Motspur Park railway station

Motspur Park
Motspur Park Location of Motspur Park in Greater London
Location	Motspur Park
Local authority	London Borough of Merton
Managed by	South West Trains
Station code	MOT
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	4
National Rail annual entry and exit
2008–09	1.139 million[1]
2009–10	1.113 million[1]
2010–11	1.203 million[1]
2011–12	1.247 million[1]
2012–13	1.274 million[1]
Key dates
12 July 1925	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°23′45″N 0°14′23″W / 51.3958°N 0.2397°W

Motspur Park railway station is a suburban station in the London Borough of Merton in South London. The station is served by South West Trains, and is in Travelcard Zone 4. It is six stops and 22 minutes from Waterloo, and inbound trains take 24 to 27 minutes travel to Waterloo.

Southbound destinations are Chessington South, Dorking and Guildford.

The station stands atop a railway embankment off a service road behind the parade of shops on West Barnes Lane. The shops and surrounding streets on both sides of the line are known as Motspur Park. There is also footpath access from Claremont Avenue on the western side.

The station is a single island platform reached by footbridge from either side of the track. The station retains its original Southern Railway buildings in the centre of the platform.

History

The railway itself was constructed through the locality in 1859 but the Motspur Park station was not added until 1925.

On 6 November 1947, there was a train crash at Motspur Park junction, 766 yards (700 m) south of the station which killed four and injured 12 people. In foggy conditions, a train was incorrectly authorized by a fogsignalman to pass a danger signal, and collided with another train that was crossing the line in front of it.^[2][3]

A small newspaper kiosk once stood on the West Barnes Lane side on the approach road, but this was demolished in the 1970s and has been replaced by a prefabricated travel agency office that later became a minicab office.

A signal box once stood at the western trackside approximately 50 yards (46 m) from the southern end of the platform but this was also demolished (1992) when the level crossing changed to CCTV type controlled from Wimbledon Area Signalling Centre. The earlier manually operated gates were operated by a wheel turned by the signalman from within the box.

This 1912 Railway Clearing House map shows the lines around Motspur Park railway station, but not the actual station, which was only opened in 1925.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is six trains per hour northbound to London Waterloo, two trains per hour to Guildford, two trains per hour to Dorking and two trains per hour to Chessington South.

Although both platforms have been extended to allow the use of ten-car trains, no date has been announced by South West Trains for their introduction as at December 2014.

Under Transport for London's plans for Crossrail 2, Motspur Park has been chosen as a hub station to serve Malden Manor, Tolworth and Chessington North on the Chessington Branch Line as well as Worcester Park, Stoneleigh and Ewell West on the Mole Valley Line. Crossrail trains are not planned to stop at those stations.^[4]

Connections

London Buses route K5 serves the station.

References

1. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
2. Ministry of Transport; Lt Col G.R.S. Wilson (1948). Report on the Collision at Motspur Park Junction (PDF). HMSO.
3. Glover, John (2001). Southern Electric. Hersham: Ian Allan. p. 136. ISBN 0 7110 2807 9.
4. "Image: 1368593468_crossrail2reg.jpg, (640 × 453 px)". theconstructionindex.co.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2015.