Purley railway station



Purley railway station is in the London Borough of Croydon on the Brighton Main Line, in Travelcard Zone 6. It is a junction, with branches to Caterham and Tattenham Corner. There are sidings used by the Day and Son gravel company, part of whose installation has been given a visual treatment intended to resemble a signal box. Trains of aggregates from Cliffe are dealt with here.

History
Purley station has been known by three different names.

Godstone Road
The station was opened by the London and Brighton Railway on 12 July 1841 as Godstone Road. This was closed on 1 October 1847 by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR), which had opened the Stoat's Nest station one mile away at Coulsdon.

Caterham Junction
In 1855 a proposal by a local company to connect the sandstone quarries at Caterham to the railway system became embroiled in a long-running dispute between the LB&SCR and the rival South Eastern Railway (SER), which resulted in the reopening of the station. The proposed line was in the territory of the SER, and was to be operated by that company. It would have to join the railway system on a section of the LB&SCR, where the SER had running powers but no stations. The new railway had to sue the LB&SCR to force it to allow the junction with its line and to reopen the station. On 5 August 1856 the Caterham branch opened, joining the main line near the site of the Godstone Road station. Three months later the LB&SCR reopened its station as ‘’Caterham Junction’’.

Purley
The station was renamed ‘’Purley’’ on 1 October 1888, and rebuilt around 1896 during the widening of the main line between Croydon and the beginning of the new Quarry Line at Coulsdon. The SER built a line from Purley to Kingswood railway station, extended to Tattenham Corner railway station between 1897 and 1901. By the latter date it had become the South Eastern and Chatham Railway.

Fatal incidents
On 22 September 1873, John Cunliffe Pickersgill-Cunliffe, a former member of Parliament, was struck by a train at the then Caterham Junction station. He died two weeks later at Guy's Hospital.

The Purley station rail crash on 4 March 1989 occurred just to the north of the station, and left five dead and 94 injured. A memorial garden was created at the station to commemorate this.

On the night of Friday 5 July 2002 a fire occurred on the 23:15 train from Caterham. A rail attendant, Philip Cable, helped put out the fire, and suffered an asthma attack and collapsed. He died at Mayday Hospital in Croydon a few hours later. A charge of manslaughter was laid against Karl Lacey, who had set fire to newspapers and cushions in the carriage, and he was sentenced to four years' youth custody.

Lift installation works
From October 2007, the subway to the platforms was temporarily closed while lifts to platforms were being installed. During this work a temporary footbridge was installed at the northern end of the platforms. In order to access platforms from the main entrance passengers had to use the permanent staircase to Platform 1 and walk the length of the platform to the temporary footbridge.

Ticket gates
Electronic ticket gates were installed in summer 2009 as part of a project sponsored by the Department for Transport. Gates have been installed on both sides of the station and a new entrance created adjacent to platform 6. Some minor refurbishment of the main ticket hall was also carried out.

Platforms
Platform 1 and 2 are normally used only on Saturdays and when engineering works dictate. On weekdays, fast services on the Brighton Main Line make no stops between East Croydon and Brighton: these trains, together with Gatwick Express and First Capital Connect services, pass through platforms 1 and 2. During 2008 a fence was erected to prevent access to Platform 2, following a number of suicides. A gate at the southern end of this fence is opened by staff for the few trains that stop. Platform 3 is used for mainline services to London Bridge and London Victoria.

Platform 4 is used for mainline services to Horsham and weekend services to Bognor Regis.

Platform 5 and 6 serve the branch lines to Tattenham Corner and Caterham. Both these platforms can be used by trains in either direction, though platform 5 is primarily northbound towards London and platform 6 is usually southbound.

Services
The typical off-peak train service per hour is:


 * 2 to London Victoria, calling at Purley Oaks, South Croydon, East Croydon, Selhurst, Thornton Heath, Norbury, Streatham Common, Balham, Wandsworth Common, Clapham Junction and Battersea Park (faster services to Clapham Junction and London Victoria are available by changing at East Croydon)
 * 8 to London Bridge, of which
 * 4 call at East Croydon and Norwood Junction
 * 2 call at East Croydon, Norwood Junction and New Cross Gate
 * 2 call at Purley Oaks, South Croydon, East Croydon, Norwood Junction, Sydenham, Forest Hill, Honor Oak Park, Brockley and New Cross Gate


 * 4 to Caterham, calling at Kenley, Whyteleafe and Whyteleafe South
 * 3 to Tattenham Corner, calling at Reedham, Coulsdon Town, Woodmansterne, Chipstead, Kingswood and Tadworth
 * 1 to Tonbridge, calling at Coulsdon South, Merstham, Redhill, Nutfield, Godstone, Edenbridge, Penshurst and Leigh
 * 1 to Reigate, calling at Coulsdon South, Merstham and Redhill
 * 2 to Horsham, calling at Coulsdon South, Merstham, Redhill, Earlswood, Salfords, Horley, Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges, Crawley, Ifield and Littlehaven
 * 1 to Brighton, calling at Gatwick Airport,Burgess Hill and Hassocks

An hourly night service also operates between Three Bridges and London Victoria.