Kingston Loop Line

Kingston Loop Line

Class 455 crossing Kingston Bridge
Overview
Type Commuter rail
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale Greater London
Operation
Opened 1 July 1863/1 Jan 1869
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) South West Trains
Rolling stock
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge

The Kingston Loop Line is a railway line built by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) in South West London. It runs in an overall southeasterly direction from a junction west of Twickenham on the Waterloo to Reading Line to join the South West Main Line west of New Malden; both connections face Central London, permitting a continuous loop service from Waterloo back to Waterloo. The five stations on the loop line are:

Between Strawberry Hill and Teddington a triangular junction connects the Shepperton Branch.

History

Class 416/2 near Strawberry Hill Depot, 1986
Kingston Loop Line
Legend
Waterloo to Reading Line
to Waterloo
Twickenham
Waterloo to Reading Line
to Reading
Strawberry Hill
Wellesley Road
/ Tower Road
Strawberry Hill depot
Shepperton Branch Line
Teddington
Hampton Wick
Kingston Railway Bridge
over River Thames
Kingston
Norbiton
 
South Western Main Line
New Malden
South Western Main Line
to Waterloo

The line opened as far as Kingston on 1 July 1863 from a flat junction west of Twickenham station. The line on to the station now named "New Malden" was opened in 1869. The Shepperton Branch was built in 1864 with its connection facing Twickenham, Strawberry Hill station was not opened until 1 December 1873. The connection at Twickenham was converted to a flying junction in 1882. The Shepperton Branch chord towards Teddington opened for freight on 1 July 1894 and was first used by passenger trains on 1 June 1901. The engine depot built inside the triangular junction in 1897 is now a base for Siemens to maintain EMUs for South West Trains, currently classes 450.

Teddington, Kingston and Norbiton stations had adjacent goods yards. That at Malden or Coombe and Malden, as it was called before 1957, was accessed from the Kingston Loop as the station itself is on an embankment with the Loop Line junction grade-separated from the start. A long west-facing bay platform at Kingston has been used for past curtailments of the Shepperton service and allows reversal of trains coming via Twickenham when there is a closure east of Kingston of either the loop or the main line.

The line was electrified by the L&SWR on the third rail system at 630 volts in 1916.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/15/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.