Waterloo to Reading Line

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v • d • e Waterloo to Reading Line

Legend 0m 00ch London Waterloo Vauxhall Queenstown Road (Battersea) ◄ West London Line Clapham Junction South Western Main Line Wandsworth Town Point Pleasant Jn District route used by SWT diversions LU District (< Putney Br. || E. Putney >) Putney Barnes Hounslow Loop Line Vine Lane White Hart Lane Sheen Lane North Sheen North Sheen (Manor Road) LU District and LO NLL share tracks  from Richmond to Gunnersbury Richmond River Thames St Margarets Twickenham Kingston Loop Line Whitton Whitton Junction Hounslow Loop Line Feltham Junction Feltham Marshalling Yard (1917-1965) 14m 68ch Feltham for Heathrow Airport Bedfont Lane 17m 40ch Ashford (Surrey) 19m 02ch Staines Staines to Windsor & Eton Line River Thames Thorpe Lane Pooley Green M25 motorway 21m 02ch Egham Rusham 23m 15ch Virginia Water Chertsey Branch 25m 11ch Longcross London Road 26m 71ch Sunningdale 28m 79ch Ascot Ascot to Guildford line 31m 09ch Martins Heron 32m 24ch Bracknell Waterloo Road Star Lane Milepost Change 36m 34ch/61m 74ch North Downs Line 62m 08ch Wokingham M4 motorway 64m 10ch Winnersh 64m 72ch Winnersh Triangle 66m 01ch Earley River Kennet GWML to Paddington Reading Southern (1855-1965) 68m 68ch Reading Great Western Main Line to Bristol

The Waterloo to Reading Line is a suburban railway line in England operated by South West Trains (SWT) . With the connecting Hounslow Loop Line it forms the most northern line of the SWT franchise.
Other connecting lines of that franchise are:

• the Kingston Loop Line
• the Windsor Branch
• the Chertsey Branch
• the Ascot to Guildford Line

[edit] Opening Dates

• London to Richmond 27 July 1846 by the Richmond Railway, purchased by London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) 1847
• Richmond to Staines 22 August 1848: the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway under L&SWR auspices extended the line to Staines and Datchet (and to Windsor 1 December 1849).
• Staines to Ascot 4 June 1856: the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway (worked by the L&SWR).
• extension to Wokingham 9 July 1856: to join the South Eastern Railway line to Reading which opened in 1849.

The line was electrified on the DC third rail system, initially at 660 volts, in sections:

• Waterloo to Twickenham flyover (for Kingston Loop) 30 January 1916
• Twickenham to Whitton Junction (for Hounslow Loop) 12 March 1916
• Whitton Junction to Windsor 6 July 1930.^[1]
• Virginia Water to Ascot and Reading South 1 January 1931.^{[dubious – discuss]}

The Waterloo to Reading line with its many stations and suburban nature is a slower line than the Great Western Main Line but fares are usually lower than those between Paddington and Reading. Many users are commuters to London, not travellers between the termini.

[edit] River Crane Bridge Collapse

In the early hours of Sunday 15th November 2009, a bridge carrying the line over the River Crane at Feltham partially collapsed, causing all services to be halted between Feltham and Whitton, and also between Feltham and Hounslow. A temporary solution was put in place by laying a line across the disused Feltham Marshalling yard with a 20mph speed limit. The temporary line opened on Monday 23/11/09. This will allow train services to be restored, and the original bridge to be demolished and rebuilt.

[edit] External Link

Collapsed Bridge

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