Ascot railway station

Ascot
Location
Place Ascot
Local authority Windsor and Maidenhead
Operations
Station code ACT
Managed by South West Trains
Number of platforms 3
Live arrivals/departures and station information
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 * 0.858 million
2004/05 * 0.940 million
2005/06 * 0.789 million
2006/07 * 1.008 million
2007/08 * 1.046 million
2008/09 * 1.088 million
2009/10 * 1.014 million
History
4 June 1856 Station opens
1 February 1857 Name changed to Ascot and Sunninghill
10 July 1921 Name changed to Ascot
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ascot from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ascot railway station is a railway station in the town of Ascot in Berkshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South West Trains. It is at the junction of the Waterloo to Reading line with the Ascot to Guildford line.

The station has three tracks and four platform faces. The London-bound track is a single track with platform faces on either side, both of which are called Platform 1. Until recently, both faces could be used to board London-bound trains, but now only the doors on the ticket office side of the train open. Platform 2 serves the Reading-bound line, and Platform 3 serves the Guildford line for trains starting and terminating their journeys at Ascot. Where trains are running from London through to Guildford, or vice versa, they use Platform 2. All lines are bi-directional.

Contents

History

The station was opened when the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway reached there on 4 June 1856; on 9 July the line was extended to Wokingham. On 18 March 1878 [1] Ascot became a junction when the line towards Ash Vale was opened. Absorbed by the London and South Western Railway, it became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. Both lines were converted to electrified operation using the third rail system on 1 January 1939. The station then became part of the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

In the days when race traffic for the nearby Ascot Racecourse warranted it, a separate racecourse station known as Ascot Race Course Platform or Ascot West operated nearby from 1922 to 1965.[1] There were also four signal boxes.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways.

A fire in 1982 severely damaged the station buildings on the Up (London) side.[2]

Services

Ascot is served by trains between London Waterloo and Reading with a basic service every 30 minutes Monday to Sunday (there are more frequent trains in the morning and evening peaks - around 4 per hour). Trains to Guildford via Aldershot operate every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 60 minutes on Sundays. Most of these trains start or terminate at Ascot, but there are through trains from London Waterloo to Aldershot during Monday to Friday peak periods.

During Royal Ascot week, train services from London Waterloo to Reading through Ascot are significantly increased, with trains running every 15 mins in either direction. Even with this increase in service the trains are still crowded.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Sunningdale   South West Trains
Waterloo to Reading line		   Martins Heron
Terminus
or Sunningdale
(Peak Time Only)		   South West Trains
Ascot to Guildford line		   Bagshot

External links

Notes

  1. ^ a b Body, p.36
  2. ^ Body, p.35

References