South Ruislip is a station served by London Underground and Chiltern Railways in South Ruislip in west London. The station is owned, managed and staffed by London Underground. The station is in Travelcard Zone 5.
The GWR/GCR Joint line to High Wycombe carried services from both Paddington and Marylebone. They met at Northolt Junction, situated slightly to the east of the station, from where four tracks ran westwards to Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip; there the route shrank to two tracks only. Opened in May 1908 and originally known as Northolt Junction, the station became South Ruislip & Northolt Junction from September 1932 and received its present name in July 1942.
The station was first served by Central Line trains on 21 November 1948 when the Central Line extension from London towards Buckinghamshire was completed after being delayed by the Second World War but with services truncated to West Ruislip rather than going further as originally planned. The rounded booking hall was not completed until 1960. The concrete, glass and granite chip frieze in the booking hall is one of the earliest public works by glass artist, Henry Haig.
In late 1973 and early 1974 the track layout was simplified and the manual signal box was removed in early 1990, along with other manual signal boxes on this line, and its function replaced by colour light signalling and power operated points, both controlled from Marylebone. The track alignments were improved to allow higher speed running at the junction for the services from Marylebone, and the pointwork which had allowed trains from Paddington to call at the westbound Chiltern station platform was removed. All eastbound services were moved to the former through road; the eastbound road, which had formerly extended from the platform road at West Ruislip, was closed and lifted, and the eastbound platform widened. The alignment of the turnout towards Marylebone was improved to allow higher-speed running. Fragments of the old trackwork can still be seen to the north of the line at this point. Further upgrading of the trackwork at this station is ongoing as of July 2011 to facilitate higher speed running up to 100 MPH.
The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.
Not all Chiltern trains stop at all stations. Travellers are recommended to consult a timetable before travelling.
Ticket barriers control access to all platforms.
A large West London Waste Authority bulk rubbish handling depot lies to the east of the station which sees a daily waste train in operation. There is also a single line connection with the line to/from Paddington;
The lines to Marylebone presently pass either side of West Waste. Part of Evergreen 3 will see Northolt Junction remodelled which will include the installation of a new Down Main track alongside the existing Up Main to the north of the waste transfer depot that will allow Chiltern services to be accelerated. The existing Down Main will become the Down Loop line that will continue to be used for down trains stopping at South Ruislip station. The new Down Main will have a line speed limit of 100 mph compared with the existing 60 mph.
The bridge outside which carries the lines over Station Approach is lower than others locally at 11' 9" and is often hit by high vehicles. Either side of it false deck beams have been installed so the danger of any impacts causing damage to the bridge itself have been lessened.
London Buses Routes 114 and E7 serve the station nearby, with a walk from the 114 in Victoria Road five minutes away, with the E7 stopping on West End Road and is a 10 minute walk away down Station Approach. No regular services stop actually outside the station.