Reedham | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Reedham Location of Reedham in Greater London | |
| Location | Purley |
| Local authority | London Borough of Croydon |
| Grid reference | TQ309606 |
| Managed by | Southern |
| Station code | RHM |
| DfT category | E |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| Fare zone | 6 |
| National Rail annual entry and exit | |
| 2020–21 |  36,292[1] |
| 2021–22 |  69,216[1] |
| 2022–23 | 97,464[1] |
| 2023–24 | 94,736[1] |
| 2024–25 | 0.106 million[1] |
| Railway companies | |
| Original company | South Eastern Railway |
| Pre-grouping | South Eastern and Chatham Railway |
| Post-grouping | Southern Railway |
| Key dates | |
| 1 March 1911 | Opened asReedham Halt |
| 1 January 1917 | Closed |
| 1 January 1919 | Reopened |
| 5 July 1936 | RenamedReedham |
| 12 May 1980 | RenamedReedham (Surrey) |
| Other information | |
| External links | |
| Coordinates | 51°19′53″N0°07′24″W / 51.3313°N 0.1233°W /51.3313; -0.1233 |
 London transport portal | |
Reedham railway station is in the south ofPurley in theLondon Borough of Croydon on theTattenham Corner line. The local area is residential and the station is near theA23 Brighton Road. It is 15 miles 65 chains (25.4 km) measured fromLondon Charing Cross. TheBrighton Main Line is adjacent, but is not served by this station.
Although occasionally referred to asReedham (London),[2] it is most commonly suffixed asReedham (Surrey) (despite not officially being part of Surrey county since the creation of the London borough of Croydon in 1965) in order to distinguish it from thestation of the same name in Norfolk. Its three-letter station code is RHM.[3]
The station was opened by theSouth Eastern and Chatham Railway on itsbranch line to Tattenham Corner asReedham Halt on 1 March 1911.[4][5][6][7] Situated 49 chains (990 m) fromPurley railway station, it was built with 300-foot (91 m) long platforms and adjoined an overbridge crossing Old Lodge Lane inPurley.[8] It took its name from the nearbyReedham Asylum for Fatherless Children,[8][9] founded inRichmond by philanthropistAndrew Reed in 1844.[10] The asylum was renamed Reedham Orphanage in 1904 and Reedham School in 1950.[citation needed] It closed in 1980, but the trust which ran it still occupies the original lodge (gatehouse) of the estate.[10]
After a period of temporary wartime closure between 1917 and 1919,[5][6][11][7] thehalt became a station on 5 July 1936.[5][6][11][12] On 12 May 1980, the suffix "Surrey" was added to the station's name to distinguish it fromReedham (Norfolk).[6] Some timetables used to refer to the station as "Reedham (GLC)".[12] Having first been lengthened in advance of electrification of the line in 1928,[13] the platforms were again extended in 1982 to take eight-car trains[12] in the days when a train had both a driver and a guard.[citation needed] However nowadays, due to lack of station CCTV to assist the driver to close the doors safely, trains without train-mounted external cameras are only permitted to open the doors on the first four carriages.[citation needed]
A new passenger footbridge was installed in late 2013, removing the existing disabled access;[14] the platforms were also resurfaced. A request for full disabled access was made to Network Rail and declined in 2014.[15]
It has Croydon's lowest passenger count in 2016[16] and it was the scene of a fatality in 2017.[17][18] The council car park at Reedham was used as Network Rail's base to replace one of the rail bridges adjacent to the station over Christmas 2016.[19]
The telecommunications mast adjacent to the station was increased in size again in 2017 to 25m from 22.5m inline with the planning permission granted in 2016.[20]
It was initially proposed that from 2018, when theThameslink Programme is completed, services on this line would be operated with larger 12 car trains offering all day direct services toCambridge viaLondon Blackfriars.[21] However, in September 2016, these proposals have been dropped; instead, services on the Tattenham Corner Line are to "remain as SouthernSouth London Metro services with increased capacity as compared to today".[22]
All services at Reedham are operated bySouthern usingClass 377EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[23]
On Sundays, the service is reduced to hourly and runs between Tattenham Corner andPurley only. Passengers for London Bridge have to change at Purley.
In May 2018, as part of theThameslink Programme, the service frequency was increased from 2 to 4 trains per hour, although this has subsequently been reduced back to 2 trains per hour following theCOVID-19 pandemic.[24]
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern | ||||
London Buses route 312 provides service to the station. Additionally, several other routes, including 60, 166, 405, 434, 466, and Night Route N68, offer convenient stops within a 2-5 minute walking distance from the station.
