Redhill railway station serves the town of Redhill,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

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. The station is a major interchange point on the

Brighton Main Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

, measured from . It 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 ...

, and is also served 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 ...

and GWR.

History

The local topography determined that it was cheaper to build and operate a railway line between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

which by-passed the

parliamentary borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

and long-established

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 ...

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

and instead passed through the nearby Redstone or Red Hill gap in the Reigate Foreign (countryside)

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. According to the Acts of Parliament establishing railways between London and Brighton, and London and Dover, the line was to be shared between

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

and Red Hill after which these two would deviate. The London and Brighton Railway (L&BR) constructed the new line during 1840 and 1841, with the South Eastern Railway (SER) contributing half of the construction cost and taking ownership of the section between Croydon and Red Hill. (The SER had however been running services over the line since 1842.) The inevitable and continuing conflict between the two railway companies over the use of this joint line gave rise to the construction of four railway stations at the site of what was then a hamlet on the eastern side of

Red Hill and Reigate Road (London & Brighton Railway) station

The original station was opened by the London and Brighton Railway on 12 July 1841 on a site to the south of the proposed junction with the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are t ...

to Dover. The nearby market town was served by a horse-drawn omnibus service operated by the railway. This station was designed by the architect

David Mocatta David Alfred Mocatta (1806–1882) was a British architect and a member of the Anglo-Jewish Mocatta family. Early career David Alfred Mocatta was born to a Sephardic Jewish family in 1806, the son of the licensed bullion broker Moses Mocatt ...

, and was one of a series of standardised modular buildings used by the railway. It closed on 15 April 1844, when the LBR began to share the SER Redhill and Reigate station and was demolished soon afterwards.

Redhill/Reigate (SER) stations

On 26 May 1842 the SER opened what was originally called 'Redhill', but later misleadingly renamed 'Reigate' station, on their own stretch of line just beyond the junction. Passengers transferring between the two railways did so at the old Merstham station further up the line. The SER wanted to replace their 'Reigate' station with a joint station immediately before the junction, but the L&BR opposed the plan. As a result, the SER forced the issue by ending the arrangements at Merstham, thereby forcing passengers to transfer between the two stations at Redhill by foot.

Redhill and Reigate station

On 15 April 1844 the SER built a new station at the present site, named 'Redhill and Reigate' which was to be used by both railways as the interchange station. On the same day the two existing stations were closed. The branch line to Reigate was opened in 1849 with a new station called Reigate Town. Nevertheless, the

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 ...

(the successor of the L&BR) continued to operate the omnibus service for its own passengers.

Redhill Junction station

The SER 'Redhill and Reigate' station was rebuilt and enlarged on the same site in August 1858 when it was renamed 'Redhill Junction'. The chronic congestion at the station was however eased after 1 May 1868 when Redhill ceased to be on the

to Dover following the opening of the 'Sevenoaks cut off' line between St Johns and

Tonbridge railway station Tonbridge railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the town of Tonbridge, Kent. It is from London Charing Cross via . Trains calling at the station are operated by Southeastern and Southern. Tonbridge forms a ju ...

. A ten-year agreement between the SER and the

(LBSCR the successor to the L&BR after July 1846) over the use of the station and lines to Coulsdon was signed 1 February 1869 and renewed ten years later. However, during the 1880s, as traffic increased the disputes over the use of line and Redhill station re-occurred. This became known as the 'Southern Lines Controversy' and ultimately led to the construction of the

Quarry Line The Brighton Main Line (also known as the South Central Main Line) is a major railway line in the United Kingdom that links Brighton, on the south coast of England, with central London. In London the line has two branches, out of and station ...

by the LB&SCR in 1899, which avoided Redhill. The LB&SCR diverted many of its

trains to the new line, but retained

running powers Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may con ...

over the original line and the use of Redhill station. These were continued until both the SER and the LBSCR came under the ownership of the Southern Railway 1 January 1923 and the name of the joint station was changed to Redhill in July 1929.

Electrification

Redhill SR station geograph-2641294-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The

and the line from Redhill to Reigate were both electrified under the Southern Railway on 1 January 1933. The Redhill to Tonbridge Line was electrified under

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 ...

in 1993.

