Dorking railway station

Dorking
Location	Dorking, District of Mole Valley England
Grid reference	TQ170504
Managed by	Southern
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	DKG
Classification	DfT category C1
Key dates
11 March 1867 1 May 1867 27 July 1887 1 March 1888 2 February 1901 9 July 1923 12 July 1925 3 March 1929 15 May 1938 3 July 1938 January 1964 7 November 1966 6 May 1968 23 August 1982	Opened (trains to Leatherhead) Opened (trains to Horsham) Betchworth Tunnel collapse Betchworth Tunnel reopened Queen Victoria's funeral train runs through Dorking Renamed "Dorking North" First electric trains to Waterloo First electric trains to London Bridge New signal box opens Electric trains to Victoria, Horsham and Portsmouth Final steam services withdrawn Goods yard closed Renamed "Dorking" New station building opened
Passengers
2015/16	1.221 million
Interchange	0.137 million
2016/17	1.161 million
Interchange	0.125 million
2017/18	1.288 million
Interchange	0.106 million
2018/19	1.285 million
Interchange	0.108 million
2019/20	1.184 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dorking railway station is a railway station in Dorking, Surrey, England. Located on the Mole Valley line, it is 22 miles 8 chains (35.6 km) down the line from London Waterloo (via Wimbledon).^[1] The station is one of three that serve the town of Dorking, alongside Dorking Deepdene and Dorking West stations (both on the North Downs Line). Dorking and Dorking Deepdene stations are within walking distance of each other^[2] and interchange between them on a through ticket is permitted.

The station is managed by Southern, which is one of two companies serving the station alongside South Western Railway. It has three platforms, numbered 1–3 from left to right when looking towards London;^[3] each platform is long enough to accommodate 10 carriages. The platforms are connected by both a subway and a footbridge, with lift access available to all platforms.^[3]

History[]

Construction[]

The Mole Gap between Dorking and Leatherhead is one of the few natural breaches in the North Downs and its potential as a rail corridor was realised as early as 1830 when a line linking London to Brighton was proposed. In 1845-6, the Direct London and Portsmouth Railway was authorised by parliament to run south from Epsom to Dorking on to Godalming, Havant and Portsmouth. The scheme failed to attract sufficient investment and was dropped in favour of the Woking, Guildford and Havant route from London Waterloo.

The first railway line to link Dorking with London was the independently promoted Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway proposed in 1845-6, authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1846 and 1847. This became the line we know today as the North Downs Line.

By 1859 the LBSCR and LSWR had built a joint line to Leatherhead from Epsom, where their tracks separated (the former heading for London Bridge, the latter for London Waterloo. An independent Horsham, Dorking and Leatherhead Railway was set up and promoted by interested local parties (principally from Horsham) to link the three towns. The railway was approved by Act of Parliament in July 1862, but only from a junction with the North Downs Line, 100 yards (91 m) to the east of Dorking Deepdene, to the Arun Valley line at Horsham.

A year later, in July 1863, LBSCR secured authority to build the line from its station at Leatherhead to make a connection with the line from Horsham. The line to Leatherhead was opened on 11 March 1867; however, the connection with the line from Horsham was not made until 1 May 1867. Initially services ran from London Bridge to Brighton via Sutton and Steyning, four times per day in each direction.

Electrification[]

The Southern Railway, formed in 1923, began an extensive programme of electrification of their suburban lines. The line from Waterloo to Dorking was electrified using the 660 V third rail system in 1925 and regular half-hourly semi-fast services were introduced on 12 July 1925 to run seven days per week. The 22.5 mi (36.2 km) journey to Waterloo originally took 45 minutes, although this was considerably lengthened when trains began to stop at all stations shortly afterwards. Additional hourly electric services to London Bridge via Mitcham Junction and Tulse Hill began on 3 March 1929; the 25 mi (40 km) journey took 53 minutes.

The mid-Sussex electrification of 1938 resulted in the express steam services from Portsmouth and Bognor Regis being replaced by electric services which were routed through Dorking, calling only at Sutton and London Victoria. These gave commuters from Dorking their fastest ever link to Victoria (34 minutes during peak hours). In the timetable change of May 1978 the mid-Sussex express services were routed via Gatwick Airport and the off-peak service provision to Dorking was reduced to two semi-fast services from Victoria per hour, with services to Horsham running every two hours. Now the average journey time to London termini takes a passenger 55 minutes.

The route to Horsham was neglected for some years during the 1980s, with shuttle services between Dorking and Horsham operating every two hours at off-peak times. In contrast, the service pattern now provided is one train an hour through from London to Horsham (headcode 84). The off-peak service provision of two trains from London Bridge to Horsham via Sutton and Dorking existed for a number of years from about 1985 but ceased by 2000. The former Horsham–Waterloo trains via Dorking (headcode 15) had ceased as early as 1980.

Signal box[]

View from the north (April 2006) showing the signal box (left)

The resignalling scheme of 1938 introduced three-aspect colour signals to replace the original semaphore signals. A new signal box was constructed and opened on 15 May 1938. It is one of many built in the Odeon style by the Southern Railway during the 1930s. The original frame was an A2 type Westinghouse with 44 levers. The box controls the line from Box Hill & Westhumble to just south of Dorking station. It controls one of the last examples of a Southern Railway "Dummy" Signal, which controls the exit of the carriage siding.

Services[]

The typical Monday–Saturday off-peak service pattern from Dorking station consists of:^[4]

• 2 tph (trains per hour) northbound to London Waterloo via Wimbledon, calling at all intermediate stations;
• 2 tph northbound to London Victoria via Sutton, calling at all stations as far as Carshalton (except Box Hill & Westhumble, which is served hourly), then fast to Clapham Junction and London Victoria;
• 1 tph southbound to Horsham, calling at all stations.

Services to London Waterloo are operated by South Western Railway, while those to London Victoria and Horsham are run by Southern.

Additional services are provided during peak times on weekdays. On Sundays the frequency of services to London Waterloo is reduced to hourly and there is no service to Horsham.^[4]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leatherhead or Box Hill & Westhumble		Southern Mole Valley line		Holmwood or Terminus
Box Hill & Westhumble		South Western Railway Mole Valley line		Terminus

Unlike other towns in the London commuter belt, Dorking does not receive any express services, which gives overcapacity towards the suburban terminus due to the longer journey times and overcrowding on the inner-city phase of journeys.^[5]

Future proposals[]

In November 2018, the Dorking Town Forum submitted a proposal to Network Rail for a £21 million upgrade of the Dorking station area. While the majority of the proposal focuses on improvements to nearby Dorking Deepdene station, the plan also envisages the construction of a new direct 100-metre (330 ft)-long foot link between Dorking and Dorking Deepdene, which would allow for easier interchanging between the two stations.^[6][7]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dorking railway station.

• Train times and station information for Dorking railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 51°14′28″N 0°19′26″W / 51.241°N 0.324°W / 51.241; -0.324