Aldershot railway station

Aldershot railway station is on Station Road, near the town centre of Aldershot, Hampshire, England. It is on the Alton Line, part of the National Rail network, with train services and station facilities provided by South West Trains.

Aldershot railway station has the three-letter code AHT. This code is used, for example, to pinpoint Aldershot when using National Rail Live Departure Boards. The station's National Location Code (NLC) is 5623. This code can be seen on tickets issued by the ticket office. Tickets issued by the ticket vending machine show the location 3130.

1 Train services
2 Ticket vending machine
3 Rolling stock
4 Platforms
5 Gallery
6 External links

[edit] Train services

Train destinations are normally London Waterloo, Alton, Guildford and Ascot.

The typical off-peak service (Monday to Saturday) from the station is:

2tph (trains per hour) to London Waterloo
2tph to Alton
2tph to Guildford
2tph to Ascot (Berks)

[edit] Ticket vending machine

New ticket vending machine.

A new TicketXpress ticket vending machine now resides outside the entrance to the booking hall, making it accessible when the station booking hall is closed. It is available at all times, except when remotely disabled when there is no service, such as at Christmas. This new machine sells tickets to many stations in Great Britain and accepts major credit and debit cards.

The QuickFare self-service ticket machine (removed October 2006) accepted coins and banknotes and issued tickets to a variety of local destinations, as well as issuing tickets for the station car park. Discounts were available for holders of most Railcards. QuickFare ticket machines were used by British Rail and the Train Companies for many years, providing easy access to tickets at unstaffed stations and at times when ticket offices were closed.

The QuickFare ticket machine at Aldershot station was located inside the booking hall on platform one. The spot where it once stood is now occupied by a Metro newspaper stand. To the left of it stands a small machine for accessing the internet.

[edit] Rolling stock

Most passenger trains seen at this station are formed of new Class 450 Desiro four-car units. Many Guildford to Ascot services are formed of Class 458 Juniper units. Class 444 Desiro five-car units are seen from time to time.

Up to 2005, ex-British Rail slam-door EMUs were used on the Alton Line, many of which were berthed at the carriage sidings south of Farnham station. The carriage shed at Farnham was built in 1937 around the time that the line was electrified.

The most commonly seen EMUs in recent years were Class 411, Class 421 and Class 423 units. These trains were withdrawn in 2005. A very small number of these EMU units survived to move to the Lymington Branch.

[edit] Platforms

Aldershot railway station, showing (from far left) platforms 3, 2 and 1.

There are three platforms at this station. Platform 1 is served by trains bound for Woking and London Waterloo. Trains from Platform 2 are usually bound for Ascot. Platform 3 is usually served by Guildford and Alton services. (During periods of weekend engineering work, these can be subject to change, for example when trains to Ascot may leave from Platform 1 and trains to London may leave from Platform 2. The information screens on the station indicate the destinations of trains on each platform.)

Platforms 2 and 3 are reached by way of the subway, which has its entrance on Platform 1. Wheelchair users are escorted to these platforms by the station platform staff, by way of a supervised crossing.

Near the track, beyond platform 3, is a yellow milepost showing 35, the mileage from London Waterloo. As trains approach Farnham to the south, the mileage suddenly jumps to a higher one. This is because mileages between the site of Farnham Junction (by the electric substation just before the A31 flyover bridge) and Alresford (the end of the line that once continued to Winchester) are reckoned from Charing Cross in London. The line from Waterloo and Aldershot is significantly later than the line through Farnham.