Basingstoke railway station

Basingstoke railway station serves the town of Basingstoke, in Hampshire, England. It is on the South West Main Line from London Waterloo, with local and fast services operated by South Western Railway. It is the terminus of Great Western Railway local services on the Reading to Basingstoke Line. Long-distance cross-country services operated by CrossCountry to Bournemouth from Birmingham (the Bournemouth to Birmingham route), Manchester and further north, join the main line from the branch there.

Basingstoke
Basingstoke station main entrance
General information
Location	Basingstoke, Borough of Basingstoke and Deane England
Coordinates	51.2683°N 1.0878°W / 51.2683; -1.0878
Grid reference	SU637525
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	5
Other information
Station code	BSK
Classification	DfT category B
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
10 June 1839 (1839-06-10)	Station opened
Passengers
2019/20	5.702 million
Interchange	3.146 million
2020/21	1.279 million
Interchange	0.414 million
2021/22	3.662 million
Interchange	1.369 million
2022/23	4.004 million
Interchange	1.077 million
2023/24	4.240 million
Interchange	0.724 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

It lies 47 miles 61 chains (76.9 km) down the line from London Waterloo and 51 miles 39 chains (82.9 km) from London Paddington.^[1]

History

The station in 1963

The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway as a temporary terminus when its line to Southampton reached Basingstoke from London. It became a through station when the section running north from Southampton was completed later in 1840. The intention to build a line from near Basingstoke to Bristol was dropped when the Great Western Railway was approved.^[2] The L&SWR did, however plan a line to Salisbury from Basingstoke but this was delayed by financial difficulties. Eventually, it was built reaching Andover in 1854 and Salisbury three years later, before being extended to become the West of England Main Line.^[3]

The Great Western Railway opened its broad gauge line from Reading on 1 November 1848 with a separate station north of the L&SWR station.^[4] After its conversion to mixed gauge on 22 December 1856 through services could run between Southampton and Reading. The broad gauge rail was removed on 1 April 1869.^[5] The GWR station was closed on 1 January 1932^[6] and demolished the same year. Since then trains from Reading have used the main station.^[7]

Basingstoke station was the terminus of the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway, opened in 1901 to prevent the GWR from building a line on this route towards Portsmouth. The line was never profitable. During the First World War some of the track was sold off. After the war the Southern Railway reopened the line, but it was closed finally in 1932.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1980s, platform 5 was converted to a bay platform to permit an entrance on the northern side by British Rail. In 1993, an explosive device planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army was found in a toilet, soon after a bomb scare at Reading station.^[8] In 2001, a suitcase was left outside the station containing the mutilated body of a man in his twenties; he had been stabbed to death.^[9]

Anglia Railways ran the London Crosslink service from Ipswich to Basingstoke via Stratford and the North London Line using Class 170s between May 2000 and September 2002. South West Trains also ran a local service from Reading to Brighton until timetable changes on 9 December 2007.^[10] Southern railway services from Southampton and Portsmouth to Brighton were improved to compensate for that.^[11]

In 2012, improvements were made to the station, including a new stainless steel and glass frontage, an enlarged booking hall and a new waiting room on platforms 2 and 3.^[12] In 2022, South Western Railway introduced staff members called "Welcome Hosts" at this station and some others to provide information and sell tickets.^[13][14]

Incidents

Shunting mishap at Basingstoke, 1977

On 19 December 2008, an over-height container on a freight train struck and damaged 140 yards (130 m) of the canopy of platform 1.^[15] The train was stopped before it reached the tunnels north of Micheldever.

Motive power depots

An ex-GW 6851 'Hurst Grange' 4-6-0 outside Basingstoke Locomotive Depot, 24 July 1965

The London and South Western Railway opened a locomotive shed, on the south side of the main line and to the west of the station in 1839. This was closed in 1909 to make way for station enlargement. It was replaced by a larger structure on the north side of the line. This was closed by British Railways in March 1963, but remained in use as a servicing point until the end of steam in July 1967. It was demolished in 1969.^[16]

The Berks and Hants Railway opened a small shed to the east of the station on the north side of the line in 1850. This was closed by British Railways in November 1950, and demolished to make way for sidings.^[16]

Platforms

The station has five platforms, four of which can be used bi-directionally. They are above street level and are accessed via stairs and lifts from the booking hall and subway.^[17] There is a secondary entrance on platform 4.

