History
The station opened on 1 July 1863 as "Kingston Town", to distinguish it from the earlier Kingston station (which became Surbiton) on the South West Main Line. It was then the terminus of the London & South Western Railway branch line from Twickenham. The platforms built when the line was prolonged in 1869 to connect to the South West Main Line were named "Kingston High Level".
The Southern Railway rebuilt and unified the station in 1935. In August 2010 it was refurbished, with the entrance, but not the concourse, moving a few metres to face Wood Street instead of being at the corner formed by Wood Street and Richmond Road, and the independent shop was replaced by a WHSmith and a Costa Coffee shop.
In common with the 16 hourly off-peak closer commuter services to/from London Waterloo calling at Earlsfield railway station (more during peak) and all intermediate London stations all managed by South West Trains, trains must stop at every intermediate station. There are no fast services available to mid distance destinations, which gives overcapacity towards the more suburban termini due to the longer journey time and overcrowding during the inner city phase of journeys. This situation can be contrasted to certain other routes to destinations just outside of Greater London in certain other directions. However, due to its location on the Kingston Loop Line, passengers can also travel from Kingston to London via Twickenham.
Ticket barriers are in operation.
Read more about this topic: Kingston Railway Station (London)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)