Ealing Broadway station entrance Ealing Broadway station has been a significant element in the growth of the town centre since it opened 170 years ago. The coming of Crossrail will mark a further point in its development, which could have as great an impact on Ealing as any of the other stages in its history. SEC's Vision statement identified several problems: The station is a terminus for two underground lines, and a stop for up to eight trains per hour on the Paddington line. Entrance and exit to the station are overcrowded and dangerous at peak times, with no step-free access to platforms or booking hall from street level. The only drop-off and pick-up facility for passengers from Ealing Broadway station is inadequate. The taxi rank outside Ealing Broadway station can't be reached without crossing one or two roads. There are no legal pick-up and drop-off points for mini-cabs. The bus stops are not concentrated at the station and are spread out over Haven Green, The Broadway and The Mall. There is no bus station even though it is a terminus for nine routes that run daily. The station will need to be significantly modified to meet the needs of Crossrail, due to start service in the central London section in December 2018. Our expectation is that the work will be carried out before a "Crossrail" service from Paddington to Heathrow opens in May 2018. Crossrail have subcontracted the detailed design work on the station to Network Rail. They have in turn let a design contract to AECOM. This design stage is expected to take about a year to complete. Crossrail are only concerned with changes to the station itself and have no powers to embark upon a comprehensive redevelopment scheme for the area around the station. The current outline design for the station is seriously disappointing in a number of respects:- Crossrail budget cuts have meant that the changes have been kept to the bare minimum and do not provide the sort of facilities for which Ealing has waited for many years. There will be no escalators to the platforms and the ticket hall will just be a refurbished shop on the station forecourt, rather than a gateway to Ealing appropriate for a huge number of passengers. The station is expected to see an increase in passenger numbers of over 40% over the next 15 years, yet there are no clear plans to expand the pavements and bus facilities to cope with this growth. Integration of the station with bus stops and pick up / set down points remains as elusive as ever. No start is being made on a comprehensive redevelopment of the area around the station.