Woking railway station is a major stop in Woking, England, on the South West Main Line used by many commuters. It is 24 miles 27 chains (39.2 km) down the line from London Waterloo. The station is managed by South Western Railway, who operate all trains serving it.
General information | |
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Location | Woking England |
Coordinates | 51°19′05″N 0°33′25″W / 51.318°N 0.557°W |
Grid reference | TQ006587 |
Managed by | South Western Railway |
Platforms | 6 |
Other information | |
Station code | WOK |
Classification | DfT category B |
History | |
Original company | London and Southampton Railway |
Pre-grouping | London and South Western Railway |
Post-grouping | Southern Railway |
Key dates | |
21 May 1838 | Station opened as Woking Common |
c. 1843 | Renamed Woking |
Passengers | |
2018/19 | 7.729 million |
Interchange | 1.424 million |
2019/20 | 7.352 million |
Interchange | 1.232 million |
2020/21 | 1.517 million |
Interchange | 0.264 million |
2021/22 | 4.070 million |
Interchange | 0.725 million |
2022/23 | 5.322 million |
Interchange | 0.945 million |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
The London and Southampton Railway (L&SR) was authorised on 25 July 1834[3][note 1] and construction began in October of that year.[5] The line was built in stages, and the first section, between the London terminus at Nine Elms and "Woking Common", was opened to passengers on 21 May 1838.[6][note 2] Woking Common station was built with two platforms linked by a footbridge and a small freight yard was also provided. When it opened, it was surrounded by open heath[8] and was 2 km (1.2 mi) from what is now the village of Old Woking.[9] Nevertheless, it quickly became the railhead for west Surrey and the main entrance was positioned on the south side of the tracks for the convenience of those travelling by stagecoach from Guildford. Construction of Woking town centre, to the north of the station, did not begin until the mid-1860s.[10]
Woking Common became a through station on 24 September 1838, with the opening of the next section of the line as far as Winchfield.[11][12] The station was given its current name of "Woking" in around 1843.[13] The Guildford Junction Railway (GJR) opened on 5 May 1845,[14] having been authorised less than a year earlier, on 10 May 1844.[15] The GJR was always operated by the LSWR, and was absorbed by that company on 4 August 1845.[16]
The track through Woking station was quadrupled in 1904 and electrified in 1937.[17] The station was rebuilt by the Southern Railway in the Art Deco "Odeon" style in 1936–37. The signal box, which was constructed as part of the rebuilding programme, is a Grade II listed building.[2][1][18]
Three trains were involved in a collision just east of the station on 23 December 1955. A Portsmouth line electric train came to a stand at signals near the Maybury Hill Road bridge. The following steam-hauled Waterloo-Basingstoke train overran the Maybury distant signal and collided with the rear of the electric train, demolishing the guards compartment and deflecting the rear bogie so that it was foul of the up-line. An up Bournemouth steam-hauled train had just left the station and came into sidelong collision with the bogie and came to a stand. Out of around 1000 passengers and crew on the three trains only 21 were injured, including the guard of the electric train, and there were no fatalities. The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation report concluded the crash was due to human error on the part of the driver of the Basingstoke train.[19][20] The Basingstoke train locomotive, SR N15X class 32327 Trevithick, was damaged beyond economic repair and scrapped at Eastleigh Works.[21]
Many South Western Railway services call at Woking, including:
Fast trains from Woking take approximately 26 minutes to reach London Waterloo (some stop at Clapham Junction). Trains from the Alton Line take roughly 35 minutes, and the stopping service 50 minutes, to Waterloo.
A half-hourly RailAir bus service runs between the south side of the station and Heathrow Airport, a journey of about 50 minutes.[22]
As of December 2022, the off-peak Monday to Saturday services are as follows:
Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Clapham Junction or London Waterloo |
South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line |
Guildford | ||
South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line (Stopping service) |
Worplesdon | |||
South Western Railway South West Main Line |
Farnborough (Main) or Basingstoke or Winchester | |||
South Western Railway West of England Main Line |
Basingstoke | |||
West Byfleet | South Western Railway Alton Line |
Brookwood | ||
South Western Railway Waterloo to Woking (Stopping service) |
Terminus | |||
Weybridge | South Western Railway Waterloo to Basingstoke (Stopping service) |
Brookwood | ||
Historical railways | ||||
Staines | Anglia Railways London Crosslink |
Farnborough (Main) |
Woking station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Woking Station has six platforms, two of which are bay platforms.
Woking still retains two sets of sidings, each to the west of the station. The down side yard, between the station and Woking junction, is now a Network Rail permanent way maintenance depot[23] and aggregates stone depot operated by Day Aggregates.[24] The up side sidings are used to stable specialist track maintenance machines and out of service passenger trains.[citation needed]