and the adjoining stations, from TfL’s timetable.
| Line | Next station | Time |
|---|---|---|
| District | Chiswick Park | 2.7 min |
| District | Ealing Common | 2.6 min |
| Piccadilly | Ealing Common | 3.2 min |
| Piccadilly | South Ealing | 3.7 min |
| Piccadilly | Turnham Green | 3.3 min |
Connections
- Tube: change here between the District line and Piccadilly line.
Station facilities
What is near Acton Town station
The station stands at the junction of Gunnersbury Lane and Bollo Lane, a western interchange where District trains for Ealing Broadway part company with Piccadilly services to Heathrow and Uxbridge. Its neighbours include the Transport Museum Depot, about 190 m away in the former Acton Works, which holds the London Transport Museum’s reserve collection of rail and road vehicles and opens to the public on a number of weekends each year. Green space is close by too: Heathfield Nature Garden at about 200 m, Mill Hill Gardens at 250 m and West Park at 350 m. North of the tracks lies the District line’s Ealing Common Depot.
| Place | Walk from the station |
|---|---|
| Transport Museum Depot | 190 m |
| Heathfield Nature Garden | 200 m |
| Mill Hill Gardens | 250 m |
| West Park | 350 m |
Frequently asked questions
It opened on 1 July 1879 under the name Mill Hill Park and kept it for more than thirty years. The change came with the reconstruction of the building: the work was done in February 1910 and the station was renamed Acton Town on 1 March 1910.
It is the former Platform 5, a very short platform (two carriages at most) on the north side of the eastbound island. It served the single-car shuttle to South Acton, which ran as a shuttle from 1932 and closed on 28 February 1959 because of low usage. The platform was never removed and can still be seen.