Epsom Downs railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Epsom Downs

Location

Place

Epsom Downs

Local authority

Reigate and Banstead

Operations

Station code

EPD

Managed by

Southern

Platforms in use

Live departures and station information from National Rail

Annual Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

0.044 million

2005/06 *

0.050 million

Transport for London

Zone

History

Key dates

Opened May 22, 1865

Transport for London
List of London stations: Underground | National Rail

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Epsom Downs from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

Epsom Downs railway station is a railway station located on the boundary of the Reigate and Banstead and Epsom and Ewell boroughs of Surrey with the railway to the north forming a continuation of the boundary.

The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southern, and is part of the Sutton & Mole Valley Line services.

[edit] Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is one train per hour to London Victoria via Sutton, West Croydon and Norbury. After 7pm these services run via Crystal Palace rather than Norbury.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Banstead		Southern Sutton & Mole Valley Lines Mondays-Saturdays only		Terminus

[edit] History

With high levels of passengers travelling to Epsom for horse races, it became clear that a station near the course was needed. Attempts to build one immediately next to it were heavily opposed by the Epsom Grandstand Association and eventually land was purchased half a mile from the course. The station was opened on May 22, 1865 on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's extension from Sutton. The line had double track and a nine-platform station with a large building.

With the opening of Tattenham Corner railway station much closer to the racecourse on June 4, 1901 (Derby Day) traffic declined, helped in particular by the Royal Train changing its destination to Tattenham Corner in the 1920s. Services were cut back repeatedly over subsequent decades. In 1972 Epsom Downs cut the number of working platforms to just four, and following the destruction by fire of the Epsom Downs signal box in November 1981 almost the entire branch was reduced to single track operation in October 1982.

In the mid-1980s the station was replaced by a new site several hundred metres up the line, with the old station and platforms demolished and the land in between given over to a major housing development.