# Twickenham railway station

Twickenham railway station is in Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England, and is in Travelcard Zone 5. By track it is 11 miles 22 chains (18.1 km) from London Waterloo. Only one main street abuts the station – at its west end – London Road running between a trunk road south of Twickenham Stadium and the town centre to the south including the town's public section of riverside.
The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway. Apart from Richmond Railway Bridge it is at the heart of a long section of two tracks at grade (i.e. the level of the surrounding land) between Putney and Egham. Between about this point and St Margarets station, 500 metres east, are three tracks instead of two. Adding to the station's use, west are returning ends of the Kingston and Hounslow Loop Lines. A street runs against the south side of the station meaning the westbound platform has long been in island format and doubles as the fast and semi-fast services' eastbound platform.

## History

The predecessor, a neo-Gothic station, was built by the London and Windsor Railway on the west of London Road bridge, opening on 22 August 1848. The station was originally called Twickenham Junction.
Preparatory work for rebuilding by the Southern Railway in its "Southern Odeon" style on the east of London Road was halted by the outbreak of World War II, with most trackwork and the vertical edgings of the five planned through platforms in place. After the war some platforms were made level for rugby spectators' trains which were hand-flagged through the station. On 28 March 1954, a completely rebuilt station came into use with three through tracks. The two main up platforms face each other. The slower of these sees more than half of services join from a flyover to the south which coupled with the three tracks to St Margarets ensures no hold-ups needed to fast services eastbound.
Platform 1 has not existed as a functioning entity since before 2003; platform 2 has had the conductor rails removed between 2003 and 2006. The trackbeds of both are now (2018) obstructed by temporary buildings. Platform 3 (in 2018) has a direct access from the street available via a queuing area used during events at Twickenham Stadium.
On 4 February 1996, South West Trains ran the first re-privatised service nationally. This ran from Twickenham to London at 05:10. The last regular-scheduled privatised train on the main network was 48 years previously.

## Services

All services at Twickenham are operated by South Western Railway.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
* 6 tph to London Waterloo via Richmond (4 of these are semi-fast and 2 call at all stations)
* 2 tph to Teddington, returning to London Waterloo via Kingston and Wimbledon
* 2 tph to Reading via Bracknell
* 2 tph to Windsor & Eton Riverside
Additional services, including trains to and from Shepperton, Camberley, Aldershot and London Waterloo via Hounslow call at the station during the peak hours.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station |
| Richmond | South Western Railway Waterloo to Reading Line | Whitton or Feltham |
| St Margarets | South Western Railway Kingston Loop Line | Strawberry Hill |
| St Margarets | South Western Railway Hounslow Loop LinePeak Hours Only | Whitton |

## Connections

London Buses routes 267, 281 and H22, and school route 681 serve the station.

## Future

The RFU had petitioned the government to improve the station to be ready to handle the increased use during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Network Rail invested in plans in partnership with Kier Property and new rolling stock was ordered. The partnership's boldest plans were countered by a residents action group. The Supreme Court refused leave to appeal from a series of pro-plan rulings in Summer 2013. The process led to reduced density and aesthetically enhanced plans and construction started in 2017. Enlargement of the complex to be mounted on a broad "podium", an outside street-level plaza, about 115 apartments, new retail units and a permanently open at-grade northern access point are being built in a programme of works forecast to end in 2020.
The works include two northern entrances with direct access and footbridge access respectively to platforms 2 and 3 (platform 1 as currently labelled is a siding); and a riverside walk beside the Crane, a large stream or small river linked to its associated Moor Mead park in Twickenham.