Hounslow Central tube station

Hounslow Central
Hounslow Central Location of Hounslow Central in Greater London
Location	Hounslow
Local authority	London Borough of Hounslow
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2012	3.78 million
2013	3.93 million
2014	4.01 million
2015	4.01 million
Key dates
1884	Track laid
1886	Opened (DR)
1933	Started (Piccadilly Line)
1964	Ended (District Line)
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
WGS84	51°28′17″N 0°21′59″W / 51.4714°N 0.3664°W / 51.4714; -0.3664Coordinates: 51°28′17″N 0°21′59″W / 51.4714°N 0.3664°W / 51.4714; -0.3664

Hounslow Central is a London Underground station in Hounslow in west London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line, between Hounslow West and Hounslow East stations. The station is located on Lampton Road (A3005) about 500m north of Hounslow High Street and close to Lampton Park. It is in Travelcard Zone 4. The station has an island platform reached by stairs.

The route through Hounslow Central station was opened by the District Railway (DR, now the District line) on 21 July 1884 as a branch to Hounslow Barracks (now Hounslow West). The branch line was constructed as single track from the DR's existing route to Hounslow Town station located at the eastern end of Hounslow High Street which had opened in 1883. Initially the branch had no stations between the terminus at Hounslow Barracks and Osterley & Spring Grove (now Osterley).

Hounslow Town station was closed on 31 March 1886 and Hounslow Central station, originally named Heston & Hounslow, opened as its replacement the following day, 1 April 1886.

In 1903 Hounslow Town was reopened and trains would be divided at Osterley with part running to Hounslow Central and Hounslow West and the other part to Hounslow Town as a short shuttle. Electrification of the DR's tracks took place between 1903 and 1905 with electric trains replacing steam trains on the Hounslow branch from 13 June 1905. When the branch was electrified, the track between Osterley and Hounslow Central was closed and a new loop was opened from Hounslow Town back to Hounslow Central. Trains would run from Osterley to Hounslow Town then reverse and run to Hounslow Central and on to Hounslow West.