Twickenham railway station is in

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in south-west Greater London, London, England, forms part of Outer London and is the only London boroughs, London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller ...

, England, and is in Travelcard Zone 5. By track it is from . Only one main street abuts the station – at its west end – London Road running between a trunk road south of

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

and the town centre to the south including the town's public section of riverside. The station and all trains serving it are operated by

South Western Railway South Western Railway Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is the British state-owned train operating company that took over the services of the South Western Railway (2017–2025), operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR ...

. Apart from Richmond Railway Bridge it is at the heart of a long section of two tracks ''at grade'' (i.e. the level of the surrounding land) between

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

and

Egham Egham ( ) is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna Carta was ...

. Between about this point and St Margarets station, 500 metres east, are three tracks instead of two. Adding to the station's use, west are returning ends of the Kingston and Hounslow Loop Lines. A street runs against the south side of the station meaning the westbound platform has long been in island format and doubles as the fast and semi-fast services' eastbound platform.

History

The predecessor, a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

station, was built by the London and Windsor Railway on the west of London Road bridge, opening on 22 August 1848. The station was originally called Twickenham Junction. Preparatory work for rebuilding by the Southern Railway in its "Southern Odeon" style on the east of London Road was halted by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with most trackwork and the vertical edgings of the five planned through platforms in place. After the war some platforms were made level for rugby spectators' trains which were hand-flagged through the station. On 28 March 1954, a completely rebuilt station came into use with three through tracks. The two main up platforms face each other. The slower of these sees more than half of services join from a flyover to the south which coupled with the three tracks to St Margarets ensures no hold-ups needed to fast services eastbound. Platform 1 has not existed as a functioning entity since before 2003; platform 2 has had the conductor rails removed between 2003 and 2006. The trackbeds of both are now (2018) obstructed by temporary buildings. Platform 3 (in 2018) has a direct access from the street available via a queuing area used during events at Twickenham Stadium. On 4 February 1996, South West Trains ran the first re-privatised service nationally. This ran from Twickenham to London at 05:10. The last regular-scheduled privatised train on the main network was 48 years previously.

Services

All services at Twickenham are operated by

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 6 tph to via (4 of these are semi-fast and 2 call at all stations) * 2 tph to , returning to London Waterloo via and * 2 tph to via * 2 tph to Additional services, including trains to and from , , and London Waterloo via call at the station during the peak hours.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

267 __NOTOC__ Year 267 ( CCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Rome as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Arcesilaus (or, less frequently, year 1020 ''Ab urbe condita''). The d ...

, 281 and H22, and school route 681 serve the station.

Future

The RFU had petitioned the government to improve the station to be ready to handle the increased use during the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. Network Rail invested in plans in partnership with Kier Property and new rolling stock was ordered. The partnership's boldest plans were countered by a residents action group. The Supreme Court refused leave to appeal from a series of pro-plan rulings in Summer 2013. The process led to reduced density and aesthetically enhanced plans and construction started in 2017.Twickenham Station development
London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 2017 Enlargement of the complex to be mounted on a broad "podium", an outside street-level plaza, about 115 apartments, new retail units and a permanently open at-grade northern access point are being built in a programme of works forecast to end in 2020. The works include two northern entrances with direct access and footbridge access respectively to platforms 2 and 3 (platform 1 as currently labelled is a siding); and a riverside walk beside the Crane, a large stream or small river linked to its associated Moor Mead park in Twickenham.

References

External links

{{SWT Stations, Hounslow=y, Reading=y, Windsor=y, Kingston=y, IL None=y, Main line None=y Railway stations in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1954 Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1954 Railway stations served by South Western Railway Twickenham 1848 establishments in England DfT Category C1 stations