• Platform 1: Terminating slow services to and from London Waterloo,^[18] westbound CrossCountry services to Southampton and Bournemouth and occasionally regional services to Southampton and Poole. Westbound freight trains also pass through here.
• Platform 2: Westbound services on the South West Main Line and West of England Main Line
• Platform 3: Fast trains to London Waterloo.
• Platform 4: Northbound CrossCountry services to Reading, Birmingham New Street and onwards to the north. Semi-fast services to London Waterloo use this platform. Northbound freight trains also pass through here.
• Platform 5: Bay platform for stopping services to Reading on the Reading to Basingstoke Line, operated by Great Western Railway.

Facilities

The station has two entrances:^{[citation needed]}

• The main entrance to the south has access to a taxi rank, some car parks and a bus stop, with steps down to The Malls shopping centre. A bridge over Churchill Way leads to the bus station. Festival Place can be accessed from The Malls or the bus station, while Festival Square and the Top of Town are located beyond the bus station.
• The northern entrance on platform 4 gives access to a car park.

The south booking hall has ticket facilities, including ticket machines, information and a small shop. The station is staffed all day and both entrances have ticket barriers. There is a small café on the central island platform and another on platform 4, as well as indoor waiting rooms.^[19]

Signalling

The station area and its various routes have been controlled by colour light signalling since the mid-1960s. The 1966 panel box (which controlled the main line from west of Woking through to Micheldever and Andover along with part of the line to Reading) was located on the north side of the line to the east of the station, but this was superseded by a new facility in 2007 when the area was resignalled.

It was announced in 2013 that a new Network Rail signalling operating centre would be built in Basingstoke; the contract was for £30 million. Twelve such regional control centres were to be built in the following 15 to 30 years, which will be responsible for all the signalling in the Wessex & South West England area (right through from London Waterloo to Weymouth, Portsmouth Harbour and Exeter).^[20] Several routes have had their signal control moved to Basingstoke, including the West of England main line Salisbury to Exmouth Jn in 2012 ^[21] and the Poole - Wareham - Wool section of the line to Weymouth in 2015.

Route maps

v t e Railways around Basingstoke
Legend
South West Main Line Reading–Basingstoke line Daneshill Sidings Basingstoke Junction Basingstoke (GWR) Basingstoke Goods Yard Thornycroft Works Basingstoke & Alton Light Rly Thornycroft Works Park Prewett Worting Junction Battledown Flyover West of England line South West Main Line

v t e Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway
Legend
South West Main Line to Waterloo Basingstoke South West Main Line to Weymouth Thornycroft sidings Viables level crossing Cliddesden Bushywarren Lane crossing Bagmore Lane crossing Herriard Salter Hatch crossing (Spain Lane) Bentworth and Lasham level crossing Treloar's Hospital Platform (private) Treloar's Hospital siding Alton line to Brookwood Alton Butts Junction Watercress Line to Alresford Meon Valley Railway to Fareham

Services

Basingstoke Station

Services at Basingstoke are operated by three train operating companies, with the following off-peak services in trains per hour:

South Western Railway^[22]

• 7 tph to London Waterloo
• 2 tph to Salisbury, of which 1 continues to Exeter St Davids
• 1 tph to Poole (stopping)
• 1 tph to Weymouth
• 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh

Great Western Railway^[23]

• 2 tph to Reading

CrossCountry^[24]

• 1 tph to Bournemouth
• 1 tph to Manchester Piccadilly via Birmingham New Street.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hook		South Western Railway Waterloo to Basingstoke		Terminus
Fleet or Farnborough (Main) or Woking or Clapham Junction		South Western Railway South West Main Line Fast/Semi-Fast Services		Winchester
		South Western Railway South West Main Line Stopping services		Micheldever
Woking		South Western Railway West of England Main Line		Andover or Overton
Reading		CrossCountry Bournemouth-Manchester		Winchester or Southampton Airport Parkway
Bramley		Great Western Railway Reading to Basingstoke Line		Terminus
	Historical railways
Farnborough (Main)		Anglia Railways London Crosslink		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway		Cliddesden
Terminus		Park Prewett Hospital Railway		Park Prewett Hospital