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.

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 retained its original Southern Railway buildings in the centre of the platform until August 2023 when they were demolished for the Network Rail Wessex Access for All scheme.

History

The railway itself was constructed through the locality in 1859 but 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 fog signalman to pass a danger signal, and collided with another train that was crossing the line in front of it.

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of the approach road, Station Road, opposite the Earl Beatty public house, but this was demolished in the 1970s and has been replaced by a prefabricated travel agency office that later became a minicab office.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.

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. 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. Construction of the line is currently on hold due to a lack of available funding.

Services

All services at Motspur Park are operated by South Western Railway.

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

• 4 tph to London Waterloo via Wimbledon
• 2 tph to Chessington South
• 1 tph to Dorking via Epsom
• 1 tph to Guildford via Epsom

Additional services call at the station during the peak hours.

Connections

London Buses route K5 serves the station.

Future

In July 2023, work started to install lifts enabling step-free access to the station, from both entrances. They are planned to open in early 2024.

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Motspur Park railway station from National Rail