The station opened on 1 July 1863 as "Kingston Town", to distinguish it from the earlier Kingston station on the South West Main Line. It was then the terminus of the London & South Western Railwaybranch line from. 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 and all intermediate London stations all managed by South Western Railway, 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 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. The station is currently in TfL Fare Zone 6, but there is an ongoing campaign for it to be rezoned to Zone 5.
Station layout
The two northern platforms are on the through tracks while the third, at the south, is a long west-facing bay which has been used for past curtailments of the Shepperton service and allows for reversal of trains coming via on Sundays or when there is a closure east of Kingston of either the loop or the main line. Stairs and lifts give access to the platforms.
Services
The typical off-peak weekday service at Kingston in trains per hour is:
On Sundays, there are hourly services to Waterloo via Wimbledon & via Richmond and along the branch to Shepperton. An additional hourly service to Waterloo via the Hounslow Loop Line starts/terminates here.
