Basingstoke railway station

Basingstoke
The station frontage at Basingstoke
Location
Place	Basingstoke
Local authority	Borough of Basingstoke and Deane
Coordinates	51°16′06″N 1°05′16″W / 51.2683°N 1.0878°WCoordinates: 51°16′06″N 1°05′16″W / 51.2683°N 1.0878°W
Grid reference	SU637525
Operations
Station code	BSK
Managed by	South West Trains
Number of platforms	5
DfT category	B
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	4.084 million
2005/06	4.162 million
2006/07	4.394 million
2007/08	4.596 million
2008/09	4.865 million
2009/10	4.640 million
2010/11	4.904 million
2011/12	5.185 million
- Interchange	0.824 million
2012/13	5.261 million
- Interchange	0.856 million
2013/14	5.374 million
- Interchange	0.871 million
2014/15	5.561 million
- Interchange	0.863 million
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
10 June 1839	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Basingstoke from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

The station in 1963

Railways around Basingstoke
Legend South Western Main Line Reading to Basingstoke Line Daneshill Sidings Basingstoke Junction Former GWR terminus Basingstoke Goods Yard Thornycroft Works Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway Thornycroft Works Park Prewett Worting Junction Battledown Flyover West of England Main Line South Western Main Line

Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway
Legend
South Western Main Line Basingstoke South Western Main Line Thornycroft sidings Cliddesden Herriard Bentworth and Lasham Alton Park (private platform) Treloar's Hospital siding Alton Line Alton Butts Junction Mid Hants Railway Meon Valley Railway

Basingstoke railway station, in the town of Basingstoke in the county of Hampshire in England, is on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo, with local and fast services operated by South West Trains. It is the terminus of Great Western Railway local services on the Reading to Basingstoke Line. Long distance cross-country services operated by CrossCountry to Bournemouth from Birmingham, Manchester and further north, join the main line from the branch there. The station is sponsored by AXA Winterthur Insurance, which is based in the town.

History

The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway as a temporary terminus when its line to Southampton reached Basingstoke from London. It became a through station when the section running north from Southampton was completed later in 1839. The intention to build a line from near Basingstoke to Bristol was dropped when the Great Western Railway was approved.^[1] The L&SWR did, however plan a line to Salisbury from Basingstoke but this was delayed by financial difficulties. Eventually, it was built reaching Andover in 1854 and Salisbury three years later, before being extended to become the West of England Main Line.

The Great Western Railway opened its broad gauge line from Reading on 1 November 1848 with a separate station north of the L&SWR station.^[2] After its conversion to mixed gauge on 22 December 1856 through services could run between Southampton and Reading. The broad gauge rail was removed on 1 April 1869.^[3] The GWR station was closed on 1 January 1932 ^[4] demolished in 1932, since which trains from Reading have used the main station.^[5]

Basingstoke station was the terminus of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, opened in 1901 to prevent the GWR from building a line on this route towards Portsmouth. The line was never profitable. During the First World War some of the track was sold off. After the war, Southern Railway had the line reopened, but it was closed finally in 1932.

In the 1980s Platform 5 was converted to a bay platform to permit an entrance on the northern side by British Rail. In 1993, an explosive device planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army was found in a toilet, soon after a bomb scare at Reading railway station.^[6] In 2001 a suitcase was left outside the station containing the mutilated body of a man in his twenties. He had been stabbed to death.^[7]

Anglia Railways ran a London Crosslink service from Ipswich to Basingstoke via Stratford and the North London Line using Class 170 'Turbostars' between May 2000 and September 2002. South West Trains also ran a local service from Reading to Brighton until timetable changes on 9 December 2007.^[8] Southern railway services from Southampton and Portsmouth to Brighton were improved to compensate for that.^[9]

Platforms

The station has five platforms, all of which can be used bi-directionally. They are above street level and are accessed via stairs and lifts from the booking hall and subway.

Platform 1

Platform 1 is the closest to the main entrance on the south side. It is used by terminating slow services to and from London Waterloo. Regional services to Southampton and Poole also stop here, along with westbound CrossCountry services to Southampton and Bournemouth.

Platforms 2 & 3

Platform 2 is on the south side of the island platform with Platform 3 on the north. Platform 2 is used by the other down main line services to Portsmouth and Southampton from Waterloo. It is also used by trains on the West of England Main Line to Salisbury, where every other train continues to Exeter. Some peak-time trains divide at Salisbury with one portion running to Bristol Temple Meads. Up trains use Platform 3 and are the fastest trains to London Waterloo.

Platform 4

Some slower trains to London Waterloo use Platform 4, on the northern side of station. It is also used by northbound CrossCountry which head to Reading before reversing and continuing to Birmingham, and onwards to the north. Northbound freight trains from Southampton docks heading this way also pass through here. The rear entrance to the station is located on this platform.

Platform 5

Platform 5 is a bay platform used by stopping services to Reading on the Reading to Basingstoke Line operated by Great Western Railway.

