Martins Heron railway station

Martins Heron railway station serves Martins Heron, a suburb on the eastern edge of Bracknell, Berkshire, England. It is 31 miles 9 chains (50.1 km) down the line from London Waterloo, between Ascot and Bracknell on the Waterloo to Reading line.

Martins Heron
Location
PlaceBracknell
Local authorityBracknell Forest
Grid referenceSU887683
Operations
Station codeMAO
Managed bySouth Western Railway
Number of platforms2
DfT categoryD
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 0.584 million
2015/16 0.588 million
2016/17 0.586 million
2017/18 0.567 million
2018/19 0.554 million
History
Key datesOpened 3 October 1988 (3 October 1988)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Martins Heron from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South Western Railway.

History

To support the eastward expansion of Bracknell in the 1980s, British Rail opened the station at Martins Heron on 3 October 1988.[1] This was the eighth new station opened by Network SouthEast in two years, and cost £500,000, which was jointly met by BR and Berkshire County Council. The platforms and part of the station building were built on railway land, but the access road and car park are on land owned by Tesco. This land, and part of the building costs, were contributed by Tesco as a condition of being granted planning permission for a supermarket. The station building was a brick chalet construction, which was far more attractive than the 1970s concrete buildings seen at many other stations on the line.

Just to the east of the station, the local road passes over the railway on a bridge and there is a footpath underneath. In line with the local council policy of decorating all pedestrian underpasses, they commissioned two railway-themed murals for the overbridge walls in 1989. On the north wall is a Great Western scene and on the south wall, a Southern railway scene. Both are visible from passing trains and remain remarkably undamaged.

Description

Martins Heron has two basic platforms with entrances on both platforms, and a wooden footbridge joining them. Platform 1 has a ticket office and enclosed waiting room, that is open in the morning, 7 days a week. Both platforms have a ticket machine and shelter, and were originally long enough for eight coach trains. In 2016 they were extended to the east to accommodate ten coach trains as part of South West Trains' project to increase capacity on their major routes.

The station is accessed via the Tesco supermarket delivery access road and has a small car park for around 40 cars, along with 2 disabled spaces and cycle lockers. Unusually, as the car park is on land owned by the supermarket, there are no charges for parking, making it popular amongst commuters. Originally, the supermarket also allowed commuters to use to main supermarket car park, but in 2010 they implemented a 3-hour maximum parking time to discourage commuters[2] as the car park was getting too full. For similar reasons, most of the local side streets have a parking restriction between 11am and 12pm to discourage commuters leaving their cars in this residential area.

Services

Martins Heron is served by all trains between Reading and London Waterloo, which run every 30 minutes Monday to Sunday, with additional peak services increasing frequencies to about every 15 minutes in the evening.[3]

Trains from Martins Heron take about 55 minutes to reach London Waterloo and 20 minutes to reach Reading.

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References
  1. Mitchell, Vic and Smith, Keith (1989) Branch lines around Ascot, 1st ed, Middleton Press, Midhurst
  2. "Tesco reserved on donating parking spaces". 15 February 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  3. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 149 (Network Rail)
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Ascot   South Western Railway
Waterloo–Reading		   Bracknell

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