Fleet railway station

The railway line through Fleet was built by the London & Southampton Railway, which was renamed the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) in 1839;[1] the section between Woking and Winchfield opening on 24 September 1838,[2] but at that time, Fleet did not have a railway station. A station, originally named Fleet Pond (after Fleet Pond) was opened in May 1847.[3] It was built on the opposite side of Minley Road as it is today. When the line was increased to four tracks, the station was rebuilt on its current site. At the time however, the station saw very little use and there were even proposals to close the station. It was renamed Fleet on 1 July 1869.[3]

In 1906, the station was expanded again as the station became busier as Fleet's population grew. The buildings were rebuilt in 1969. As of October 2013 work was under way to replace the station buildings and deck the southern car park to provide an extra 150 spaces. The new station building and footbridge were opened in July 2014 with the former lattice footbridge removed overnight on 23/24 July.

The current Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:

• 3 trains per hour (tph) to London Waterloo, of which:
  • 1 calls at Farnborough Main and Clapham Junction, taking 41 minutes.
  • 1 calls at Farnborough Main, Brookwood, Woking, Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames, Surbiton and Clapham Junction, taking 56 minutes.
  • 1 calls at all station as per the second layout above, minus Clapham Junction. This train is overtaken by the fast train and so should only be used to reach stations up to Surbiton.
• 2 tph terminating at Basingstoke, calling at Winchfield and Hook and taking 20 minutes.
• 1 tph to Poole, calling at Basingstoke, Winchester, Shawford, Eastleigh, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Totton, Ashurst New Forest, Brockenhurst, Sway, New Milton, Hinton Admiral, Christchurch, Pokesdown, Bournemouth, Branksome and Parkstone, taking 2 hours 36 minutes. This train should only be used for stations to Ashurst New Forest, Sway and Hinton Admiral. Brockenhurst, New Milton, Christchurch, Pokesdown, Bournemouth and Poole can be reached faster by changing at Southampton Central. Branksome and Parkstone can be reached faster by changing at Brockenhurst.

On Sundays this becomes:

• 1 tph to London, calling at Farnborough Main, Brookwood, Woking, Surbiton, Wimbledon and Clapham Junction, taking 1 hour 7 minutes. (When returning from London passengers should ensure they are in the front part of the train.)
• 1 tph to Basingstoke as above, taking 17 minutes.

In May 2010, the body of a newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a rubbish bin at the station. A murder investigation was opened based upon the baby's injuries.[4]

The two platforms are numbered; Platform 1 is for London-bound trains, Platform 2 is for trains for Basingstoke (and beyond).

• Train times and station information for Fleet railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Farnborough (Main)		South Western Railway London to Basingstoke		Winchfield
Farnborough (Main)		South Western Railway London to Poole		Basingstoke