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Basingstoke
Basingstoke station main entrance
General information
Location	Basingstoke,Borough of Basingstoke and Deane England
Coordinates	51°16′06″N1°05′16″W / 51.2683°N 1.0878°W /51.2683; -1.0878
Grid reference	SU637525
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	5
Other information
Station code	BSK
Classification	DfT category B
History
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Key dates
10 June 1839 (1839-06-10)	Station opened
Passengers
2020/21	1.279 million
Interchange	0.414 million
2021/22	3.662 million
Interchange	1.369 million
2022/23	4.004 million
Interchange	1.077 million
2023/24	4.240 million
Interchange	0.724 million
2024/25	4.794 million
Interchange	0.830 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Basingstoke railway station serves the town ofBasingstoke, inHampshire, England. It is on theSouth West Main Line fromLondon Waterloo, with local and fast services operated bySouth Western Railway. It is the terminus ofGreat Western Railway local services on theReading to Basingstoke Line. Long-distance cross-country services operated byCrossCountry toBournemouth fromBirmingham (theBournemouth to Birmingham route),Manchester and further north, join the main line from the branch there.

It lies 47 miles 61 chains (76.9 km) down the line from London Waterloo and 51 miles 39 chains (82.9 km) from London Paddington.^[1]

The station was opened by theLondon and South Western Railway as a temporary terminus when its line to Southampton reached Basingstoke from London. It became a through station when the section running north from Southampton was completed later in 1840. The intention to build a line from near Basingstoke toBristol was dropped when theGreat Western Railway was approved.^[2] The L&SWR did, however plan a line to Salisbury from Basingstoke but this was delayed by financial difficulties. Eventually, it was built reachingAndover in 1854 andSalisbury three years later, before being extended to become theWest of England Main Line.^[3]

The Great Western Railway opened itsbroad gauge line fromReading on 1 November 1848 with a separate station north of the L&SWR station.^[4] After its conversion tomixed gauge on 22 December 1856 through services could run between Southampton and Reading. The broad gauge rail was removed on 1 April 1869.^[5]The GWR station was closed on 1 January 1932^[6] and demolished the same year. Since then trains from Reading have used the main station.^[7]

Basingstoke station was the terminus of theBasingstoke and Alton Light Railway, opened in 1901 to prevent the GWR from building a line on this route towards Portsmouth. The line was never profitable. During theFirst World War some of the track was sold off. After the war theSouthern Railway reopened the line, but it was closed finally in 1932.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1980s, platform 5 was converted to a bay platform to permit an entrance on the northern side byBritish Rail. In 1993, an explosive device planted by theProvisional Irish Republican Army was found in a toilet, soon after a bomb scare at Reading station.^[8] In 2001, a suitcase was left outside the station containing the mutilated body of a man in his twenties; he had been stabbed to death.^[9]

Anglia Railways ran theLondon Crosslink service fromIpswich to Basingstoke via Stratford and theNorth London Line usingClass 170s between May 2000 and September 2002. South West Trains also ran a local service fromReading toBrighton until timetable changes on 9 December 2007.^[10]Southern railway services from Southampton and Portsmouth to Brighton were improved to compensate for that.^[11]

In 2012, improvements were made to the station, including a new stainless steel and glass frontage, an enlarged booking hall and a new waiting room on platforms 2 and 3.^[12] In 2022, South Western Railway introduced staff members called "Welcome Hosts" at this station and some others to provide information and sell tickets.^[13][14]

On 19 December 2008, an over-height container on a freight train struck and damaged 140 yards (130 m) of the canopy of platform 1.^[15] The train was stopped before it reached the tunnels north ofMicheldever.

TheLondon and South Western Railway opened a locomotive shed, on the south side of the main line and to the west of the station in 1839. This was closed in 1909 to make way for station enlargement. It was replaced by a larger structure on the north side of the line. This was closed byBritish Railways in March 1963, but remained in use as a servicing point until the end of steam in July 1967. It was demolished in 1969.^[16]

TheBerks and Hants Railway opened a small shed to the east of the station on the north side of the line in 1850. This was closed byBritish Railways in November 1950, and demolished to make way for sidings.^[16]

The station has five platforms, four of which can be used bi-directionally. They are above street level and are accessed via stairs and lifts from the booking hall and subway.^[17] There is a secondary entrance on platform 4.

