Tilehurst railway station

Tilehurst
The main building seen in 2014 before overhead electrification wires were erected
General information
Location	Tilehurst, Borough of Reading England
Grid reference	SU674752
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	TLH
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	1882
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	GWR
Post-grouping	GWR
Passengers
2019/20	0.572 million
2020/21	91,930
2021/22	0.241 million
2022/23	0.320 million
2023/24	0.357 million
Location Tilehurst Location of Tilehurst station in Reading
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Tilehurst railway station serves the suburb and former village of Tilehurst, west of Reading, Berkshire, England. The station is on the extreme northern edge of Tilehurst and at a much lower level than most of that suburb. The railway line and station occupy a strip of land between the A329 road and the River Thames, with the up relief platform on an embankment above the river bank.

The station is on the Great Western Main Line between Reading to the east and Pangbourne to the west; it is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway. It is 38 miles 52 chains (38.65 mi; 62.2 km) west of London Paddington.[1]

History

Down Hereford express in 1962

The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway, which opened in 1841, and was itself opened to traffic in 1882.[2]

In 2013, the redundant goods shed was demolished to make way for a new footbridge; this was necessary to give clearance for the overhead line electrification of the line. The new footbridge was opened in early December 2013 and the old footbridge was demolished the following week.^[citation needed]

Services

All services at Tilehurst are operated by Great Western Railway using Class 387 EMUs.

The typical off-peak is two trains per hour in each direction between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway. On Sundays, the service is reduced to hourly in each direction.[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Reading		Great Western Railway Great Western Main Line Stopping Services		Pangbourne

Facilities

The station has four platforms, one on each of the fast and relief (slow) lines, although the platforms on the fast lines see little use except during track works on the line between Reading and Didcot. The platforms are linked to each other and the station entrance, on the down fast platform, by a footbridge that is accessed by stairs and does not have lifts. Toilets are available in the building on the central platform. The station car park has spaces for 118 cars.[4][5]

There is a waiting room on the middle platform. A small waiting room was built on the north platform but, although it looks old, it is of modern construction.^[citation needed]

The main ticket office on the south side is usually staffed on weekday mornings, but tickets can also be purchased from an automatic machine using debit or credit cards only.[4]

Future plans

There are future plans to upgrade the station, with the provision of lifts to access the footbridge and an upgrade to the station car park to provide a second level, increasing capacity to 217 cars. There are also plans for a new covered and secure cycle area for up to 100 bikes, extra retail facilities, and an upgraded station forecourt. These plans were announced in 2020, with an expected completion date in 2024 subject to funding.[5]

In literature

The railway at Tilehurst was mentioned in less than glowing terms by Jerome K. Jerome in chapter 16 of Three Men in a Boat: "The river becomes very lovely from a little above Reading. The railway rather spoils it near Tilehurst, but from Mapledurham up to Streatley it is glorious."[6]

References

1. Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 4C. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
2. Waters, Lawrence (1990). Rail Centres: Reading. Ian Allan Ltd. ISBN 0-7110-1937-1.
3. Table 116 National Rail timetable, December 2023
4. "Tilehurst (TLH)". nationalrail.co.uk. National Rail. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
5. Markson, Tevye (23 November 2020). "£10 million investment for Tilehurst railway station?". Archived from the original on 23 November 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
6. Jerome, Jerome K. Three Men in a Boat. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 14 April 2007.

External links

• Train times and station information, from National Rail

51°28′17.40″N 1°01′46.20″W