Theale railway station

Railway station serving the village of Theale, Berkshire, England

51°25′59″N 1°04′30″W / 51.433°N 1.075°W / 51.433; -1.075Grid referenceSU644708Managed byGreat Western RailwayPlatforms3Other informationStation codeTHEClassificationDfT category EHistoryOpened21 December 1847Original companyGreat Western RailwayPost-groupingGreat Western RailwayPassengers2018/19

0.484 million2019/20

0.476 million2020/21

73,1902021/22

0.214 million2022/23

0.283 million

Location

Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Theale railway station serves the village of Theale, England. It is 41 miles 22 chains (41.28 miles, 66.43 km) measured from London Paddington.

The station is served by Great Western Railway local services between Reading and Newbury, limited semi-fast peak services between Bedwyn and London and a limited semi-fast service between London and Westbury, Taunton, Frome, Penzance and Exeter St Davids.^[1]

History

The railway station was opened on 21 December 1847 on the first portion of what would become the Berks and Hants Line between Reading and Hungerford.^[2]

Layout

Theale has three platforms. Platforms 1 and 2 serve the up and down main line, and platform 3 is a former goods loop upgraded to passenger standards in 2011.^[3]

Plans to upgrade facilities at the station were announced in 2013 by Network Rail and GWR (including new lifts, a new pedestrian entrance and accessible footbridge, extra car parking, and a new ticket office), but the £2.9 million project has been delayed several times and by summer 2016 was running more than three years behind schedule.^[4] The upgrade project was resumed in 2021.^[5]

Services

The typical off-peak service at the station in trains per hour is:

1 tph to London Paddington
1 tph to Reading
1 tph to Newbury
1 tph to Bedwyn

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Reading West		Great Western Railway Reading-Newbury		Aldermaston
Reading		Great Western Railway Paddington-Bedwyn		Thatcham

References

^ Table 116 & 135 National Rail timetable, May 2016
^ "Basingstoke Railway History in Maps". Christopher Tolley. 2001. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
^ "Praise from Network Rail - new Theale station platform"Crouch Waterfall news release; Retrieved 6 October 2016
^ John Herring (6 June 2016). "Frustration over delays to Theale station work". Newbury Today. Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
^ Charlie Masters (1 April 2021). "Theale railway station set for major upgrade". Newbury Today. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2022.