Ascot railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Location
Ascot
Place	Ascot
Local authority	Windsor and Maidenhead
Operations
Station code	ACT
Managed by	South West Trains
Platforms in use	3
Annual entry/exit 02/03	0.858 million *
History
Key dates	Opened 1856
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* based on sales of tickets in 2002/03 financial year which end or originate at Ascot. Disclaimer (PDF)

Ascot railway station is a railway station in the town of Ascot in Berkshire, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South West Trains. It is situated at the junction of the line from Waterloo to Reading with the Ascot to Guildford line.

The station has four platform faces, with an island platform between each of the outside tracks. Of those faces the two southernmost are unused: all trains use the two main lines. The Reading-bound track is reversible, allowing London services to depart from the single track between Platform 1 and the island platform. Trains to Guildford trains use Platform 3 on the other side of the island.

[edit] History

The station was opened when the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway reached here on 4 June 1856; on 9 July the line was extended to Wokingham. On 18 March Ascot became a junction when the line towards Ash Vale was opened.

In the days when race traffic for the nearby Ascot Racecourse warranted it, there was a separate racecourse station situated nearby. There were also four signal boxes.

A fire at in 1983 severely damaged the station buildings.

[edit] Services

Ascot is served by trains between London Waterloo and Reading every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday, and every 60 minutes on Sundays. Trains to Guildford via Aldershot operate at the same frequency. Most of these trains start or terminate at Ascot, but there are through trains from London Waterloo to Aldershot during Monday to Friday peak periods.