Oxted railway station is on the

Oxted line The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini. It was opened jointly by the London, Brighton and S ...

in southern England, serving the commuter town of

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and north of East Grinstead in West Sussex. Oxt ...

, Surrey. It is from . The station is managed by

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

who operate the majority of train services with a few peak services operated by

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

. A relatively busy interchange station and terminus, rail services are operated by Southern and Thameslink. The station is the busiest suburban station on the line and is a terminus for some services on the Uckfield branch of the

Oxted Line The Oxted line is a railway in southern England and part of the Southern franchise. The railway splits into two branches towards the south and has direct trains throughout to London termini. It was opened jointly by the London, Brighton and S ...

. Trains depart to

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

via

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It re ...

via

East Croydon station East Croydon is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, Greater London, England, and is located in Travelcard Zone 5. At from , it is one of the busiest non-terminal stations in London, and in the United Kingdom as a whole. It is one of th ...

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

and

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology 'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

History

Oxted was built as a joint

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

/ South Eastern Railway station when the

South Croydon South Croydon in south London is the area surrounding the valley south of central Croydon and running as far south as the former Red Deer public house on the Brighton Road. It is bounded by Waddon to the West and Selsdon and Sanderstead to the ...

to East Grinstead line opened on 10 March 1884. The three platforms are connected by a subway which runs under the track. In addition, a lift is provided for entry to Platforms 2/3. There are tunnels at each end of the station: *''Oxted Tunnel'' 1 mile 23 chains (2.07 km) at the London end *''Limpsfield Tunnel'' 551 yard (501 m) at the country end In 1951 the station had a train every thirteen minutes of the day, services running to Victoria and London Bridge in the up direction and to Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne and Brighton in the down. Locomotives using the station on an average weekday would be of the following classes: BR4 2-6-4T (14), C2X 0-6-0 (2), H 0-4-4T (12), L 4-4-0 (1), LM2 2-6-2T (5), LM4 2-6-4T (38), N 2-6-0 (2), Q 0-6-0 (8), U 2-6-0 (1) and U1 2-6-0 (2). In addition, diesel 10800 was a regular visitor to the station four times a day between 1952 and 1954. The station was the scene of a bomb attempt by

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

sympathisers in 1913 –

Harold Laski Harold Joseph Laski (30 June 1893 – 24 March 1950) was an English political theorist and economist. He was active in politics and served as the chairman of the British Labour Party from 1945 to 1946 and was a professor at the London School o ...

(later a professor at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

and chairman of the Labour Party) and a friend placed the device in the men's toilets. Although it did detonate the damage was limited as the fuse failed to ignite the petrol contained in the device. A similar device (containing some pieces of metal and a watch in addition to the explosive charge) was planted at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

on 13 April 1913, which was successfully defused.

Facilities

On the London-bound platform is a staffed ticket office (open daily until late) and two standard ''quick-pay'' self-service passenger-operated ticket machines in Southern branding are located outside the station on the London-bound side and at the entrance to the underpass on Platforms 2 and 3 side (Uckfield/East Grinstead bound.) The station is staffed 17 hours a day. The station accommodates a café, refurbished toilets, two waiting rooms and a line control centre in a large concourse. All of the platforms are linked by a subway which also links the two main streets in Oxted together as well as the local supermarket and the town's leisure complex. There is an underground car park located under the adjacent supermarket. The station acts as a terminus for the Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line and trains use platform three on a regular basis after termination for both train maintenance and cleaning. The present signal box opened in the 1980s and covered control of the Uckfield line in January 1990. It replaced the previous original wooden structure located at the end of platform 2/3 The station was also the first station and terminus on the Southern network to receive two fully DDA-compliant ticket windows which will move down to accommodate easy use by wheelchair users. The station is also linked to the Southern Control Centre in Croydon, by two help points (one on each platform) where passengers can receive help 24 hours a day externally.

Layout

Platform 1 is used by northbound trains towards East Croydon and London Victoria, London Bridge and

London Blackfriars Blackfriars, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway station and connected London Underground station in the City of London. It provides Thameslink services: local (from North to South London), and regional (Bedford and ...

. It is also used for services from Uckfield, which terminate here before performing an empty shunt movement to platform 3. Platform 2 is used by most southbound trains towards East Grinstead and Uckfield. Rarely, it can also be used in periods of engineering work to reverse trains from London to reverse if the line is closed south of Oxted, using the crossover to the north of the station. Platform 3 is a south-facing bay platform and is only used for Sunday services to Uckfield. It can only take 2-car trains.

Improvements

In 2010 the station was refurbished a new lift installed, followed by a deep clean and internal rezoning. In May 2010, Platform 1 and 2 were lengthened by

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works acr ...

to take 12 car trains. During January 2011, Southern installed ticket gates on the main concourse as well as the exit and indoor area in between platforms 2 and 3. Gate-line staff operate at the station also.

Services

Off-peak, all services at Oxted are operated by

using DMUs and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to (stopping) * 1 tph to (runs non-stop to ) * 1 tph to * 1 tph to During the peak hours and on weekends, the service between London Victoria and East Grinstead is increased to 2 tph. In addition, there are also a number of peak hour

operated services between East Grinstead, and , which are operated using EMUs. On Sundays, northbound services on the Uckfield branch terminate at Oxted instead of London Bridge.

Bus services

The station is served by the following bus services, all operated by

Southdown PSV Southdown PSV Limited, trading as Southdown Buses, is a medium-sized country bus operator, with 18 routes across East Surrey, West Sussex, South London and Kent, 9 of which are school bus routes. Most of their routes are operated on behalf ...

: * 236 to Westerham, Edenbridge,

Lingfield Lingfield can refer to: * Lingfield, County Durham, England, a village * Lingfield, Surrey, England, a village ** Lingfield Park Racecourse ** Lingfield Cricket Club, prominent in the 18th century ** Lingfield railway station, serving the vill ...

and

(Monday-Friday Only) * 410 to ,

Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, near the M25 motorway and the North Downs. Godstone railway station is separated from it by agricultural land. Blindley H ...

and Redhill (Monday-Sunday) * 594/595 to

Tatsfield Tatsfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is located 3.3 miles north west of Westerham and 3.9 miles north east of Oxted, and is adjacent to the Surrey border with both Greater London and Kent. ...

and Westerham (Monday-Saturday Only) These services stop adjacent to the London bound platform on Station Road East. Rail replacement services stop directly outside the main concourse of the station during periods of engineering work.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxted Railway Station Railway stations in Surrey Former Croydon and Oxted Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1884 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Oxted