Orpington railway station

Orpington
The station main entrance off Crofton Road in 2023
Orpington Location of Orpington in Greater London
Location	Orpington
Local authority	London Borough of Bromley
Managed by	Southeastern
Station code(s)	ORP
DfT category	C2
Number of platforms	8
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	6
National Rail annual entry and exit
2018–19	5.348 million
– interchange	1.387 million
2019–20	5.236 million
– interchange	1.414 million
2020–21	1.308 million
– interchange	0.189 million
2021–22	3.189 million
– interchange	0.549 million
2022–23	4.030 million
– interchange	0.579 million
Key dates
2 March 1868	Opened
1904	Rebuilt
1925	Electrification
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
Coordinates	51.3741°N 0.0885°E/51.3741; 0.0885
London transport portal

Orpington railway stationis on theSouth Eastern Main Line,serving the town ofOrpingtonin theLondon Borough of Bromley,south-east London. It is 13 miles 65 chains (22.2 km) down the line fromLondon Charing Crossand is situated betweenPetts WoodandChelsfieldstations. It is inTravelcard Zone 6.

History

The Station Crofton Road entrance in 2007.

The station was opened on 2 March 1868 by theSouth Eastern Railway(SER),when the SER opened its cut-off line betweenChislehurstand Sevenoaks. Previously, trains between London and Tunbridge Wells had taken a circuitous route viaRedhill.The line was widened and the station rebuilt in 1904, expanding to six platforms.Third rail electrificationreached Orpington in 1925, and extended to Sevenoaks in 1935.

About this time theSouthern Heights Light Railwaywas proposed, which would have diverged from the main line south of Orpington and finished atSanderstead.Crofton Roman Villawas partly destroyed by a railway cutting in the late 1800s but was rediscovered in 1926 when work was carried out to the area to the west of the station entrance as an entrance to a new council building.

Platforms 7 and 8 were built in the early 1990s on the site of former carriage sidings. In 2008, the station became fully accessible following the opening of a new footbridge providing lift access to all platforms. As of 2013, the former steam locomotive shed (closed for steam in 1926; in use as sidings until 1960) is still standing, converted to offices (sited adjacent to platform 8). In 2014 the car park was rebuilt with 2 storeys to increase capacity.

Layout

The station has eight platforms. Platform 1 is abay platformwhich is only used for extra capacity duringrush hourand other periods of high traffic.

Platforms 2-5 are through platforms. Platform 2 is used for fast services toCharing CrossorCannon Street.Platforms 3 and 4 are anisland,3 used by trains towardsAshford InternationalorTunbridge Wellsand 4 by stopping services fromSevenoaksto Charing Cross or Cannon Street. Platform 5 hosts the Sevenoaks slows.

Bay platforms 6-8 are bay platforms for stopping services towards Charing Cross,London Victoria,Cannon Streetand Luton/Bedford. At the country end, the four tracks become two. At the London end there is a four-road sidings, where trains are stabled and cleaned.

There are two entrances, both containing ticket offices and ticket barriers. The main entrance is on the platform 1/2 side (Crofton Road), while the other entrance is on the platform 5-8 side (Station Approach and the bus interchange). Access to platforms 3 and 4 is available via an underground subway (inaccessible for wheelchair users) or via a bridge opened in 2008 which incorporates lift access to all platforms.

Parking

The Station Multi-story car Park built in 2014.

The multi-story car park with a capacity of 142 cars was inaugurated in 2014.Southeasternrail company funded the expansion with a cost of £1.9 million.Jo Johnson,who was serving as the MP for Orpington, as well as David Statham, Southeastern's Managing Director at the time, were hosting the event.

Services

Services at Orpington are operated bySoutheasternandThameslinkusingClass 375,376,465,466,700and707EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 2 tph toLondon VictoriaviaHerne Hill
• 4 tph toLondon Charing Cross(2 of these run non-stop toLondon Bridgeand 2 are stopping services viaLewisham)
• 2 tph toLondon Cannon Street
• 2 tph toSevenoaks(all stations)
• 2 tph toHastingsviaTunbridge Wells(1 semi-fast, 1 stopping)

Additional services, including a number ofThameslinkservices between to and fromKentish TownandLutonviaCatfordcall at the station during the peak hours.

On Sundays, the services to and from London Cannon Street do not run.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
London Bridge		Southeastern South Eastern Main Line		Sevenoaks
Petts Wood		Southeastern Grove Park Line		Chelsfield orTerminus
		Southeastern Bromley South Line		Terminus
		Thameslink Catford Loop Line Peak Hours Only

Connections

London Busesroutes51,61,208,353,358,B14,R1,R2,R3,R4,R5,R6,R7,R8,R9,R10,school routes654,684,night routeN199,Go-Coachroute 3 andArriva Kent Thamesideroute 477 serve the station.

See also

• Murder of Deborah Linsley– unsolved 1988 murder of a woman who boarded an Orpington-London Victoria train atPetts Wood.A man had been seen staring at women boarding the train at Orpington

External links

• Train timesandstation informationfor Orpington railway station fromNational Rail