Staines railway station

Coordinates: 51°25′55″N 0°30′11″W / 51.432°N 0.503°W / 51.432; -0.503
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Staines
South Western Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeSNS
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Opened22 August 1848
Passengers
2018/19Increase 2.867 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.360 million
2019/20Decrease 2.678 million
 Interchange Decrease 0.309 million
2020/21Decrease 0.593 million
 Interchange Decrease 60,975
2021/22Increase 1.618 million
 Interchange Increase 0.175 million
2022/23Increase 1.980 million
 Interchange Increase 0.255 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
The station platforms looking east, and showing the newer footbridge.
The station platforms looking west, and showing the older footbridge.
From the old footbridge, the junction of the Reading (left) and Windsor (right) lines can be seen.

Staines railway station is on the

Windsor line, in southern England to the west of London. It is 19 miles 2 chains (30.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo. It serves the town of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey
, England.

History

The station was opened on 22 August 1848 by the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway, as part of its line from

In the

electrified on the third rail system at a nominal 660 volts DC. The line towards Reading was electrified as far as Virginia Water in 1937, and throughout by 1939.[2]

The Southern Railway was nationalised along with the rest of the railway network in 1948 and incorporated into British Railways. Following the privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, the operation of Staines station and the trains serving it were transferred to the South West Trains train operating company, owned by the Stagecoach Group, whilst ownership and management of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack and, subsequently, Network Rail.

A refurbishment of the station was completed in November 2008 with ticket barriers on the platforms and a renovated ticket office. Wheelchair access to the platforms was provided by a new footbridge with lifts.

Setting and previous name

The station serves the town of

London Waterloo as since the middle of the 20th century to Reading, Windsor & Eton Riverside and Weybridge
.

The station was one of three – the others were Staines High Street, on the Windsor line, and Staines West, the terminus of a defunct branch of a main west-facing route from West Drayton to the north. To distinguish it from the others during their existence the station was known as Staines Central, Staines Junction and Staines Old.[5][6]

Operation

Layout

Station entrance on the westbound side

Staines railway station is a conventional (double-track) railway, immediately east of the junction of the Windsor and Reading lines, having converged. It has two flanking platforms, with the main station entrance and buildings on the northern platform 1, and a secondary entrance and buildings on the southern platform 2.

The two platforms are linked by two footbridges, one at each end of the station. The older western bridge is accessed by stairs. The newer eastern bridge has stairs and lifts to make it wheelchair accessible. There are toilets on both platforms.

The station also has a small siding east to the station.

Services

Staines railway station is served by

South Western Railway services from London Waterloo to Windsor, Reading and Weybridge. Off-peak, each of these services operates two trains per hour, combining to provide six trains per hour from Staines to Waterloo (four are limited stop via Richmond, the other two are all stations via Brentford). Some early morning & late night services start or terminate here and there are additional weekday peak period trains on the Reading line and to/from Aldershot.[7]

On Sundays, there is an hourly stopping service on the line via Brentford - this runs to/from Woking rather than Weybridge. The Reading & Windsor lines still run half-hourly.

Trains to Waterloo stop at platform 1 and trains from Waterloo stop at platform 2.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Feltham  
Waterloo to Reading
  Egham
Ashford or
Terminus
 
Windsor Line
  Wraysbury
 
Waterloo to Chertsey via Hounslow
  Egham
  Historical railways  
Feltham   Anglia Railways
London Crosslink
  Woking

Connections

Staines station is 0.4 mi (0.64 km) south-east of Staines town centre. The two are linked by a walking route that first parallels the Windsor line to the north-west, before passing under the line near the site of the former Staines High Street station.

Steam Train Excursions

Steam trains often visit the station for summer visits to the West Country and Bath.

Bus Connections

The 950 Thorpe Park Express bus link runs between the front of the station and the nearby Thorpe Park theme park.

290
have stops 50m north of the station. Other buses operate from the bus station accessed via a broad archway and surface car park from the path to the town centre.

Accidents and incidents

On 9 August 1957, a light engine (a 700 class 0-6-0) was being moved from the up loop across the up main to the down main, and the signals were correctly set for this movement – amongst other things, this meant that the starting signal for the up platform was at danger. Despite this, an electric train bound for Waterloo set off from the platform, travelled 215 yards (197 m) and collided almost head-on with the light engine, which overturned injuring both of its crew – the driver's leg was broken. The leading coach of the electric train was severely damaged; the motorman and twelve of the seventy passengers sustained minor injuries.[8]

Future plans

Additional route and track proposals

Heathrow Southern Railway (proposed)

Since 2000, a number of

Heathrow Terminal 5. A new station was also planned close to the site of the former Staines High Street railway station. The new link would also have enabled the existing Heathrow Express service to be extended from Heathrow to terminate at Staines.[9][10] Heathrow Airtrack was abandoned in 2011 due to forecast problems with the large number of level crossings on the route into London.[11][12]

A further scheme for new rail links to Heathrow via Staines is currently at the proposal stage. The Heathrow Southern Railway was put forward by a business consortium to create links west of Heathrow Airport with the Waterloo–Reading line, the Great Western Main Line and the Hounslow Loop Line, including a link to Staines.

Notes and references

References
  1. ^ The Times, Thursday 24 August 1848
  2. ^ a b "The Railways at Windsor". The Royal Windsor Web Site. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  3. ^ Mitchell, Vic and Smith, Keith (1989) Branch lines around Ascot, 1st ed, Middleton Press, Midhurst
  4. ^ Maggs, Colin C. (1993) Branch Lines of Berkshire, 1st ed, Alan Sutton Publishing, Stroud
  5. . - pp.37
  6. .
  7. ^ Table 149 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  8. ^ Langley, C.A. (6 January 1958). Report on the Collision which occurred on 9th August 1957 at Staines Central Station in the Southern Region British Railways (Report). Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Retrieved 18 February 2023 – via The Railways Archive.
  9. ^ "Improving public transport access to Heathrow Airport - Consultation brochure 2" (PDF). BAA Heathrow Airport. October 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  10. ^ "Improving public transport access to Heathrow Airport, Consultation brochure 1" (PDF) (Press release). BAA Heathrow Airport. February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  11. ^ "Heathrow Airtrack Waterloo rail link shelved by BAA". BBC News London. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  12. ^ Samuel, A. (11 April 2011). "Heathrow: 'No option but to withdraw proposed Airtrack link to Staines'". Rail News from Rail.co. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
Notes
  1. ^ The town was officially renamed as Staines-upon-Thames in 2012.
  2. Chertsey Branch Line
    or Chertsey Loop Line

External links


51°25′55″N 0°30′11″W / 51.432°N 0.503°W / 51.432; -0.503