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  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Bracknell, Bracknell Forest England | ||||
| Grid reference | SU887683 | ||||
| Managed by | South Western Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | MAO | ||||
| Classification | DfT category D | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 3 October 1988 | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.511 million | ||||
| 2020/21 | 0.122 million | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.302 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.346 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.376 million | ||||
| |||||
The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by South Western Railway.
History
editTo 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
editMartins 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 the 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
editAll services at Martins Heron are operated by South Western Railway.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[3]
- 2 tph to London Waterloo via Richmond
- 2 tph to Reading
Additional services call at the station during the peak hours.
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascot | South Western Railway |
Bracknell | ||
References
edit- ^ Mitchell, Vic and Smith, Keith (1989) Branch lines around Ascot, 1st ed, Middleton Press, Midhurst
- ^ "Tesco reserved on donating parking spaces". 15 February 2010. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
- ^ Table 149 National Rail timetable, December 2023
External links
edit
- Train times and station information for Martins Heron railway station from National Rail