Epsom railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Epsom


manager = Southern
locale = Epsom
borough = Epsom and Ewell
code = EPS
usage0405 = 3.269
usage0506 = 3.281
usage0607 = 3.429
platforms = 4
start = 1 February 1859

Epsom railway station is the main railway station for Epsom in the county of Surrey. It is located off Waterloo Road, near to the High Street.

The station should not be confused with Epsom Downs station which is the terminus of a single branch line from Sutton at the edge of the boundary of the borough Epsom and Ewell with Reigate and Banstead.

ervices from this station

Services are operated by South West Trains and Southern. Trains serve a variety of destinations including Central London (with Waterloo, Victoria & London Bridge served), Clapham Junction, Wimbledon, Worcester Park, Balham, West Croydon, Sutton, Leatherhead, Effingham Junction, Guildford, Dorking and Horsham.

The typical off-peak service pattern is as follows:

*2tph to London Victoria via Sutton (fast service)
*2tph to London Victoria via Sutton and Hackbridge
*1tph to London Victoria via Sutton, West Croydon and Norbury. After 7pm this service is diverted via Crystal Palace rather than Norbury.
*4tph to London Waterloo via Wimbledon
*3tph to Dorking
*1tph to Horsham via Dorking
*2tph to Guildford via Effingham Junction

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History

The railway first reached the town in 1847 when an extension of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) from West Croydon was opened with a terminus in Upper High Street. This station was initially named Epsom but subsequently renamed Epsom Town.

In 1859 a joint venture between the LBSCR and the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) extended the LSWR from Wimbledon to Epsom, where it joined with the LBSCR, and then ran on to Leatherhead. The lines were connected south of the LBSCR station and a new Epsom station was established on the present site. However competition between the companies remained and the new station was operated by the LSWR only, with the tracks configured so that LBSCR trains ran non-stop on the central rails.

In 1867 the line was extended further south from Leatherhead to Dorking and Horsham, whilst in 1885 a second branch from Leatherhead was built to Effingham Junction where it connected to the existing line from Surbiton to Guildford. These extensions served to provide greater connections for Epsom to much of the rest of Surrey.

After the First World War, the railway companies were rationalised and merged into the Southern Railway which set about removing duplication from the railway system. Epsom Town was closed in 1929, (though some of the building remains in an abandoned, bricked up form, located behind modern developments on Upper High Street though more visible from the line from Ewell East) and the tracks at Epsom were rearranged so that the two island platforms provided cross-platform interchange.

When the Thameslink services started in 1988 its secondary southern route ran to Epsom via Elephant & Castle to West Croydon and Sutton, continuing beyond to Guildford. However the onset of rail privatisation made it difficult to maintain a line running across two other companies' commuter routes and services to Epsom were withdrawn in 1994. One of the proposals for the "Thameslink 2000" project (later renamed "Thameslink 2010") is to restore services as part of a massive expansion of that network.

For many years the southern end of the platforms had a large signal box above them but this was demolished in the early 1990s.

Kevin Craswell incident

On 3 March 2006, in a widely reported incident, a drunken man crawled on to the tracks at the station, collapsed and fell asleep across the rails, "using the track as a pillow". Many trains were disrupted just before the Friday afternoon rush hour when 48-year-old Kevin Craswell, from nearby Ashtead, lay down and rested his head on a rail, a few inches from the electrified (750V) third rail. Had he touched this while in contact with the ground, he would have been electrocuted. Power had to be cut for approximately 15 minutes over a 3-mile stretch of track while Craswell was woken and taken to hospital. Network Rail stated that the cost of the disruption exceeded £7,000. Craswell, who was filmed by a police helicopter - the noise of which failed to wake him - was fined £560 and given 180 hours' community service. [cite web|title=This is London: The boss who fell asleep on a railway track|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23378371-details/The+boss+who+fell+asleep+on+a+railway+track/article.do] [cite web|title=Telegraph.co.uk: The railway sleeper|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/16/nrail16.xml] [cite web|title=Independent Online: The real story behind the "drunk director" asleep on the track|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2081660.ece] [cite web|title=BBC News: Man fell asleep on railway line|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/6182155.stm] [cite web|title=icCroydon: Man asleep on railway track cheated death|url=http://iccroydon.icnetwork.co.uk/news/headlines/tm_headline=man-asleep-on-railway-track-cheated-death&method=full&objectid=18249742&siteid=53340-name_page.html]

Derailment Incident: 12th September 2006

Train 2D57, the 19:09 hrs service from London Waterloo to Effingham Junction, became derailed on the approach to Epsom station, Surrey, at about 19:42 hrs on Tuesday 12 September 2006. The train was formed of 8 coaches, consisting of two four-car class 455 electric multiple units (EMUs). The leading bogie of the fourth coach was derailed by both axles towards the left as it passed over a set of trailing points on a right-hand curve, while the train was travelling at about 17 miles per hour (27 km/h). The train came to a stop partially in Epsom station, and all the passengers on board were quickly evacuated onto the station platform. There were no injuries, and there was only minor damage to the train and the track.

As the train approached Epsom, the driver shut off power and reduced speed to complywith the 20 mph permanent speed restriction round the curve into the station, entering thecurve at 19.2 mph (30.9 km/h). He felt a judder, and looked back, observing blue flashesand smoke from the rear of the train. He assumed there was a fault with the train, andattempted to coast into the station. As the fourth coach came into his field of vision, thedriver saw that it was derailed and made an emergency brake application. The train thenstopped within five seconds.

In the report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into the accident, the maintenance of track and switching gear was heavily criticised. The removal of a remote rail lubricator by Network Rail was also criticised. [Rail Accident Investigation Branch Rail Accident Report: Derailment at Epsom 12 September 2006 http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources/070913_R342007_Epsom.pdf]

Typical off-peak journey times from Epsom

Based on the December 2006 - May 2007 timetable Frequency in trains per hour

External links

* [http://www.southernrailway.com/routes.php?r=7&m=route Route Map and Timetable for Sutton & Mole Valley Line]

References