Aldershot railway station

For the train station in Canada, see Aldershot GO Station.

Aldershot
Aldershot railway station
Location
Place	Aldershot
Local authority	Rushmoor
Operations
Station code	AHT
Managed by	South West Trains
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	1.121 million
2005/06 *	1.196 million
2006/07 *	1.277 million
2007/08 *	1.415 million
2008/09 *	1.441 million
2009/10 *	1.407 million
History
Opened 2 May 1870 (2 May 1870)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Aldershot from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Ascot to Guildford Line

Legend Distances in miles and chains from London Waterloo. Waterloo to Reading Line 28m 79ch Ascot 32m 08ch Bagshot 35m 30ch Camberley 37m 48ch Frimley North Downs Line Milepost change South Western Main Line North Camp 32m 38ch Alton Line 32m 38ch Ash Vale Basingstoke Canal Ash Lock AldershotTrains Reverse Alton Line Ash Wanborough Portsmouth Direct Line, New Guildford Line Guildford Portsmouth Direct Line North Downs Line

Aldershot railway station is on Station Road, near the town centre of Aldershot, Hampshire, England. It is on the Alton Line, part of the National Rail network, with train services and station facilities provided by South West Trains.

Aldershot railway station has the three-letter code AHT. This code is used, for example, to pinpoint Aldershot when using National Rail Live Departure Boards. The station's National Location Code (NLC) is 5623. This code can be seen on tickets issued by the ticket office. Tickets issued by the ticket vending machine show the location 3130. Work started on 8 December 2008 to install ticket gates to help combat fare evasion.

History

Opened by the London and South Western Railway, it became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Services

Train destinations are normally London Waterloo, Alton, Guildford and Ascot.

The typical off-peak service (Monday to Saturday) from the station is:

• 2tph (trains per hour) to London Waterloo
• 2tph to Alton
• 2tph to Guildford
• 2tph to Ascot (Berks)

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ash Vale		South West Trains Alton Line		Farnham
		South West Trains Ascot to Guildford line		Ash

Ticket machines

New ticket vending machine.

There are 2 new TicketXpress ticket vending machines which now reside outside the entrance to the booking hall, making them accessible when the station booking hall is closed. They are available at all times, except when remotely disabled when there is no service, such as at Christmas. These new machines sell tickets to many stations in Great Britain and accept major credit and debit cards.

The QuickFare self-service ticket machine (removed October 2006) accepted coins and banknotes and issued tickets to a variety of local destinations, as well as issuing tickets for the station car park. Discounts were available for holders of most Railcards. QuickFare ticket machines were used by British Rail and the Train Companies for many years, providing easy access to tickets at unstaffed stations and at times when ticket offices were closed.

The QuickFare ticket machine at Aldershot station was located inside the booking hall on platform one. The spot where it once stood is now occupied by the "scu" (the control centre that operates the new gateline).

Rolling stock

Most passenger trains seen at this station are formed of new Class 450 Desiro four-car units. Many Guildford to Ascot services are formed of Class 458 Juniper units. Class 444 Desiro five-car units are seen from time to time.

Up to 2005, ex-British Rail slam-door EMUs were used on the Alton Line, many of which were berthed at the carriage sidings south of Farnham station. The carriage shed at Farnham was built in 1937 around the time that the line was electrified.

The most commonly seen EMUs in recent years were Class 411, Class 421 and Class 423 units. These trains were withdrawn in 2005. A very small number of these EMU units survived to move to the Lymington Branch.

Platforms

Aldershot railway station, showing (from left to right) platforms 3, 2 and 1.

There are three platforms at this station. Platform 1 is served by trains bound for Woking and London Waterloo. Trains from Platform 2 are usually bound for Ascot and Alton. Platform 3 is usually served by Guildford. (During periods of weekend engineering work, these can be subject to change, for example when trains to Ascot may leave from Platform 1 and trains to London may leave from Platform 2. The information screens on the station indicate the destinations of trains on each platform.)

Platforms 2 and 3 are reached by way of the subway, which has its entrance on Platform 1. Wheelchair users are escorted to these platforms by the station platform staff, by way of a supervised crossing.

Near the track, beyond platform 3, is a yellow milepost showing 35, the mileage from London Waterloo. As trains approach Farnham to the south, the mileage suddenly jumps to a higher one. This is because mileages between the site of Farnham Junction (by the electric substation just before the A31 flyover bridge) and Alresford (the end of the line that once continued to Winchester) are reckoned from Charing Cross in London. The line from Waterloo and Aldershot is significantly later than the line through Farnham.

Gallery

• 

  The station in the snow.

• 

  Station platforms.

• 

  QuickFare ticket machine

• 

  A 1912 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Aldershot railway station

External links

• Train times and station information for Aldershot railway station from National Rail

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199. 
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137. 
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687. 
• Station on navigable O.S. map