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Wokingham railway station serves the
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
of
Wokingham Wokingham is a market town in Berkshire, England, west of London, southeast of Reading, north of Camberley and west of Bracknell. History Wokingham means 'Wocca's people's home'. Wocca was apparently a Saxon chieftain who may ...
in Berkshire, England. It is down the line from via Redhill. It is at the junction of the
Waterloo to Reading line Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...
with the North Downs Line. South Western Railway manages the station and provides services along with Great Western Railway.


History

The line from
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...
to was built by the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway (RG&RR), and was opened in stages. The first sections, from Reading to , which included a station at Wokingham, also from to Redhill, were opened on 4 July 1849. Other sections followed, with the last section, from to , on 20 October 1849. From its beginning the RG&RR was worked by the South Eastern Railway (SER), which bought the RG&RR in 1852. The Staines, Wokingham & Woking Junction Railway (SW&WJR) opened a line between and Wokingham (Staines Junction) on 9 July 1856. The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) worked the SW&WJR and was authorised to run over the SER to Reading. This gave Wokingham a direct route to . In 1933 the Southern Railway opened the current signal box. It controls part of the North Downs Line, part of the Waterloo route, and the
level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...
. On 1 January 1939 the SR extended its Waterloo – electric service to Wokingham and Reading. In 1973
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
ways replaced Wokingham's station building with one built with CLASP prefabricated concrete sections. In 1987 BR slightly extended the platforms to accommodate eight-car Waterloo trains. Platform 2 (" down") has recently undergone a further extension to accommodate longer trains and the addition of a signal at the London end. This is for reversing trains in times of disruption and during the Reading station upgrade. In 1976 the busy
level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...
adjacent to the station was modernised with lifting barriers.


Footbridge

At the southern end of the station there is a footbridge over the railway made from old sections of rail. The footbridge is over 130 years old, and was built after two deaths at the station's level crossing in 1886. It is now
Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
listed and is believed to be the only one of its type left in the UK. In 2017, various defects were found in the bridge's structure and
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...
started restoration work in 2021 after initially having a planning application rejected.


Services

South Western Railway runs a service between London Waterloo and Reading. This runs every 30 minutes daily, with some extra peak time weekday services in either direction. Great Western Railway runs an hourly semi-fast service between Reading and and a half-hourly stopping service between Reading and , giving a total service frequency of about three trains per hour on this route off-peak. On Sundays, an hourly service operates on this route. Wokingham station is an interchange for passengers between the Waterloo – Reading line and the North Downs Line.


Redevelopment 2013

In 2011, it was announced that Wokingham station would be redeveloped from spring 2012 to spring 2013 at a cost of £6 million. The initial plan involved a new station building further along the platform, nearer to Reading than the existing building and creating a new spur road linking Wellington Road to the Reading Road. An artist's impression of the new station building was released to the news media in July 2011. Enabling work for the link road was started on 11 February 2013. In August 2013, the new footbridge was opened to the public and, in October the same year, the new station building was opened, with the old 1973 CLASP building being demolished to make way for the new station sign and clock tower. However, following the development, South West Trains chose a new café chain to serve in the new building in place of that which had served in the old building, despite local opposition. Automatic ticket gates were installed at the station in early 2019.


Gallery

File:Wokingham Signal Box from the Footbridge made of old rails (1).jpg, center, Wokingham Signal Box from the Footbridge made of old rails File:Wokingham railway station 1.jpg, center, Wokingham Station From the Footbridge made of old rails with the old Concrete Footbribge. File:Wokingham Station from the footbridge to the North of the station..jpg, center, Wokingham Station from the footbridge to the North of the station.


Notes


External links


Map showing eastern Reading and its railways
{{SWT Stations, Reading=y, Main line None=y, IL None=y Railway stations in Berkshire DfT Category C2 stations
Railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway stations served by South Western Railway 1849 establishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Berkshire