Walton-on-Thames railway station

Walton-on-Thames railway station[n 1] is at the southern edge of the town of Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England and borders Burwood Park, Hersham. It is 17 miles 6 chains (27.5 km) from London Waterloo and is situated between Hersham and Weybridge.

Walton-on-Thames
LocationWalton-on-Thames, Elmbridge
England
Coordinates51.3728°N 0.4143°W / 51.3728; -0.4143
Grid referenceTQ104649
Managed bySouth Western Railway
Platforms4 (2 in use)
Other information
Station codeWAL
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Opened21 May 1838
Passengers
2015/16 2.916 million
2016/17 2.917 million
2017/18 2.857 million
2018/19 2.932 million
2019/20 2.723 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station's main entrance borders the Ashley Park area of the largely residential town and features a taxi rank and pick-up apron. The station opened as Walton for Hersham in 1838 and today has rush hour services two stops from central London.

Only the two outer platforms on the slow lines are currently used. The central island platform is disused.

Services

Services from Walton-on-Thames are split into rush hour (Monday - Friday, early mornings and evenings), off peak (Monday - Friday, Saturday) and Sunday.[1]

Rush hour
  • 4 trains per hour (tph) to London Waterloo, stopping to Surbiton then, non stop to London Waterloo.
  • 2tph to Woking
  • 2tph to Basingstoke

Rush hour services to London Waterloo only operate in the morning, and services to Woking and Guildford operate in the evening rush hour with one service running semi fast to Basingstoke.

Off peak
  • 2tph to London Waterloo, stopping service
  • 2tph to London Waterloo, semi fast
  • 2tph to Woking, stopping service
  • 2tph to Basingstoke, semi fast to Woking then stopping to Basingstoke

There are also three direct trains to Portsmouth Harbour two via Basingstoke one via Guildford per day, Mon - Sat, and one direct train to Branksome in the early morning. In the evening there are two services from Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke and one from Weymouth to Walton on Thames.

Sundays
  • 2tph to London Waterloo, stopping service
  • 1tph to London Waterloo, semi fast
  • 2tph to Guildford, stopping service
  • 1tph to Woking semi fast where the train divides to either Basingstoke or Alton

History

The station first operated in 1838, and was one of the first stations on the South Western Main Line, between Ditton Marsh (now Esher) and Weybridge. The first services ran from Nine Elms to Woking Common (now Woking).[2]

The middle platforms were abandoned when slower services only used the outer tracks, leaving the inside tracks for non stop services to Woking.

Abellio Surrey owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen outside the station.

Ticket gates and accessibility

Walton-on-Thames railway station was one of the first stations selected by South West Trains to have automatic ticket gates installed at all of the exits to the station.[3] These were installed and in operation on 25 June 2009. There were also smartcard validators installed, intended (in the future) for use when the barriers are unattended and open. As of June 2018, there was a digital barcode scanner installed for mobile ticketing on Platform 1.

Ramps were installed on 31 October 2009, making both platforms accessible to all from street level. Access from the Ashley Park / ticket office side of the station to the Burwood Park side requires use of the railway-owned subway which is via a short flight of steps or a detour of more than 600m by road or pavement.

This station has a taxi rank and bus stops. Bus routes 458 and 555 serve the station, both connecting passengers to the town centre.[4]

In 2016, a petition was started by a local resident calling for London Travelcard Zone 6 to be extended to include this station, as well as Esher and Hersham stations.[5]

Immediate surroundings

The station is just north of the approximate midpoint of the medieval parish boundaries of Walton.[6] Today it is on the southern boundary of Walton and the northern boundary of Hersham,[7] and more particularly between two large-plot, neighbourhoods of detached homes, Burwood Park and Ashley Park. These are predominantly low rise and have avenues and greens; they are not a conservation area with no buildings which pre-date 1750 but the former has one or two listed buildings for architecture.[8] The commercial centre of Walton is 0.6 miles (0.97 km) north.

Notes
  1. Some signs in the station use no hyphenation in the spelling: Walton on Thames

References
  1. "Basingstoke and Alton to Woking and London Waterloo (Surburban Services)" (PDF). southwesttrains.co.uk. South West Trains. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. "New ticket gates across the network". southwesttrains.co.uk. South West Trains. Archived from the original on 2 July 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  4. Surrey County Council (2 September 2017). "Map: Walton-on-Thames, Molesey and Esher" (PDF). FWT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2018.
  5. Tobitt, Charlotte (15 July 2016). "Hundreds back campaign to include Walton, Hersham and Esher in Zone 6". SurreyLive.
  6. Malden, H.E., ed. (1911). "The hundred of Elmbridge: Introduction and map". A History of the County of Surrey. Vol. 3. London: Victoria County History. Retrieved 11 January 2014 – via British History Online.
  7. "Hersham village boundaries". The Church of England parish map. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  8. "OS Map with Listed Buildings and Parks marked". Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Hersham   South Western Railway
Waterloo to Woking		   Weybridge
Surbiton   South Western Railway
Waterloo to Basingstoke		   Weybridge
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