Description

Redhill station is at the junction of the Brighton Main Line, which runs north to

and south to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...

and

, with the ex-SER

North Downs Line The North Downs Line is a passenger-train line connecting Reading, on the Great Western Main Line, to Redhill and , along the Brighton Main Line, linking many centres of population in that part of the North Downs which it traverses en route. ...

, which runs west to

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and

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 ...

, and the Redhill to Tonbridge Line, to the east Redhill Station 02

The station has four passenger platforms and a parcels bay (which is now out of use). From west to east:

platform 0 Platform 0 is a platform number at various railway stations around the world. It is usually a result of constructing a new platform next to the existing platform 1. To avoid having to renumber and replace signage for all other platforms, as well ...

is the most recently built (which accounts for its unusual numbering) and serves destinations including Bedford, Reading, London Victoria and Reigate; platforms 1 and 2 are an island; there are two through lines between platforms 2 and 3; platform 3 and the old parcels dock are on the eastern side with a secondary entrance/exit. All passenger platforms are of 12 car length, and all are subdivided into 'a' (north end) and 'b' (south end). Platform 1 is a bay platform with no northbound access; otherwise all platforms have access to all routes. There is no access from either through line to or from the North Downs Line - all traffic from this direction must pass through a platform. Platforms are linked by a subway, and by an out-of use parcels/staff bridge. There are lifts from the platforms to the subway and a level entrance from the Platform 3 exit, with a further lift between the subway and the main entrance, which is at street level. The main entrance faces the town centre, and is opposite Redhill bus station. The ticket office is staffed and also has ticket machines, and there are ticket barriers. There is a coffee shop in the ticket hall, and a takeaway-only coffee shop on platforms 1 and 2.

Services

Services at Redhill are operated by

and

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

. The typical off-peak service Monday too Saturday, in trains per hour is:

Southern

* 2 tph to * 2 tph to * 1 tph to Southern services at Redhill are operated using

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 ...

Thameslink

* 2 tph to via * 2 tph to * 2 tph to Three Bridges via

* 2 tph to via Gatwick Airport Thameslink also operate an hourly night service between Bedford and Three Bridges although this service does not call at London Bridge. Thameslink services at Redhill are operated using EMUs.

Great Western Railway

* 2 tph to via (1 semi-fast, 1 stopping) * 1 tph to Gatwick Airport Great Western Railway services at Redhill are operated using and DMUs.

Sunday services

The typical Sunday service in trains per hour is:

Southern

On Sundays, the Southern service from

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 ...

is reduced to 1 train per hour. To maintain 2 trains per hour to Victoria, the hourly services originating from

Portsmouth Harbour Portsmouth Harbour is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Portsmouth and Gosport in Hampshire. It is a Ramsar site and a Special Protection Area. It is a large natural harbour in Hampshire, England. Geographically it ...

and

Bognor Regis Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns i ...

are routed via Redhill. * 2 tph to

* 1 tph to

and

(Dividing at Barnham) * 1 tph to Tonbridge

Thameslink

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

to Horsham and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

services cease to run on Sundays and are instead replaced by an Hourly London Bridge to Horsham service. * 1 tph to

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 ...

* 1 tph to Horsham

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway services from Redhill remain largely the same with 2 trains per hour to Reading (1 semi fast, 1 stopping). However, there are no hourly extensions to Gatwick Airport. * 2 tph to

(1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)

Oyster extension

On 11 January 2016, payment using Oyster and contactless payment cards was introduced at Redhill, as part of the Oyster extension from Merstham to Gatwick Airport. The station is outside the London Fare Zone area, and special fares apply. Some Oyster photocards (as well as Freedom Passes) are not valid on the Gatwick Airport extension. The nearest station that these cards can be used is Coulsdon South only in the northbound direction.

Motive power depot

An engine shed, turntable and locomotive coaling and servicing facilities were installed by the South Eastern Railway in 1855 in the area between the Brighton and Tonbridge lines. These facilities were rebuilt by the Southern Railway in 1924 and lasted until the end of steam in the area in 1965.Hawkins, Chris and Reeves, George. (1979). ''An historical survey of Southern sheds'', Oxford Publishing Co., , p. 70. The site of the depot remained in use as a stabling point for many years after this. Further sidings to the west and south-west of platform 1 were removed during the construction of platform 0 in 2016–17.

References

External links

Southern Railway station information page
{{Transport in Surrey Railway stations in Surrey Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Railway stations served by Great Western Railway DfT Category C1 stations