• Platform 1: Terminatingslow services to and fromLondon Waterloo,^[18] westbound CrossCountry services toSouthampton andBournemouth and occasionallyregional services to Southampton and Poole. Westbound freight trains also pass through here.
• Platform 2: Westbound services on the South West Main Line andWest of England Main Line
• Platform 3: Fast trains to London Waterloo.
• Platform 4: Northbound CrossCountry services to Reading,Birmingham New Street and onwards to the north. Semi-fast services to London Waterloo use this platform. Northbound freight trains also pass through here.
• Platform 5: Bay platform for stopping services to Reading on theReading to Basingstoke Line, operated by Great Western Railway.

The station has two entrances:^{[citation needed]}

• The main entrance to the south has access to a taxi rank, some car parks and a bus stop, with steps down toThe Malls shopping centre. A bridge over Churchill Way leads to the bus station.Festival Place can be accessed from The Malls or the bus station, while Festival Square and the Top of Town are located beyond the bus station.
• The northern entrance on platform 4 gives access to a car park.

The south booking hall has ticket facilities, including ticket machines, information and a small shop. The station is staffed all day and both entrances haveticket barriers. There is a small café on the central island platform and another on platform 4, as well as indoor waiting rooms.^[19]

The station area and its various routes have been controlled by colour light signalling since the mid-1960s. The 1966 panel box (which controlled the main line from west of Woking through toMicheldever andAndover along with part of the line to Reading) was located on the north side of the line to the east of the station, but this was superseded by a new facility in 2007 when the area was resignalled.

It was announced in 2013 that a newNetwork Rail signallingoperating centre would be built in Basingstoke; the contract was for £30 million. Twelve such regional control centres were to be built in the following 15 to 30 years, which will be responsible for all the signalling in the Wessex & South West England area (right through from London Waterloo toWeymouth, Portsmouth Harbour and Exeter).^[20] Several routes have had their signal control moved to Basingstoke, including the West of England main lineSalisbury to Exmouth Jn in 2012^[21] and the Poole -Wareham -Wool section of the line to Weymouth in 2015.

v t e Railways around Basingstoke
Legend
South West Main Line Reading–Basingstoke line Daneshill Sidings Basingstoke Junction Basingstoke (GWR) Basingstoke Goods Yard Thornycroft Works Basingstoke & Alton Light Rly Thornycroft Works Park Prewett Worting Junction Battledown Flyover West of England line South West Main Line

v t e Basingstoke & Alton Light Railway
Legend
South West Main Line toWaterloo Basingstoke South West Main Line toWeymouth Thornycroft sidings Viables level crossing Cliddesden Bushywarren Lane crossing Bagmore Lane crossing Herriard Salter Hatch crossing (Spain Lane) Bentworth and Lasham level crossing Treloar's Hospital Platform (private) Treloar's Hospital siding Alton line toBrookwood Alton Butts Junction Watercress Line toAlresford Meon Valley Railway toFareham

Services at Basingstoke are operated by threetrain operating companies, with the following off-peak services in trains per hour:

South Western Railway^[22]

• 7 tph toLondon Waterloo
• 2 tph toSalisbury, of which 1 continues toExeter St Davids
• 1 tph toPoole (stopping)
• 1 tph toWeymouth
• 1 tph toPortsmouth Harbour viaEastleigh

Great Western Railway^[23]

• 2 tph toReading

CrossCountry^[24]

• 1 tph toBournemouth
• 1 tph toManchester Piccadilly viaBirmingham New Street.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hook		South Western Railway Waterloo to Basingstoke		Terminus
Fleet or Farnborough (Main) or Woking or Clapham Junction		South Western Railway South West Main Line Fast/Semi-Fast Services		Winchester
		South Western Railway South West Main Line Stopping services		Micheldever
Woking		South Western Railway West of England Main Line		Andover orOverton
Reading		CrossCountry Bournemouth-Manchester		Winchester orSouthampton Airport Parkway
Bramley		Great Western Railway Reading to Basingstoke Line		Terminus
	Historical railways
Farnborough (Main)		Anglia Railways London Crosslink		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway		Cliddesden
Terminus		Park Prewett Hospital Railway		Park Prewett Hospital

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBasingstoke railway station.

• Basingstoke’s railway history in maps

• Train times andstation information for Basingstoke railway station fromNational Rail

• Basingstoke
• Railway stations in Hampshire
• DfT Category B stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1839
• Former London and South Western Railway stations
• Former Great Western Railway stations
• Railway stations served by CrossCountry
• Railway stations served by Great Western Railway
• Railway stations served by South Western Railway

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