Ash Vale  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The station in September 2005 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Ash Vale,Guildford England | ||||
| Grid reference | SU892533 | ||||
| Managed by | South Western Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | AHV | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 2 May 1870 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.421 million | ||||
| Interchange | 81,604 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 88,390 | ||||
| Interchange | 15,343 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.227 million | ||||
| Interchange | 44,113 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.303 million | ||||
| Interchange | 68,635 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.328 million | ||||
| Interchange | 91,576 | ||||
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Ash Vale railway station serves the village ofAsh Vale, inSurrey, England. It is at the junction of theLondon to Alton line and theAscot–Ash Vale line, 32 miles 38 chains (52.3 km) down the line fromLondon Waterloo. The station and all trains serving it are operated bySouth Western Railway.
Ash Vale station is on anembankment[1]: 48 and is adjacent to theBasingstoke Canal.[2]: Fig. 1 It is around half a mile fromNorth Camp station on theNorth Downs Line.[3]
The station was opened by theLondon and South Western Railway on 2 May 1870, under the name of "North Camp and Ash Vale" and was given its present name on 30 March 1924.[2]: Fig. 1 It became part of theSouthern Railway as a result of theGrouping of 1923.
Electrification of the line between Woking and Farnham was completed in January 1937 and of the branch to Ascot two years later.[4]: 93 Responsibility for the station passed to theSouthern Region of British Railways onnationalisation in 1948. The original main station building on the south side had to be demolished due to subsidence; the current replacement dates from 1972.[2]: Fig. 4
Whensectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served byNetwork SouthEast until theprivatisation of British Rail.
Train movements in the Ash Vale station area and the junction beyond were controlled by Ash Vale Junction signal box, constructed in June 1879.[5] The signal box, complete with its four residents and cover staff, operated 24 hours a day, 364 days a year; it closed in 2014[6] and was demolished two years later.[7]: 24–25
In 1952, the booking clerk at Ash Vale was murdered following a hold-up by a fellow rail worker.[8][9]
On the evening of 29 August 1990, aClass 421electric multiple unit working a Guildford to Ascot service derailed at Ash Vale Junction. All four carriages remained upright; 20 passengers were evacuated by military personnel and escorted to Ash Vale station.[10][11]
The route is operated bySouth Western Railway, with the following services:[12]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brookwood orWoking | South Western Railway Alton Line | Aldershot | ||
| Frimley | South Western Railway Ascot–Ash Vale line | |||
