Alton railway station

This article is about the railway station in Hampshire. For other uses, see Alton#In transportation.
Alton National Rail
Location
Place Alton
Local authority East Hampshire
Grid reference SU723397
Operations
Station code AON
Managed by South West Trains
Number of platforms 3
DfT category C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 0.720 million
2011/12 Decrease 0.717 million
2012/13 Increase 0.721 million
2013/14 Decrease 0.697 million
2014/15 Increase 0.744 million
History
28 July 1852 Station opens
2 October 1865 Station moved to adjacent site
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Alton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal
Local train to Winchester in 1955
Last Meon Valley train in 1955

Alton railway station is a railway station in the town of Alton, in the English county of Hampshire. The station is the terminus for two railway lines; the Alton Line which runs to Brookwood and onto London Waterloo and the Mid Hants Watercress Railway, which runs to Alresford. The latter once ran through to Winchester but was closed to passengers in February 1973.[1] It reopened as a heritage line in 1985. Two other routes (both now closed) also served the station – the Meon Valley line to Fareham and the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway.

Services operate along the Alton Line to Brookwood and join the South West Main Line towards London Waterloo which is 46 3⁄4 miles (75.2 km) to the north east. The line was single-tracked as far as Farnham by British Rail in the early 1980s.

Platforms

There are three platforms in use. South West Trains use platforms one and two, connected by a footbridge. Platform three is used by the Mid Hants Watercress Railway.

History

The first station opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1852 was sited on what is now the station car park. It closed when the present station opened in 1865. The London & South Western Railway became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The line from Woking to Alton was electrified in 1937 and the station passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in 1986, the station was served by Network SouthEast, until the privatisation of British Rail in 1997.

Location

Alton station is located in the local government district of East Hampshire.

The station is nowhere near Alton Towers Resort, which is located in the rural village of Alton in Staffordshire, about 185 miles away. Many people trying to reach the resort have mistakenly travelled to this station. Local residents, who have encountered many people trying to find Alton Towers, have put up posters at the station containing directions from the station to the resort by train, with a journey time of approximately 4 hours and 46 minutes.[2]

Services

Monday to Saturdays there is a half-hourly service to London Waterloo and an hourly service on Sundays, increasing to half-hourly from approximately 1330.

Services are usually operated by Class 450 Desiro units, although the Class 444 is also sometimes used.

Notes

  1. ↑ Body, p.33
  2. ↑ http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/alton-towers-visitors-ending-200-miles-away/story-27997642-detail/story.html

References

External links

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Bentley or Farnham   South West Trains
Alton Line		   Terminus
  Heritage railways
Terminus   Mid Hants Watercress Railway   Medstead & Four Marks
Disused railways
Treloar's Hospital Platform
Line and station closed		   London and South Western Railway
Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway		   Terminus
Terminus   British Rail
Southern Region
Meon Valley Railway		   Farringdon Platform

Coordinates: 51°09′07″N 0°58′04″W / 51.15200°N 0.96766°W / 51.15200; -0.96766

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.