Epsom railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Epsom | |||
 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | |||
| Place | Epsom | ||
| Local authority | Epsom and Ewell | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | EPS | ||
| Managed by | Southern | ||
| Platforms in use | 4 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Rail Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 * | 3.269 million | ||
| 2005/06 * | 3.280 million | ||
| History | |||
| Key dates | Opened 1 February 1859 | ||
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Epsom from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. | |||
|
|||
Epsom railway station is the main railway station for Epsom in the county of Surrey. It is located off Waterloo Road, near to the High Street.
The station should not be confused with Epsom Downs station which is the terminus of a single branch line from Sutton at the edge of the boundary of the borough Epsom and Ewell with Reigate and Banstead.
Contents |
[edit] Services from this station
Services are operated by South West Trains and Southern. Trains serve a variety of destinations including Central London (with Waterloo, Victoria & London Bridge served), Clapham Junction, Wimbledon, Worcester Park, Balham, West Croydon, Sutton, Leatherhead, Effingham Junction, Guildford, Dorking and Horsham.
The typical off-peak service pattern is as follows:
- 2tph to London Victoria via Sutton (fast service)
- 2tph to London Victoria via Sutton and Hackbridge
- 1tph to London Victoria via Sutton, West Croydon and Norbury. After 7pm this service is diverted via Crystal Palace rather than Norbury.
- 4tph to London Waterloo via Wimbledon
- 3tph to Dorking
- 1tph to Horsham via Dorking
- 2tph to Guildford via Effingham Junction
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ewell East | Southern Sutton & Mole Valley Lines |
Ashtead | ||
| Ewell West | South West Trains Mole Valley Line |
Ashtead | ||
[edit] History
The railway first reached the town in 1847 when an extension of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) from West Croydon was opened with a terminus in Upper High Street. This station was initially named Epsom but subsequently renamed Epsom Town.
In 1859 a joint venture between the LBSCR and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) extended the LSWR from Wimbledon to Epsom, where it joined with the LBSCR, and then ran on to Leatherhead. The lines were connected south of the LBSCR station and a new Epsom station was established on the present site. However competition between the companies remained and the new station was operated by the LSWR only, with the tracks configured so that LBSCR trains ran non-stop on the central rails.
In 1867 the line was extended further south from Leatherhead to Dorking and Horsham, whilst in 1885 a second branch from Leatherhead was built to Effingham Junction where it connected to the existing line from Surbiton to Guildford. These extensions served to provide greater connections for Epsom to much of the rest of Surrey.
After the First World War, the railway companies were rationalised and merged into the Southern Railway which set about removing duplication from the railway system. Epsom Town was closed in 1929, (though some of the building remains in an abandoned, bricked up form, located behind modern developments on Upper High Street though more visible from the line from Ewell East) and the tracks at Epsom were rearranged so that the two island platforms provided cross-platform interchange.
When the Thameslink services started in 1988 its secondary southern route ran to Epsom via Elephant & Castle to West Croydon and Sutton, continuing beyond to Guildford. However the onset of rail privatisation made it difficult to maintain a line running across two other companies' commuter routes and services to Epsom were withdrawn in 1994. One of the proposals for the Thameslink 2000 project (later renamed Thameslink 2010) is to restore services as part of a massive expansion of that network.
For many years the southern end of the platforms had a large signal box above them but this was demolished in the early 1990s.
[edit] Kevin Craswell incident
On 3 March 2006, in a widely reported incident, a drunken man crawled on to the tracks at the station, collapsed and fell asleep across the rails, "using the track as a pillow". Many trains were disrupted just before the Friday afternoon rush hour when 48-year-old Kevin Craswell, from nearby Ashtead, lay down and rested his head on a rail, a few inches from the electrified (750V) third rail. Had he touched this while in contact with the ground, he would have been electrocuted. Power had to be cut for approximately 15 minutes over a 3-mile stretch of track while Craswell was woken and taken to hospital. Network Rail stated that the cost of the disruption exceeded £7,000. Craswell, who was filmed by a police helicopter - the noise of which failed to wake him - was fined £560 and given 180 hours' community service.[1][2][3][4][5]
[edit] Derailment Incident: 12th September 2006
Train 2D57, the 19:09 hrs service from London Waterloo to Effingham Junction, became derailed on the approach to Epsom station, Surrey, at about 19:42 hrs on Tuesday 12 September 2006. The train was formed of 8 coaches, consisting of two four-car class 455 electric multiple units (EMUs). The leading bogie of the fourth coach was derailed by both axles towards the left as it passed over a set of trailing points on a right-hand curve, while the train was travelling at about 17 miles per hour (27 km/h). The train came to a stop partially in Epsom station, and all the passengers on board were quickly evacuated onto the station platform. There were no injuries, and there was only minor damage to the train and the track.
As the train approached Epsom, the driver shut off power and reduced speed to comply with the 20 mph permanent speed restriction round the curve into the station, entering the curve at 19.2 mph (30.9 km/h). He felt a judder, and looked back, observing blue flashes and smoke from the rear of the train. He assumed there was a fault with the train, and attempted to coast into the station. As the fourth coach came into his field of vision, the driver saw that it was derailed and made an emergency brake application. The train then stopped within five seconds.
In the report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into the accident, the maintenance of track and switching gear was heavily criticised. The removal of a remote rail lubricator by Network Rail was also criticised.[6]
[edit] Typical off-peak journey times from Epsom
Based on the December 2006 - May 2007 timetable
Frequency in trains per hour
| Destination | Platform | Journey time | Frequency | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | 1 or 3 | 10 minutes | 5 tph | Southern |
| Worcester Park | 2 or 4 | 10 minutes | 4 tph | South West Trains |
| Wimbledon | 2 or 4 | 18 minutes | 4 tph | South West Trains |
| Clapham Junction | 1, 2, 3 or 4 | 35 minutes | 9 tph | Southern and South West Trains |
| LONDON VICTORIA | 1 or 3 | 38 minutes | 5 tph | Southern |
| LONDON WATERLOO | 2 or 4 | 36 minutes | 4 tph | South West Trains |
| Leatherhead | 1 or 2 | 8 minutes | 6 tph | Southern and South West Trains |
| Dorking | 1 or 2 | 14 minutes | 4 tph | Southern and South West Trains |
| HORSHAM | 1 | 35 minutes | 1 tph | Southern |
| Effingham Junction | 2 | 17 minutes | 2 tph | South West Trains |
| GUILDFORD | 2 | 27 minutes | 2 tph | South West Trains |
[edit] External links
- Train times and station information for Epsom railway station from National Rail
[edit] References
- ^ This is London: The boss who fell asleep on a railway track.
- ^ Telegraph.co.uk: The railway sleeper.
- ^ Independent Online: The real story behind the "drunk director" asleep on the track.
- ^ BBC News: Man fell asleep on railway line.
- ^ icCroydon: Man asleep on railway track cheated death.
- ^ Rail Accident Investigation Branch Rail Accident Report: Derailment at Epsom 12 September 2006 http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources/070913_R342007_Epsom.pdf
