Alexandra Palace railway station (originally named Wood Green and later Wood Green (Alexandra Park)) is in the London Borough of Haringey in north London, and is in Zone 3. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Great Northern. Trains mostly go to and from Moorgate on weekdays and weekends.
It is the only surviving station of three that have served Alexandra Palace. Alexandra Palace, sited actually at the palace, was on the Highgate - Alexandra Palace line, and Palace Gates (Wood Green) was on the Palace Gates Line.
Just outside the station to the north is Bounds Green Depot, used for storage and maintenance of the high speed trains used on the East Coast Main Line. A line adjacent to the station platforms is used by shunters moving carriages and engines around in the depot.
It is proposed that the station should be a terminus on Crossrail 2.
The station was opened by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) on 1 May 1859 as Wood Green, being renamed to Wood Green (Alexandra Park) in 1864. The GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the grouping of 1923. The line then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station reverted to its original name of Wood Green on 18 March 1971, but was again renamed, this time to Alexandra Palace, on 17 May 1982.
Under plans approved in 1897, the station was to be the northern terminus for the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR), a tube railway supported by the GNR which would have run underground beneath the GNR's tracks to Finsbury Park and then into central London. The next GN&SR station to the south would have been Hornsey. The GN&SR route and stations north of Finsbury Park were cancelled in 1902 when the GN&SR was taken over by Charles Yerkes' consortium which planned to merge it with the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway to form the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith (now part of the London Underground's Piccadilly line).
In May 2013 it was announced that the station would be a terminus on the latest proposed route for Crossrail 2.
When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail.
In Autumn 2008, a new Shere FASTticket self-service ticket machine, accepting both cash and credit cards, was installed here (and similarly at other local First Capital Connect stations). Oyster card readers were installed at the station during 2008 and activated on 2 January 2010 for use with the Oyster Pay As You Go System.
The station has old buildings on Buckingham Road, which house a refreshment kiosk and ticket machines, with a modern footbridge connection to the platforms and across the tracks to Bedford Road. On the platforms there are only rudimentary modern buildings for public use.
On 9 December 2012 the old platforms 1 and 2 were closed for reconstruction. A temporary new platform 1 was provided to the east of the up slow line. All up (London-bound) trains which stop (served from either the Welwyn or Hertford directions) did so at this platform face. On 2 April 2013 the reconstructed platform 1 opened, on the west of the up slow line as before, now numbered as platform 2. This new platform is narrower than the former and the track has been moved to the west. The old platform 2 is permanently closed and has a fence along the edge. This work is part of a scheme to provide greater segregation of stopping, semi-fast and high-speed services in the section between Alexandra Palace and Finsbury Park, to allow a greater quantum of services.
The up fast line now has no platform face at this station. The down fast is a through road, without a platform face. Platform 3 is used by northbound trains on the ECML down slow line and trains on the Hertford Loop Line use platform 4. Trains to/from Hertford must use the outer platform lines.
London Buses routes 184 and W3 serve the station.