Salfords railway station

Salfords
Location
Place	Salfords
Local authority	Reigate and Banstead
Coordinates	51°12′07″N 0°09′43″W / 51.202°N 0.162°WCoordinates: 51°12′07″N 0°09′43″W / 51.202°N 0.162°W
Grid reference	TQ285462
Operations
Station code	SAF
Managed by	Southern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	87,795
2005/06	96,766
2006/07	104,086
2007/08	116,602
2008/09	127,190
2009/10	111,604
2010/11	114,712
2011/12	128,724
2012/13	134,858
2013/14	138,710
History
Original company	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Pre-grouping	London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
8 October 1915	Station opened as Salfords Halt
1 January 1935	Renamed Salfords
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Salfords from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Salfords railway station serves the village of Salfords in Surrey, England. It is on the Brighton Main Line 23 miles (37 km) south of London Bridge station and managed by Southern, who also operate all train services.

The station has four lines running through it: two slow lines with platforms and two express lines that have no platforms. The ticket office is open weekdays from 6:30 am to 10:30 am. There is an on-demand service announcement facility. A PERTIS ticket machine is also located on each platform. Journey times are around 45 minutes to London, 25 to Croydon, 7 to Redhill and Gatwick Airport, 10 to Crawley and 20 to Horsham.

History

Salfords station was originally built in 1915 for workers at the Monotype Corporation, which had constructed a factory next to the railway line in 1899. Beside the footbridge on the east side, an advertisement for Monotype is still in situ, although it is hidden by trees. From its opening on 8 October 1915^[1] the train service was not advertised and sparse to meet the needs of Monotype Corporation staff. On 17 July 1932 the line was electrified on 750dc third rail and concurrently the station was served by a regular advertised train service. The station name, originally Salfords Halt, was simplified to Salfords on 1 January 1935.^[1]

Day Aggregates made use of the open land beside the station to store and transport their loose stones for construction in the area for some time. The sidings used still exist, including a bay platform at the station and most of the machinery used to expel and fill the wagons that transported the stone at the site. Network Rail have a site at the back of platform 1, using it as a base for the continuing improvements to the Brighton main line, in between Selhurst traincare depot and the Three Bridges engineering depot.

On 14 January 2008, the station received a minor upgrade. This involved the replacing of the wooden huts with modern glass waiting areas and the installation of dynamic digital displays with information about the next train. Southeastern ceased to serve the station from December 2008.

A second PERTIS machine was installed at the entrance to the Horley-bound platform by 2008. Help points were installed in February 2011 to both platforms.

The PERTIS machine on platform one has been replaced in August 2011 by the installation of quick ticket machine on this platform to facilitate buying of tickets out of hours.

Future developments

A proposal has been put forward to increase the trains at rush hour due to the Gatwick Express merging with Southern.^[2]

The Thameslink Programme (formerly Thameslink 2000) project proposes to turn some of the Southern services over to the expanded Thameslink network under Govia Thameslink Railway. This will see services that currently terminate at London Bridge continuing through Central London and north wards via the Midland Main Line or East Coast Main Line to destinations such as Peterborough. This however is not imminent, a Department for Transport whitepaper states only that "the Thameslink Programme will be completed by the end of 2015" and that "interim outputs will be delivered by the end of 2011",^[3] leaving Southern as the main operator for several more years to come. The Thameslink Programme is centred on 12 car long trains, thus Salfords station will have its platforms lengthened as they can only currently accommodate 8 car long trains.

In November 2015 Rail Minister Claire Perry confirmed that Oyster card readers were going to be extended down to Gatwick and would be added to Salfords from January 2016.

Services

The typical service from the station during the day (Mondays to Saturdays) is two trains per hour to London Bridge which stops at local stations to East Croydon, Norwood Junction and New Cross Gate then to London Bridge, and two trains per hour to Horsham. There are services to London Victoria at peak times stopping at local stations to East Croydon then Clapham Junction before arriving at Victoria. There are also services to and from Littlehampton and Eastbourne in the morning and evening rush hours.

The Sunday service is one train an hour in each direction, to London Bridge and to Horsham. ^[4]

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 204. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
2. http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/closed/brightonmainlinerusconsultation/briefingdocument?page=3#a1005
3. "Delivering a Sustainable Railway - White Paper CM 7176". Department for Transport. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
4. Thameslink and Southern timetable changes from 13 December 2015 : Thameslink]

External links

• Train times and station information for Salfords railway station from National Rail