Merstham railway station


Merstham railway station is in Merstham, Surrey, England. It is on the Brighton Main Line, measured from, and train services are currently provided by Southern, who manage the station, and Thameslink.

History

Merstham was on a stretch of line between Croydon and Redhill which Parliament insisted should be shared by the London and Brighton Railway route to Brighton, and the South Eastern Railway route to Dover. As a result, there have been two railway stations at Merstham.

London and Brighton Railway station

The original station at was located 3/4 mile south of the current station. It was opened by the L&BR on 1 December 1841, and from 1842 it was also used by SER and was the point at which travellers between the two railways exchanged trains. The section of line between Coulsdon and Redhill was transferred to SER operation, and the new owners decided to close Merstham station on 1 October 1843, thereby forcing passengers wishing to change trains to walk between the two stations at Redhill. This was a tactic to force the L&BR to share the new SER Reigate station at Redhill.
Once the L&BR had given way and closed their existing station at Reigate Road, Redhill, the SER opened a new station at Merstham on the present site.

South Eastern Railway station

This station was opened 4 October 1844. The up side booking office and footbridge date from a 1905 rebuilding.
Despite being on the Brighton line, this station, along with Coulsdon South and Redhill, was owned by the South Eastern Railway, and was not used by L&BR and the 'modern' Southeastern served Merstham until 2008 with a London Bridge/Merstham/Redhill/Tonbridge route service – the 'southeastern' logo that was on display at the station entrance has been removed since.

Services

The typical off-peak train service per hour is:
A Sunday service operates as follows:
As of January 2016, Oyster and contactless payment cards can be used from this station.