SWR applies to build new London maintenance depot

HOUNSLOW Borough Council is considering an application by South Western Railway to build a new depot on the site of Feltham’s former marshalling yard in south west London.

SWR applied for planning permission for its ten-road depot in October. The depot is designed for ten-car trains, making it suitable for the 90 new Class 701 electric trains SWR has on order from Bombardier.

Feltham will include a carriage washing plant, controlled emission toilet discharge facilities, and equipment to inspect the underside of every train entering or leaving the depot.

Trackwork will include a headshunt for trains arriving from London, and there will be two crossovers in Network Rail’s adjacent line to permit access to and from the depot. This line links Clapham Junction with Reading and Windsor. Staff accommodation is expected to provide for 50 people.

The depot should be operational from December 2020 with construction expected to start next February, assuming SWR’s application is successful. SWR needs the depot because it does not have enough space for its new fleet while it keeps using its current trains.

The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) first opened Feltham marshalling yard in 1918 to relieve pressure on its other depots and provide more economic links to other rail companies’ networks, such as the London and North Western Railway at Willesden and the nearby Great Western Railway. Feltham yard was one of the first to feature hump shunting as a method of more easily sorting individual wagons into trainloads for onward movement.

Feltham comprised ten Down reception sidings, 20 Down marshalling sidings, eight Up reception sidings and 18 Up marshalling sidings, and included a locomotive depot on site. Latterly coded 70B, it closed in 1967. The marshalling yard fell into disuse shortly afterwards in 1969.