Ash railway station serves the village of Ash in Surrey, England. The station is served by South Western Railway, who manage the station, and by Great Western Railway. It is situated on the Ascot to Guildford line and the North Downs Line, 36 mi from London Waterloo.

History

Ash station was opened by the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway, then operated by the South Eastern Railway. The London and South Western Railway had running powers over this section of line, to North Camp, but it had never used them. After the construction of the direct line from Pirbright Junction, the LSWR built a spur to Aldershot, part of the lines to Alton, enabling its trains to call at Ash station. The South Eastern Railway became part of the Southern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station had four platforms when it was built, which were later reduced to two after the Second World War. The other two platforms were where the station car park and Network Rail offices now stand. The station is 49 mi from Charing Cross (measured via Redhill); platform 1 can accommodate an eight-coach train, but platform 2 only accommodates four coaches. To the east is the former Ash Junction, 48 mi from Charing Cross, where the former route via Tongham left the North Downs Line 35 mi from Waterloo (via Worplesdon and milepost 30 1/4 at Guildford). When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the Privatisation of British Railways. Construction of a new road bridge to replace the A323 level crossing at the southeastern end of the station, began in September 2023.

Services

Services at Ash are operated by South Western Railway and Great Western Railway using and DMUs and EMUs. The typical off-peak service is two trains per hour in each direction between Guildford and Farnham via Aldershot, operated by South Western Railway, and one train per hour in each direction between Reading and Gatwick Airport via Guildford, operated by Great Western Railway. During the peak hours, the service between Reading and Gatwick Airport is increased to two trains per hour in each direction. On Sundays, the South Western Railway services are reduced to hourly in each direction with westbound services running to and from Ascot instead of Farnham. In addition, the eastbound Great Western Railway services run only as far as Redhill.