Facilities

The station has two entrances. The main entrance to the south has access to a taxi rank, some car parks and a bus stop, with steps down to The Malls shopping centre. A bridge over Churchill Way leads to the bus station. Festival Place can be accessed from The Malls or the bus station, while Festival Square and the Top of Town are located beyond the bus station. The northern entrance on Platform 4 gives access to a car park. The south booking hall has ticket facilities (including ticket machines), information and a small shop. The station is staffed all day, and both entrances have ticket barriers.
There is a small café on the central island platform and another on Platform 4, as well as indoor waiting rooms.

Signalling

The station area and its various routes have been controlled by colour light signalling since the mid-1960s. The 1966 panel box (which controlled the main line from west of Woking through to Micheldever and Andover along with part of the line to Reading) was located on the north side of the line to the east of the station, but this was superseded by a new facility in 2007 when the area was resignalled. It was announced in 2013 that a new Network Rail signalling operating centre would be built in Basingstoke; the contract was for £30 million. Twelve such regional control centres were to be built in the following 15 to 30 years, which will be responsible for all the signalling in the Wessex & South West England area (right through from London Waterloo to Weymouth, Portsmouth Harbour and Exeter).^[10] Several routes have had their signal control moved to Basingstoke, including much of the West of England main line beyond Salisbury and the Poole - Wareham - Wool section of the line to Weymouth, and these will be transferred to the new signalling centre when complete.

Incidents

On 19 December 2008 an over-height container on the Wakefield Europort to Southampton Docks service struck and damaged 140 yards (130 m) of the canopy of platform 1.^[11] The train was stopped before it reached the tunnels north of Micheldever.

Motive Power Depots

Ex-GW 6851 'Hurst Grange' 4-6-0 outside Basingstoke Locomotive Depot 24 July 1965.

The London and South Western Railway opened a locomotive shed on the south side of the main line, to the west of the station in 1839. This was closed in 1909 to make way for station enlargement. It was replaced by a larger structure on the north side of the line. This was closed by British Railways in March 1963, but remained in use as a servicing point until the end of steam in June 1967. It was demolished in 1969.^[12]

The Berks and Hants Railway opened a small shed to the east of the station on the north side of the line in 1850. This was closed by British Railways in November 1950, and demolished to make way for sidings.^[13]

Services

Typical off peak service patterns:

The eastern end of bay platform 5, looking towards the junction

South West Trains
South Western Main Line - Eastbound^[14]

• 7tph London Waterloo, of which:
  • 1tph only calls at Clapham Junction
  • 1tph only calls at Woking
  • 1tph calls at Woking and Clapham Junction
  • 1tph calls at Farnborough (Main) and Woking
  • 1tph calls at Fleet, Farnborough (Main) and Clapham Junction
  • 2tph stopping which start here, calling at all stations to Woking then Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames and Surbiton, then:
    • 1tph calls at Clapham Junction, and the other doesn't.

West of England Line service

South Western Main Line - Westbound

• 3tph Winchester, of which:
  • 1tph Portsmouth Harbour
  • 2tph Southampton Central, of which:
    • 1tph Poole
    • 1tph Weymouth

West of England Main Line^[15]

• 2tph Salisbury, of which:
  • 1tph to Exeter St Davids

South West Trains local service (left) and CrossCountry service

CrossCountry ^[16]

• 1tph Birmingham New Street and then to Manchester Piccadilly
• 1tph Bournemouth
• 1tp2h to Newcastle via Birmingham & Doncaster

Great Western Railway^[17]

• 2tph Reading (all local stations)

Rolling Stock used here

South West Trains use Class 444's and 450's, with some 159's and occasionally 158's. Great Western Railway use Class 150's and 165/166 trains. CrossCountry use 220's and 221's.

References

1. Christopher J. Tolley (2004). "BRH: On the Main Line". Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
2. MacDermot, E T (1927). History of the Great Western Railway. 1 (1833-1863) (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway.
3. MacDermot, E T (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. 2 (1863-1921) (1 ed.). London: Great Western Railway.
4. Passengers No More by G.Daniels and L.Dench
5. "Great Western Railway publicity". The Great Western Archive. 2006. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
6. "History A Time Line of Policing the Railways". BTP History Society. 2003. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
7. "'Body in suitcase' monk guilty". BBC News – www.bbc.co.uk. 8 April 2003. Archived from the original on 22 October 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
8. "New timetable: Service changes from 9 Dec 2007". South West Trains. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 January 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
9. "West CoastWay – How it affects you". Southern Railway. 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
10. BAM to build Network Rail signalling centre Global Rail News article 2 October 2013; Retrieved 13 February 2014
11. "Rail Accident Investigation Board – Incident involving a container train at Basingstoke station, 19 December 2008" (PDF). August 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 October 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
12. Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (1999). The directory of British engine Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 1. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 48. ISBN 0-86093-542-6.
13. Griffiths, Roger; Smith, Paul (1999). The directory of British enging Sheds and Principal Locomotive Servicing Points: 1. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 48. ISBN 0-86093-542-6.
14. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Tables 155 & 158
15. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Table 160
16. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Table 51
17. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Table 122

External links

• Basingstoke’s railway history in maps