Maidenhead railway station

Maidenhead
Location
Place	Maidenhead
Local authority	Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Coordinates	51°31′08″N 0°43′23″W / 51.519°N 0.723°WCoordinates: 51°31′08″N 0°43′23″W / 51.519°N 0.723°W
Grid reference	SU886807
Operations
Station code	MAI
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	5
DfT category	C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2009/10	3.600 million
2010/11	3.823 million
2011/12	3.964 million
2012/13	4.125 million
2013/14	4.203 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 November 1871
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	GWR
Post-grouping	GWR
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Maidenhead from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Maidenhead railway station serves the town of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway from London Paddington to Reading, and is also the junction for the Marlow Branch Line. It has five platforms which are accessed through ticket barriers at both entrances to the station. The ticket barriers stop the station being used as a walk through route. The Marlow line platform had an overall roof until 2014 when it was removed in the course of electrification works.

History

Maidenhead station in 1953

The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway, which opened as far as Reading in 1840. The original Maidenhead Station lay east of the Thames, not far from the present Taplow station. This was the line's first terminus, pending the completion of the Sounding Arch (Maidenhead Railway Bridge) bridge over the river. In 1854, the Wycombe Railway Company built a line from Maidenhead to High Wycombe, with a station on Castle Hill, at first called "Maidenhead (Wycombe Branch)", later renamed "Maidenhead Boyne Hill". However, there was no station on the present site until 1871, when local contractor William Woodbridge built it. Originally, it was called "Maidenhead Junction", but eventually it came to replace the Boyn Hill station as well as the original station on the Maidenhead Riverside.^[1]

In 2008 the station underwent major renovation works^[2] and in 2010 a statue of Nicholas Winton was installed on one of the platforms.

A 1945 Ordnance Survey of Maidenhead showing the location of the station

Maidenhead railway station entrance

Services

As well as regular services to London Paddington (4tph basic, plus weekday peak extras), trains run to Reading (4tph weekdays, half-hourly Saturdays & Sundays) & Oxford (half-hourly weekdays & Saturdays, hourly on Sundays) and to Bourne End & Marlow (hourly, including Sundays). ^[3]

Crossrail

Maidenhead was initially the planned western terminus of Crossrail Line 1 before an announcement was made in 2014 to move the terminus to Reading.^[4] The station will undergo significant modification, including the replacement of the existing passenger waiting facilities, a new ticket hall, lifts, a new platform for Marlow branch line services, the introduction of overhead line equipment and the construction of new stabling and turnback facilities to the west of the station.^[5] Following a strong local campaign to extend Crossrail to a terminus at Reading, services will now be extended to Reading, with Twyford added.

Statue

In 2010 a statue was erected to honour the man dubbed the "British Schindler" for his work saving Jewish children from Nazi invasion. Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he smuggled 669 boys and girls, destined for concentration camps, out of Czechoslovakia in 1939. The statue, on platform three, depicts Winton sitting on a bench reading his famous scrapbook, which contained lists of all the children he helped to save. ^[6]

Notes

1. Over 2001, para. 8.
2. Justin Burns (25 September 2008). "Train station refurbishment unveiled". Maidenhead Advertiser. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
3. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Tables 117 & 120
4. "DfT and TfL Extend Crossrail Route to Reading". Crossrail.
5. Paul Miles (6 December 2012). "Crossrail work begins at Maidenhead train station". Maidenhead Advertiser. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-11356875

References

• Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
• Over, Luke (September 2001). Delaney, Peter, ed. "The Railway Comes to Maidenhead". Wargrave Local History Society. Retrieved 26 November 2005.

External links

• Train times and station information for Maidenhead railway station from National Rail