High Wycombe railway station

This article is about the railway station in Buckinghamshire, England. For the railway station in Perth, Western Australia, see High Wycombe railway station, Perth.

High Wycombe
High Wycombe station in 2015
General information
Location	High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire England
Grid reference	SU869930
Managed by	Chiltern Railways
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	HWY
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Original company	Wycombe Railway
Pre-grouping	GW&GCJR
Post-grouping	GW&GCJR
Key dates
1854	Terminus station opened
1864	Through station opened. Original terminus becomes a goods shed
1906	Through services along GW&GCJR begun
1970	Services to Bourne End withdrawn
Passengers
2019/20	2.857 million
Interchange	86,443
2020/21	0.543 million
Interchange	13,716
2021/22	1.624 million
Interchange	59,927
2022/23	1.917 million
Interchange	91,589
2023/24	1.971 million
Interchange	69,677
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

High Wycombe railway station is a railway station in the market town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. The station is on the Chiltern Main Line between Beaconsfield and Saunderton stations. It is served by Chiltern Railways.

History

The remains of the 1854 station

The original terminus station was built in 1854 after an original design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The station had one platform and a train shed that covered two broad gauge tracks. On one side of the train shed was a single road engine shed and on the platform side were a booking office and waiting rooms (on the Birdcage Walk side). The walls of the train shed, an engine shed and offices were constructed from brick and knapped flint with slate roofs. This building remained as a station in use until 1864 when it became a goods shed. Between the 1880s and 1940 various additions were made to the fabric of the old station. The building received grade two listing in 1999 due to being one of only six remaining GWR train sheds. Following listing most of the later additions were removed, restoring the building to its original footprint, the only addition being the flat roof second floor extension added in 1940.

The dimensions and general design of the train shed, engine shed and office accommodation were repeated at Thame with only the building materials different; Wycombe was built with brick and knapped flint wall while Thame was constructed from timber.

A second through station was opened on the current location in 1864 with a second platform and, later, a footbridge. For two years prior to this date, after the extension to Thame had been made, all through trains had to reverse in and out of the old station which was not located on the new through lines. The design of the office accommodation on the newer station was a copy of the office accommodation on the old, with a canopy covering the platform rather than the train shed. The building was extended as least once at its west end.

With the building of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway in 1906 the station was again rebuilt to the design that is in use today, with four lines between two staggered platforms and a subway.

The station was originally the terminus of the Wycombe Railway line from Maidenhead, which was later extended to Aylesbury and Oxford, and then in 1867 was taken over by the Great Western Railway.

In 1906 the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway line was opened through High Wycombe, linking London with the two companies' lines to the north. Much of the current Chiltern Main Line is formed from this joint line.

British Rail closed the original branch line to Maidenhead on 2 May 1970 and subsequently the track was lifted.

The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.

In November 2005 a fire in the ticket office gutted the roof of the building. The restored station building reopened in September 2007.

In April 2015 the Northbound platform was lengthened. The subway was closed and has now been replaced with a footbridge with a lift at each end.

Services

A Class 168 going to London calls at High Wycombe as a northbound service approaches

All trains are operated by Chiltern Railways. The current off-peak services are:

• 5 trains per hour to London Marylebone, of which:
  • 2 are non-stop to London Marylebone
  • 2 semi-fast, calling at Beaconsfield, Gerrards Cross and sometimes one other station.
  • 1 stopping service, calling at most intermediate stations, which originates from High Wycombe.
• 1 train per hour to Birmingham Moor Street
• 1 train per hour to Banbury, with 1 train per 2 hours extending to Birmingham Snow Hill
• 2 trains per hour to Oxford

Future

High Wycombe is to gain further rail links north of Aylesbury to Winslow and Milton Keynes by 2030 as part of the East West Rail project.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
London Marylebone		Chiltern Railways Chiltern Main Line London Marylebone – Birmingham Snow Hill		Bicester North
				Haddenham & Thame Parkway
				Princes Risborough
Beaconsfield		Chiltern Railways London Marylebone – Oxford
				Saunderton
		Chiltern Railways Birmingham Snow Hill - High Wycombe - London Marylebone (Stopping service)		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Great Western Railway Wycombe Railway		Loudwater

External links

• Chiltern Railways
• Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 - Proposed services to Oxford.
• Drawings of how the station looked when built