East Acton is a London Underground station in East Acton in west London. The station is on the Central line, between White City and North Acton stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. It is close to Wormwood Scrubs prison and Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital.
The station opened in 1920 on the Ealing Broadway extension of the Central London Railway (CLR), which was renamed the Central line in 1937. As Transport for London explains: “On 18 August 1911, the Central London Railway abandoned its policy of no through running with any other railway, and secured powers to build a short extension from Wood Lane to connect with the intended Ealing & Shepherds Bush line of the Great Western Railway (GWR), over which it proposed to exercise running powers.”
The new line was built with connections to the West London Line near Shepherd's Bush, the former GWR mainline to Birmingham at North Acton, and the mainline to Bristol at Ealing Broadway. Since the CLR was exclusively a passenger service, two extra dedicated tracks for the GWR's freight trains were opened in 1938, but were closed in 1964. The trackbed of these rails is now overgrown, with vegetation visible immediately to the north of the station.
The station has recently been refurbished, with the staircases improved and the "East Acton" Underground roundels replaced with larger, newer versions.