Staines
Main station entrance on the London-bound side
General information
Location	Staines-upon-Thames,Spelthorne England
Grid reference	TQ042714
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SNS
Classification	DfT category C2
History
Opened	22 August 1848
Passengers
2019/20	2.678 million
Interchange	0.309 million
2020/21	0.593 million
Interchange	60,975
2021/22	1.618 million
Interchange	0.175 million
2022/23	1.980 million
Interchange	0.255 million
2023/24	2.081 million
Interchange	0.286 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Staines railway station is on theWaterloo to Reading line and is the junction station for the divergingWindsor line, in southernEngland to the west ofLondon. It is 19 miles 2 chains (30.6 km) down the line fromLondon Waterloo. It serves the town ofStaines-upon-Thames inSurrey, England.

The station was opened on 22 August 1848 by the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway, as part of its line fromRichmond toDatchet. The line was further extended from Datchet toWindsor & Eton Riverside on 1 December 1849, by which time the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway had become part of theLondon and South Western Railway (LSWR). The junction at Staines, together with the line toWokingham was authorised in 1853 and built by the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway, opening as far asAscot on 4 June 1856 and onwards to Wokingham on 9 July 1856. From the outset, the line was leased to, and operated by, the LSWR, who purchased it outright in 1878. From Wokingham, LSWR trains continued toReading Southern usingrunning powers over theSouth Eastern Railway (SER).^[1][2][3][4]

In thegrouping of railways in 1923, the LSWR and SER became part of theSouthern Railway. In 1930 the Windsor line waselectrified on thethird rail system at a nominal 660voltsDC. The line towards Reading was electrified as far asVirginia Water in 1937, and throughout by 1939.^[2]

The Southern Railway was nationalised along with the rest of the railway network in 1948 and incorporated intoBritish Railways. Following theprivatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, the operation of Staines station and the trains serving it were transferred to theSouth West Trainstrain operating company, owned by theStagecoach Group, whilst ownership and management of the track and infrastructure passed toRailtrack and, subsequently,Network Rail.

A refurbishment of the station was completed in November 2008 withticket barriers on the platforms and a renovated ticket office. Wheelchair access to the platforms was provided by a new footbridge with lifts.

The station serves the town ofStaines-upon-Thames inSurrey in southernEngland to the west ofLondon and is a pre-junction/junction station for the divergingWindsor line.^{[n 1]} The Windsor Line, a branch of the longer route to Reading laid out as the original destination for the lines from London via Staines, is due to quirk of naming conventions in the rail sector, rarely referred to as abranch line. Both lines are traditionally referred to as "the Windsor Lines" and the passenger lobby group influencing the service pattern of the lines is named the Windsor Lines Passenger Group.^{[n 2]} The station is managed bySouth Western Railwayon a contract awarded by recurring private franchise, who continue passenger services to/fromLondon Waterloo as since the middle of the 20th century toReading,Windsor & Eton Riverside andWeybridge.

The station was one of three – the others wereStaines High Street, on the Windsor line, andStaines West, the terminus of a defunct branch of a main west-facing route fromWest Drayton to the north. To distinguish it from the others during their existence the station was known asStaines Central,Staines Junction andStaines Old.^[5][6]

All services at Staines are operated bySouth Western Railway.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[7]

• 6 tph toLondon Waterloo (2 of these are stopping services viaHounslow and 4 are semi-fast viaRichmond)
• 2 tph toWeybridge
• 2 tph toReading viaBracknell
• 2 tph toWindsor & Eton Riverside

Additional services, including trains to and fromCamberley andAldershot call at the station during the peak hours.

On Sundays, the stopping services between Weybridge and London Waterloo are reduced to hourly and westbound trains run to and fromWoking instead of Weybridge.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Feltham		South Western Railway Waterloo to Reading Line		Egham
Ashford		South Western Railway Chertsey Branch Line
		South Western Railway Staines to Windsor Line		Wraysbury
Historical railways
Feltham		Anglia Railways London Crosslink		Woking

London Buses routes117 and290,White Bus route 438, Carlone route X442 andSullivan Buses routes 950 toThorpe Park and 951 serve the station.^[8]

On 9 August 1957, a light engine (a700 class 0-6-0) was being moved from the up loop across the up main to the down main, and the signals were correctly set for this movement – amongst other things, this meant that the starting signal for the up platform was at danger. Despite this, an electric train bound for Waterloo set off from the platform, travelled 215 yards (197 m) and collided almost head-on with the light engine, which overturned injuring both of its crew – the driver's leg was broken. The leading coach of the electric train was severely damaged; the motorman and twelve of the seventy passengers sustained minor injuries.^[9]

Since 2000, a number oftransport proposals have been put forward to improve rail connections with Heathrow Airport. TheHeathrow Airtrack scheme, proposed in 2000 byBAA, envisaged the creation of a direct rail service fromHeathrow Airport via Staines toWaterloo. The scheme would have involved reopening part of the disusedStaines and West Drayton line and the construction of aspur line toHeathrow Terminal 5. A new station was also planned close to the site of the formerStaines High Street railway station. The new link would also have enabled the existingHeathrow Express service to be extended from Heathrow to terminate at Staines.^[10][11] Heathrow Airtrack was abandoned in 2011 due to forecast problems with the large number oflevel crossings on the route into London.^[12][13]

A further scheme for new rail links to Heathrow via Staines is currently at the proposal stage. TheHeathrow Southern Railway was put forward by a business consortium to create links west of Heathrow Airport with theWaterloo–Reading line, theGreat Western Main Line and theHounslow Loop Line, including a link to Staines.

References

Notes

• Media related toStaines railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times andstation information for Staines railway station fromNational Rail

51°25′55″N0°30′11″W / 51.432°N 0.503°W /51.432; -0.503

• Railway stations in Surrey
• DfT Category C2 stations
• Former London and South Western Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848
• Railway stations served by South Western Railway
• Staines-upon-Thames

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