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Didcot Parkway
Didcot Parkway looking westwards from Platform 1
Location
Place	Didcot
Local authority	South Oxfordshire
Operations
Station code	DID
Managed by	First Great Western
Platforms in use	5 (previously 7)
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	2.181 million
2005/06 *	2.178 million
History
1 June 1840	Line opens
12 June 1844	Station opens as Didcot, branch to Oxford opens
10 September 1962	Intermediate stations to Swindon close
7 December 1964	Line to Newbury closes
29 July 1985	Renamed Didcot Parkway
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Didcot Parkway from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Didcot Parkway railway station is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire in England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844, and renamed to Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead.

The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western from Reading to Didcot and Oxford, and by Inter-City services from London Paddington to Bristol and South Wales.

Just to the north of the station is the Didcot Railway Centre, which is accessed through the station. The centre is a comprehensive exhibition of Great Western Railway rolling stock, with demonstration running tracks and including a reconstructed station named Didcot Halt.

Contents 1 Services 2 Layout 2.1 Platforms 2.2 Junctions and yards 3 History 3.1 Closures 4 Routes 5 See also 6 External links

Didcot is a major junction, where the former Great Western Railway line to Oxford, Birmingham and points north leaves the Great Western Main Line to Bristol Temple Meads and Swansea. There is no local service west of Didcot, so local service is exclusively provided by local trains taking the line to Oxford. However a proportion of the Inter-City services to Bristol and South Wales do stop here, with the remainder passing through the station non-stop. Fast trains to and from the Oxford line can avoid the station using the Didcot East curve, and generally do not stop at Didcot.

A few trains call at Didcot for the Cotswold Line to Hereford. Other infrequent services run to Cheltenham Spa or Weston-super-Mare and beyond.

The station is located just to the north of the town centre in Didcot. The station can only be accessed by car from Station Road itself, on the south side of the railway, although passengers may park in Foxhall Road Long Stay Car Park, situated on Basil Hill Road, and cross a footbridge to the station.

The station entrance is at road level; all platforms can be accessed by lifts.

• Platform 1 – for Westbound First Great Western high speed services to Swindon, Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea. Very limited service to Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance, although most of these services pass Didcot.
• Platform 2 – for Eastbound First Great Western high speed services towards London.
• Platform 3 – for Northbound First Great Western local services to Oxford and beyond.
• Platform 4 – for Eastbound First Great Western local services to Reading and London.
• Platform 5 – is used for Eastbound First Great Western local services when platform 4 is unavailable.

Please note that many high-speed passenger and freight trains pass through all platforms with little or no warning. As with any station, it is advised to keep a sensible distance from the platform edge, particularly on platforms 1 and 2 as trains can pass through at speeds of up to 125mph.

Didcot
Legend to Paddington Moreton Junction Main to relief line crossiovers Name Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway Didcot East Junction Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Parkway Didcot West Junction (to Oxford) Didcot North Junction Foxhall Junction Didcot Power Station Milton to Swindon

Didcot has developed as a major junction between the Great Western Main Line and the route to oxford and the Midlands. A marshalling yard is opposite the platform and another was once provided at Moreton, a little to the east. Moreton is still a junction, allowing trains to pass between the main lines on the south, and the relief and Oxford lines on the north. An avoiding line runs from Didcot East Junction, behind the marshalling yard and the Didcot Railway Centre, allowing trains to run Oxford to run through without blocking the station platforms. The also used to be another line at the East Junction which lead to a line to Newbury.

West of the station is Foxhall Junction which allows freight trains from Oxford to travel towards Swindon. Immediately beyond this two goods lines diverge on the north side of the line. The first serves a loop for Merry-go-round trains to the npower electricity generating station; the second serves the Milton Freight Terminal. Beyond this the four main and relief lines merge into two.

The railway has run through Didcot since 1 June 1840, when the Great Western Railway extended their main line from Reading to Steventon. During this period a stagecoach transported passengers to Oxford from Steventon. A few weeks later the line was extended to Faringdon Road at West Challow, and eventually to Bristol. On June 12, 1844, a branch from Didcot to Oxford was built, and Didcot station was built at the junction. The originally intended route would have taken a line from Steventon to Oxford via Abingdon, however Abingdon's townspeople objected to this idea. Without this objection, it is unlikely that Didcot would have evolved into the town it is today, as its growth was initially triggered by the coming of the railway.

Until 10 September 1962s, Didcot also had another branch line to Newbury, the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. This carried services to Southampton, via way of Newbury, Highclere, Winchester and Eastleigh. Towards the end of its life it was reduced to a rural backwater until its demise in the infamous Beeching Axe.

Services finished between Didcot and Swindon, along with the closure of Steventon, the station directly west of Didcot, along with Wantage Road, Challow, Uffington, Shrivenham and Stratton Park railway stations on December 7, 1964.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Reading		First Great Western Intercity Services Great Western Main Line		Swindon
		First Great Western High speed services Cherwell Valley Line		Oxford
Cholsey		First Great Western Commuter Services Cherwell Valley Line		Appleford
Historical Railways
Cholsey Station and Line open		Great Western Main Line Great Western Railway		Steventon Station closed; Line open
Terminus		Oxford Railway Great Western Railway		Appleford Station and Line open
Terminus		Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway Great Western Railway		Upton and Blewbury Station and Line closed

• List of Parkway railway stations

• Train times and station information for Didcot Parkway railway station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of Didcot Parkway railway station from Multimap.com

Coordinates: 51°36′40″N 1°14′33″W / 51.61111, -1.2425