The first station was a temporary terminus for the GWR on the west side of Bishop's Bridge Road, opened on 4 June 1838. The first GWR service from London to Taplow, near Maidenhead, ran from Paddington in 1838. After the main station opened in 1854, this became the site of the goods depot. The first underground railway station was opened as Paddington (Bishop's Road) by the Metropolitan Railway (MR) on 10 January 1863 as the terminus of the line from Farringdon. The station was to the north of the main line station and, from 13 June 1864, MR services were extended westward via a connection to the GWR's Hammersmith branch, now the Hammersmith & City line and was one of the first 6 underground stations in the world. On 1 October 1868, the MR opened a branch to Gloucester Road, with a station called Paddington (Praed Street) in a cut-and-cover tunnel parallel to that street south of the mainline station.
From December 2009, the Circle line was altered so that trains run in a spiral from Hammersmith via Ladbroke Grove to the Bishops Road platforms at Paddington, then on to Edgware Road, Kings Cross, Tower Hill, Victoria, High Street Kensington and back to Edgware Road via the Praed Street platforms at Paddington. This means that eastbound trains from the District and Circle line platforms all terminate at Edgware Road, the next station. Passengers for stations beyond Edgware Road either have to change there, or use services from the Hammersmith & City line platforms. All trains towards King's Cross now leave from the same platform, instead of being split between two platforms some distance apart. The Hammersmith + City and Eastbound Circle trains are wheel chair accessible. The station has lifts, escalators, wi-fi, payphones, help points and a waiting room.
Connections: Bakerloo, District and Circle Lines. London Buses routes 7, 23, 27, 36, 46, 205, 332 and 436 and night route N7 and N205 serve the station.
