Woking railway station

Woking
Woking railway station's canopy above its apron.
Location
Place	Woking
Local authority	Borough of Woking
Coordinates	51°19′05″N 0°33′25″W / 51.318°N 0.557°WCoordinates: 51°19′05″N 0°33′25″W / 51.318°N 0.557°W
Grid reference	TQ006587
Operations
Station code	WOK
Managed by	South West Trains
Number of platforms	6
DfT category	B
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	7.261 million
2011/12	7.358 million
2012/13	7.463 million
2013/14	7.698 million
2014/15	7.963 million
History
Original company	London and Southampton Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
21 May 1838	Station opened as Woking Common
c. 1843	Renamed Woking
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Woking from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Woking railway station is a major stop in Woking, England, on the South Western Main Line used by many commuters. Woking station is served by a number of rail services including:

• the Alton Line calling at stations to Alton
• the Portsmouth Direct Line to Guildford and stations to Portsmouth
• the South Western Main Line to Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth
• the West of England Main Line to Andover, Salisbury and Exeter
• Woking station also is the southern terminus for the Waterloo to Woking stopping service

Fast trains from Woking take approximately 26 minutes to reach Waterloo (some stop at Clapham Junction). Trains from the Alton Line take roughly 35 minutes, and the stopping service 50 minutes, to Waterloo.

A twice-hourly RailAir bus service runs between the terminus beside the station and Heathrow Airport, a journey of about 50 minutes.

The station's southern exterior is an art deco rounded-edge building in a mixture of concrete and stock brick courses. It features less uniformity and glass than the town centre side

History

BR Class 33 008 Woking station with Mk1 Coaches heading towards Basingstoke

The London and Southampton Railway (L&SR) was authorised on 25 July 1834.^[1] It was built and opened in stages, and the first section, that between the London terminus at Nine Elms and Woking Common was opened on 21 May 1838.^[2] Woking Common became a through station with the opening of the next section of the line, as far as Winchfield, on 24 September that year.^[3] On 4 June 1839, the L&SR was renamed the London and South Western Railway (LSWR),^[4] and Woking Common station assumed its current name of Woking around 1843.^[5]

Woking became a junction with the opening of the Guildford Junction Railway (GJR) on 5 May 1845;^[6] it had been authorised less than a year earlier, on 10 May 1844.^[7] The GJR was always operated by the LSWR, and was absorbed by that company on 4 August 1845.^[8]

Platforms

Woking Station has six platforms.

• Platform 1 - Fast and semi-fast London Trains. Situated on the north side of the station.
• Platform 2 - Fast London services.
• Platform 3 - Stopping service to/from London. Situated at the easternmost end of platforms 2/4.
• Platform 4 - Fast trains to Basingstoke, Southampton, Weymouth, Salisbury and Exeter.
• Platform 5 - Portsmouth line, Alton line, Basingstoke stopping.
• Platform 6 - a south facing bay platform, the first train of the day to Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh starts from this platform, and it is often used to stable diesel locomotives in the event of a train failure.

Services

• 14tph to London Waterloo
• 4tph on the Portsmouth Direct Line, of which
  • 2tph to Portsmouth Harbour (fast)
  • 1tph to Portsmouth and Southsea (stopping at all stations)
  • 1tph to Haslemere
• 6tph on the South Western Main Line, of which
  • 2tph to Basingstoke
  • 2tph to Alton
  • 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke
  • 1tph to Weymouth
• 2tph on the West of England Main Line to Salisbury, of which:
  • 1tph continues to Exeter St Davids

In popular culture

• The Station was destroyed in H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds.^[9]
• Woking Station can be seen throughout the 1995 music video for 'You Do Something To Me' by Paul Weller.

Notes

1. Williams 1968, p. 20.
2. Williams 1968, pp. 35–36.
3. Williams 1968, p. 38.
4. Williams 1968, p. 122.
5. Butt 1995, p. 253.
6. Williams 1968, p. 132.
7. Williams 1968, p. 126.
8. Awdry 1990, p. 187.
9. Wells 1975, p. 59.

References

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. CN 8983.
• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
• Wells, H.G. (1975) [1898]. The War of the Worlds. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-24332-2.
• Williams, R.A. (1968). The London & South Western Railway, volume 1: The Formative Years. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-4188-X.
• Woking Borough Council, 'Woking's railway'

External links

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