Purley railway station

Infobox London station
name = Purley


manager = Southern
zone = 6
locale = Purley
borough = London Borough of Croydon
platforms = 6
railexits0405 = 1.902
railexits0506 = 1.891
railexits0607 = 2.524
railcode = PUR
years = 12 July 1841
events = Opened (Godstone Road)
years1 = 1 October 1847
events1 = Closed
years1 = 1 October 1888
events1 = Reopened (Purley)
years2 = 4 March 1989
events2 = Rail crash

Purley railway station is at Purley in the London Borough of Croydon, on the main London to Brighton line, in Travelcard Zone 6. It is a junction, with branches to Caterham and Tattenham Corner. There are sidings used by the Day and Son gravel company, part of whose installation has been given a visual treatment intended to resemble a signal box. Trains of aggregates from Cliffe are dealt with here.

The old cafe - now the stores - on platform six is said to be haunted by an old signalman and his pet wolfhound.

The station was opened by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) on 12 July 1841 as Godstone Road, seven miles from that village. It closed on 1 October 1847. On 5 August 1856 the Caterham branch opened, joining the main line at the site of the old station. At the time there was intense rivalry for the use of the main line between the South Eastern Railway (SER), in whose territory the new branch stood, and the LBSCR. The Caterham Railway had to sue the LBSCR to get the junction station reopened: this happened three months later, as Caterham Junction, renamed Purley on 1 October 1888.

The Purley Station rail crash on 4 March 1989 occurred just to the north of the station, and left five dead and 94 injured.

On the night of Friday 5th July 2002 a fire occurred on the 23:15 from Caterham train. A person on the platform reported seeing a fire from that train. A rail attendant from Purley station tackled the fire. He was taken to Mayday Hospital in Croydon where he later died. The British Transport Police ruled it out as arson.

Lift Installation works

From October 2007, the subway to platforms were closed while new lifts to platforms are installed. (They are open now) During this work a temporary footbridge has been installed at the northern end of the platforms and in order to access platforms from the main entrance passengers are required to use the permanent staircase to platform 1 and walk the length of the platform to the temporary footbridge. During that time Platform 1 was completely closed - although this doesn't often receive heavy usage during usual service (see below) fencing has been placed along the edge of this platform.

Platforms

Platform 1 & 2 are normally used only on Saturdays and when engineering works dictate. On weekdays, fast services on the Brighton Main Line make no stops between East Croydon and Brighton: these trains, together with Gatwick Express services, pass through platforms 1 & 2 without stopping. Platform 3 is used for mainline services to London Bridge and London Victoria.

Platform 4 is used for mainline southbound services to Horsham, as well as weekend services to Bognor Regis.

Platform 5 & 6 serve the branchlines to Tattenham Corner and Caterham. Both these platforms can be used by trains in either direction, though platform 5 is primarily northbound towards London and platform 6 is usually southbound.

Services

The typical off-peak train service per hour is:

*2 to London Victoria via East Croydon and Norbury
*6 to London Bridge via East Croydon
*2 to London Charing Cross
*4 to Caterham
*4 to Smitham, two of which continue to Tattenham Corner
*1 to Tunbridge Wells via Tonbridge
*1 to Horsham via Gatwick Airport

External links

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