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Maidenhead railway station serves
the town of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is 24 miles 19
chains (39.0 km) down the line from London Paddington and is
situated between Taplow to the east and Twyford to the west.
It is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway
and the Elizabeth line, and is also the junction for the Marlow
Branch Line. It has five platforms which are accessed through
ticket barriers at both entrances to the station. The Marlow
line platform had an overall roof until 2014 when it was removed
in the course of electrification works.
The station is on the original line of the Great Western
Railway, which opened as far as Reading in 1840. The original
Maidenhead Station lay east of the Thames, not far from the
present Taplow station. This was the line's first terminus,
pending the completion of the Sounding Arch (Maidenhead Railway
Bridge) bridge over the river. In 1854, the Wycombe Railway
Company built a line from Maidenhead to High Wycombe, with a
station on Castle Hill, at first called "Maidenhead (Wycombe
Branch)", later renamed "Maidenhead Boyne Hill". However, there
was no station on the present site until 1871, when local
contractor William Woodbridge built it. Originally, it was
called "Maidenhead Junction", but eventually it came to replace
the Boyn Hill station as well as the original station on the
Maidenhead Riverside.
In 2008 the station underwent major renovation works and in 2010
a statue of Nicholas Winton was installed on one of the
platforms.
The main entrance to the station is on the A308 with a back
entrance on Shoppenhangers Road. The station has five through
platforms and no terminating platforms.
All trains at Maidenhead are operated by Great Western Railway
and the Elizabeth line.
During the peak periods, additional trains run to and from
London Paddington. In addition, the Marlow shuttle services
increase from hourly to half-hourly and run only between
Maidenhead and Bourne End (a half-hourly shuttle runs from
Bourne End to Marlow where passengers can connect to services to
Maidenhead).
Maidenhead was initially the planned western terminus of
Crossrail before an announcement was made in 2014 to move the
terminus to Reading. Some peak Elizabeth Line trains terminate
at Maidenhead, with two per hour continuing to Reading, so
sidings will be built at Maidenhead to support.
The station is currently undergoing significant modification,
including the replacement of the existing passenger waiting
facilities, a new ticket hall, lifts, platform extensions to
accommodate the longer trains, the introduction of overhead line
equipment and the construction of new stabling and turnback
facilities to the west of the station.
In 2010 a statue was erected to honour the man dubbed the
"British Schindler" for his work saving Jewish children from
Nazi invasion. Sir Nicholas Winton was 29 when he smuggled 669
boys and girls, destined for concentration camps, out of
Czechoslovakia in 1939. The statue, on platform three, depicts
Winton sitting on a bench reading his famous scrapbook, which
contained lists of all the children he helped to save.
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