Wembley Central station

Wembley Central
Wembley Central Location of Wembley Central in Greater London
Location	Wembley
Local authority	London Borough of Brent
Managed by	London Underground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	WMB
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	6 (4 in use)
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2009	4.228 million
2012	5.18 million
2013	4.59 million
2014	5.52 million
2015	5.79 million
National Rail annual entry and exit
2011–12	2.655 million
2012–13	2.523 million
2013–14	2.973 million
2014–15	3.172 million
2015–16	3.384 million
Key dates
1842	Station opened as "Sudbury"
1 May 1882	Renamed "Sudbury & Wembley"
1 November 1910	renamed "Wembley for Sudbury"
16 April 1917	Bakerloo line
1948	Street level buildings reconstructed within shopping arcade
5 July 1948	renamed "Wembley Central"
24 September 1982	Bakerloo line service withdrawn
4 June 1984	Bakerloo line service re-instated
June 2008	Station building demolished for re-development
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°33′09″N 0°17′48″W / 51.552633°N 0.29663°W / 51.552633; -0.29663Coordinates: 51°33′09″N 0°17′48″W / 51.552633°N 0.29663°W / 51.552633; -0.29663

Wembley Central is an interchange station in Wembley, in north-west London, served by London Underground Bakerloo line, London Overground, London Midland and Southern. It is on the modest-sized east-west High Road. The station serves Wembley Stadium.

As of December 2015, the typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:

Wembley Central has the appearance of an underground station due to the elevated position of the High Road (where the main entrance was until recently behind a 1940s shopping arcade) and the enclosed nature of the platforms below the raft upon which Station Square is built; it is actually generally at or above the local ground level, having been reconstructed by British Rail in its current form during the 1960s electrification of the West Coast Main Line. It is the first station out of Euston to have platforms on all three pairs of tracks and the combination of the confined space and through trains passing at speed on platforms 3-6 (the main line platforms) create a wind tunnel effect which can be dangerous for passengers.

As a result, the main line platforms (for Southern, London Midland, and Wembley Stadium additional services) are locked out of use for most of the day and entrance is only allowed 5 minutes before the trains are due, the Southern services, which use platforms 5 and 6 (on the slow main line). Passengers alighting from these services must make their way to the end of the platform and staff will lead them out of the station. Gates into these platforms open 5 minutes before the train is expected to arrive.

The station was modernised in 2006 with additional safety features.

When a major event occurs at Wembley Stadium, all London Midland services call here always stopping at platforms 5 and 6. Virgin Trains' services are formed of trains which are too long for the platforms and take longer to set down and pick up. As a result, these services will make additional stops at Watford Junction or Milton Keynes, for customers to change onto London Midland or Southern services.