Staines–Windsor line
AClass 450 unit atWindsor & Eton Riverside station withWindsor Castle behind
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Berkshire,Surrey
Service
Type	Suburban rail,Heavy rail
System	National Rail
History
Opened	1848/9
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DCThird rail
Route map (Click to expand)

TheStaines–Windsor line is a 6-mile-46-ch (10.6 km) railway line inBerkshire andSurrey, England. It branches from theWaterloo–Reading line atStaines-upon-Thames and runs to its western terminus atWindsor via intermediate stations atWraysbury,Sunnymeads andDatchet. All of the stations are managed bySouth Western Railway, which operates all passenger trains. Most services run betweenWindsor & Eton Riverside station andLondon Waterloo viaRichmond andClapham Junction.

The line was promoted by the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WSSWR). The first section, betweenStaines and Datchet, opened on 22 August 1848. It was extended to a temporary station at Windsor on 1 December 1849. The permanent terminus, now known as Windsor & Eton Riverside station, was designed byWilliam Tite and opened on 1 May 1851. TheLondon and South Western Railway, which had operated all passenger services from the outset, took over the WSSWR in June 1850. TheSouthern Railway was responsible for electrifying the line with the 750VDC third-rail system in 1930.

v t e Staines–Windsor line
Legend
Windsor & Eton Riverside Black Potts Bridge overRiver Thames Black Potts Viaduct overJubilee River Mays Level Crossing (MCB-CCTV) B470 Datchet Level Crossing (MCB-CCTV) Datchet Sunnymeads Wraysbury Colne Brook M25 River Wraysbury Staines & West Drayton Railway toWest Drayton World War II link (1940–1947) A30 Reversing point for oil trains Oil terminal link (1981–1991) Oil terminal (1964–1991) Staines West River Colne Staines High Street Waterloo–Reading line toReading Staines Waterloo–Reading line toLondon Waterloo

The Staines–Windsor line is a railway line inBerkshire andSurrey, England. It runs for 6 miles 46 ch (10.6 km) from its terminus at Windsor & Eton Riverside station to anat-grade junction with theWaterloo–Reading line at the west end ofStaines station, 19 mi 2 ch (30.6 km) down the line fromLondon Waterloo. There are intermediate stations atDatchet,Sunnymeads andWraysbury,^[1] and the maximum permitted speed is 60 mph (97 km/h).^[1][2] The line iselectrified using the 750VDC third-rail system and is double tracked throughout. Signalling is controlled by Basingstokerail operating centre andTrack Circuit Block is in operation.^[1][2] Between Windsor & Eton Riverside and Datchet stations, there are two level crossings and the line crosses theRiver Thames atBlack Potts Railway Bridge.^[1][3]

The stations on the branch are managed bySouth Western Railway, which operates all services.^[4] All stations have two operational platforms each.^[5][a] Thebuffer stop at Windsor & Eton Riverside is 25 miles 48 ch (41.2 km) down the line from London Waterloo, when measured viaTwickenham.^[1] The off-peak service pattern is two trains per hour in each direction calling at all stations between Windsor & Eton Riverside and Twickenham, thenRichmond,Putney,Clapham Junction,Vauxhall and London Waterloo. Off-peak trains from Windsor & Eton Riverside typically reach Staines in around 15 minutes^[2] and London Waterloo in around 55 minutes.^[4]

The first proposal for a railway toWindsor was made by the Windsor, Slough and Staines Atmospheric Railway (WSSAR) company. Its engineer,Charles Vignoles, proposed two lines, one linking the town toSlough and the other toStaines, which would have crossed the Thames together atRomney Island.^[12][b] A bill was prepared and was given its first reading in theHouse of Commons on 13 February 1846.^[14] After scrutiny by aselect committee, parliament declined to consider the scheme any further on 19 May of that year.^[15]

In the late 1840s, there was an intense rivalry between theLondon and South Western Railway (LSWR) and theGreat Western Railway (GWR), both of which wanted to be first to open a railway to Windsor.^[16] The board of the WSSAR joined with representatives of the LSWR and the Staines and Richmond Railway, to propose a standard gauge line to Windsor via Staines.^[17] The new company, known as the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WSSWR), employedJoseph Locke to design the new railway. Locke proposed two separate undertakings: a railway line from Richmond to Datchet via Staines and a loop line connectingBarnes andHounslow.^[18][c]

In early 1847, the GWR and WSSWR submitted separate bills to parliament for railways to Windsor. The GWR bill was rejected on 11 June, but the second scheme was approved two weeks later.^[18][d]Thomas Brassey was paid £111,700 to construct the WSSWR from Richmond to Datchet.^[19] The LSWR agreed to lease the line for a 4.5% capital return and payment of half of the operating profits.^[20]

