The station platforms looking east, and showing the newer footbridge.The station platforms looking west, and showing the older footbridge.From the old footbridge, the junction of the Reading (left) and Windsor (right) lines can be seen.
The station was opened on 22 August 1848 by the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway, as part of its line from Richmond to Datchet. The line was further extended from Datchet to Windsor & Eton Riverside on 1 December 1849, by which time the Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway had become part of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The junction at Staines, together with the line to Wokingham was authorised in 1853 and built by the Staines, Wokingham and Woking Junction Railway, opening as far as Ascot on 4 June 1856 and onwards to Wokingham on 9 July 1856. From the outset, the line was leased to, and operated by, the LSWR, who purchased it outright in 1878. From Wokingham, LSWR trains continued to Reading Southern using running powers over the South Eastern Railway (SER).[1][2][3][4]
A refurbishment of the station was completed in November 2008 with ticket barriers on the platforms and a renovated ticket office. Wheelchair access to the platforms was provided by a new footbridge with lifts.
Setting and previous name
The station serves the town of Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey in southern England to the west of London and is a pre-junction/junction station for the diverging Windsor line.[n 1] The Windsor Line, a branch of the longer route to Reading laid out as the original destination for the lines from London via Staines, is due to quirk of naming conventions in the rail sector, rarely referred to as a branch line. Both lines are traditionally referred to as "the Windsor Lines" and the passenger lobby group influencing the service pattern of the lines is named the Windsor Lines Passenger Group.[n 2] The station is managed by South Western Railwayon a contract awarded by recurring private franchise, who continue passenger services to/from London Waterloo as since the middle of the 20th century to Reading, Windsor & Eton Riverside and Weybridge.
The station was one of three – the others were Staines High Street, on the Windsor line, and Staines West, the terminus of a defunct branch of a main west-facing route from West Drayton to the north. To distinguish it from the others during their existence the station was known as Staines Central, Staines Junction and Staines Old.[5][6]
Additional services, including trains to and from Camberley and Aldershot call at the station during the peak hours.
On Sundays, the stopping services between Weybridge and London Waterloo are reduced to hourly and westbound trains run to and from Woking instead of Weybridge.
On 9 August 1957, a light engine (a 700 class 0-6-0) was being moved from the up loop across the up main to the down main, and the signals were correctly set for this movement – amongst other things, this meant that the starting signal for the up platform was at danger. Despite this, an electric train bound for Waterloo set off from the platform, travelled 215 yards (197 m) and collided almost head-on with the light engine, which overturned injuring both of its crew – the driver's leg was broken. The leading coach of the electric train was severely damaged; the motorman and twelve of the seventy passengers sustained minor injuries.[9]
