Motspur Park railway station

Motspur Park railway station is a suburban station in the London Borough of Merton in south London. The station is served by South Western Railway, and is in Travelcard Zone 4. It is 9 miles 57 chains (15.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo.

Motspur Park
Motspur Park Location of Motspur Park in Greater London
Location	Motspur Park
Local authority	London Borough of Merton
Managed by	South Western Railway
Station code	MOT
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	4
National Rail annual entry and exit
2014–15	1.260 million[1]
2015–16	1.213 million[1]
2016–17	1.153 million[1]
– interchange	15,266[1]
2017–18	1.039 million[1]
– interchange	11,210[1]
2018–19	1.112 million[1]
– interchange	13,821[1]
Key dates
12 July 1925	Opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51.3958°N 0.2397°W / 51.3958; -0.2397
London transport portal

Southbound destinations are Chessington South, Dorking and Guildford.

The station stands atop a railway embankment off a service road behind the parade of shops on West Barnes Lane. The shops and surrounding streets on both sides of the line are known as Motspur Park. There is also footpath access from Claremont Avenue on the western side.

The station is a single island platform reached by footbridge from either side of the track. The station retains its original Southern Railway buildings in the centre of the platform.

History

The railway itself was constructed through the locality in 1859 but the Motspur Park station was not added until 1925.

On 6 November 1947, there was a train crash at Motspur Park junction, 766 yards (700 m) south of the station which killed four and injured 12 people. In foggy conditions, a train was incorrectly authorized by a fogsignalman to pass a danger signal, and collided with another train that was crossing the line in front of it.[2][3]

A small newspaper kiosk once stood on the West Barnes Lane side of the approach road, Station Road, opposite the Earl Beatty public house, but this was demolished in the 1970s and has been replaced by a prefabricated travel agency office that later became a minicab office.

A signal box once stood at the western trackside approximately 50 yards (46 m) from the southern end of the platform but this was also demolished (1992) when the level crossing changed to CCTV type controlled from Wimbledon Area Signalling Centre. The earlier manually operated gates were operated by a wheel turned by the signalman from within the box.

This 1912 Railway Clearing House map shows the lines around Motspur Park railway station, but not the actual station, which was only opened in 1925.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is six trains per hour northbound to London Waterloo, two trains per hour to Guildford, two trains per hour to Dorking and two trains per hour to Chessington South.

During peak hours some trains to and from Dorking do not stop.

Although both platforms have been extended to allow the use of ten-car trains, this was not introduced until December 2017.

Under Transport for London's plans for Crossrail 2, Motspur Park was originally chosen as a hub station to serve Malden Manor, Tolworth and Chessington North on the Chessington Branch Line as well as Worcester Park, Stoneleigh and Ewell West on the Mole Valley Line. Crossrail trains were not planned to stop at those stations so as to provide fast suburban links to a wide variety of railway stations including Victoria and Kings Cross St Pancras.[4] In October 2015, TfL announced a set of local consultations would take place and their amended proposal provides that Crossrail 2 trains will now stop at all stations on the routes to the south and west of Wimbledon.[5]

Connections

London Buses route K5 serves the station.

References

1. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
2. Ministry of Transport; Lt Col G.R.S. Wilson (1948). Report on the Collision at Motspur Park Junction (PDF). HMSO.
3. Glover, John (2001). Southern Electric. Hersham: Ian Allan. p. 136. ISBN 0 7110 2807 9.
4. "Image: 1368593468_crossrail2reg.jpg, (640 × 453 px)". theconstructionindex.co.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
5. "Crossrail 2 Factsheet: Services at New Malden, Motspur Park and Raynes Park" (PDF). tfl.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 September 2016.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Raynes Park		South Western Railway Mole Valley Line		Worcester Park
		South Western Railway Chessington Branch Line		Malden Manor
	Future Development
Preceding station		Crossrail		Following station
Malden Manor towards Chessington South		Crossrail Line 2		Raynes Park towards New Southgate or Broxbourne
Worcester Park towards Epsom