The first section of the Staines–Windsor line opened on 22 August 1848. The western terminus was at Datchet and passengers for Windsor were required to catch astagecoach to complete their journeys.^[19][21][e] The initial weekday service, operated by the LSWR, was 15 daily trains to London Waterloo and 12 trains to Windsor.^[19] A provisional agreement between the WSSWR and the Crown to continue the line to Windsor was reached that month, but was not formalised until 14 February 1849, by which time the extension was under construction.^[22][f] Formal powers for the Datchet–Windsor section were granted on 26 June of that year.^[19]

The WSSWR hoped to be able to open the extension to Windsor during August 1849, but on the 9th of that month, a crack appeared in one of the girders of the Black Potts Railway Bridge, requiring urgent structural repairs.^[19][24][g] As a result of the delay, the GWR, which had obtained authorisation for its own line, openedthe first railway station in Windsor on 8 October that year.^[19][25] The WSSWR finally opened its temporary terminus in Windsor on 1 December 1849.^[23][25]

The LSWR, which had leased the line from the outset, took over the WSSWR on 30 June 1850.^[20][26] The permanent terminus at Windsor opened on 1 May 1851.^[20][27] Designed byWilliam Tite in the Tudor-Gothic style, it included a private waiting room provided forQueen Victoria and her attendants.^[28][29] The three 700 ft (210 m) platforms were spanned by a single roof and the enlarged signal box had 44 levers.^[30] Initially trains stopped outside of the trainshed to allow the locomotives to be detached, before the carriages were hauled by rope into the station. This practice ceased in June 1868, following an accident in which a set of carriages crashed into the buffer stop.^[31]

The two original intermediate stations on the line were rebuilt after their initial openings. In April 1861, Wraysbury station was resited around 26 chains (520 m) southeast of its original site. A new brick-built station building was opened at Datchet on 10 October 1888, replacing the originaltimber structure.^[32]

The Staines West Curve was opened withStaines High Street station on 1 July 1884.^[26][33] It enabled direct trains to run between Windsor andEgham, without the need for reversal. From 1 May 1889, the service was extended southwestwards toWoking viaChertsey. By 1911, there were only four timetabled passenger trains using the curve on weekdays.^[26] Staines High Street station closed on 30 January 1916.^[11] The Staines West Curve was used again between 1921 and 1930 for a Windsor-Waterloo via Chertsey service, but the High Street station did not reopen.^[26] Sunnymeads station, configured with a singleisland platform, opened on 10 July 1927.^[9][34]

The line was earmarked for electrification in 1927 and work began in late 1929 with the first electric trains running on the Staines–Windsor line on 6 July 1930.^[35] Initially the off-peak service was half-hourly to Waterloo with trains running non-stop east of Richmond. Additional services ran via Hounslow at peak times.^[35] From summer 1936,2-NOLelectric multiple units worked the line,^[35][36] but were replaced by4-SUB units in December 1957. The latter had a brief tenure on the line, being replaced byClass 415 units the following May.Class 414 units were also used on the line from the late 1950s.^[37]Class 707 trains were introduced in August 2017^[38] and the firstClass 701 units ran in passenger service on the line in January 2024.^[39]

Between 1897 and 1940, coal was delivered from the Staines-Windsor line to theMetropolitan Water Board pumping station in London Road, Staines, via a3⁄4 mi (1.2 km) private siding.^[40] The goods yards on the line closed in the early 1960s;^[36][41] the shutting of the yard at Wraysbury in 1962, was followed by the closure of the signal box in March 1965.^[41] A major resignalling project took place in the mid-1970s, which resulted in the line being controlled from Feltham area signalling centre. The scheme was commissioned on 8 September 1974^[42] and the signal box at Windsor and Eton Riverside closed the same day.^[43] Datchet signal box was retained for three months to operate the level crossing, but closed on 17 December 1974 when control was transferred to Feltham.^[44] A second major resignalling project took place in the early 2020s. when control of the line was transferred to Basingstoke rail operating centre.^[45][46]

The LSWR opposed a junction with theStaines & West Drayton Railway but three separate connections have existed. The earliest was through the sidings of the Staines Linoleum Company^[47] and would have required use of turntables or reversals to pass wagons between the lines. During the Second World War, a single-track spur was laid from just south ofYeoveney Halt to just west of the site of Staines High Street station, to provide an alternative should cross-London routes be blocked by bomb damage;^[48] this link existed from 23 June 1940 to 16 December 1947 but was little used.^[49] The last, laid in 1981 when the Staines West branch was severed by theM25 motorway, was to an oil terminal built in the former goods yard ofStaines West station^[48] and lasted until 1991.

TheAirTrack scheme, proposed in 2008 to provide a new link toHeathrow Airport, included a station near the site of the former Staines High Street station.^[50] TheWindsor Link Railway also proposed a route for southern rail access to Heathrow, as well as linking the line toSlough via a tunnel in Windsor.^[51]

• Media related toStaines to Windsor Line at Wikimedia Commons

• Rail transport in Berkshire
• Railway lines opened in 1849
• Railway lines in South East England
• 1849 establishments in England

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