Gerrards Cross railway station

Gerrards Cross railway station serves the village of Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire. On Chiltern Line between Denham Golf Club and Seer Green and Jordans, it is sited in a cutting, and gives fast rail access to London Marylebone and to High Wycombe and Birmingham Snow Hill.

Related Topics:
Gerrards Cross - Buckinghamshire - Chiltern Line - Denham Golf Club - Seer Green and Jordans - London Marylebone - High Wycombe - Birmingham Snow Hill

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The station was built as part of the construction of the GWR/GCR joint line in the years before World War I. The cutting is particularly deep in order for the railway to meet the gradient profile requirements of the line, which defined a very shallow maximum gradient to allow for fast running with steam-hauled trains. The original station layout was four track, with two through roads and two platform roads. A small goods yard lay to the north of the line. This has now gone, but services which terminate at Gerrards Cross use the siding there.

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The new line and station virtually created the present Gerrards Cross; the original settlement lay for the most part along the Oxford Road.

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A development by the Tesco supermarket chain is turning the cutting on the London side of the station into a tunnel by the use of large concrete ring segments to form the tunnel profile. The space on top of these segments is to be filled in to form a ground surface on which the new supermarket can be constructed. Many of the town's residents do not view this development with favour.

Related Topics:
Tesco - Tunnel

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Service Interruption

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At 19:35 on 30 June 2005 20 m of the tunnel roof near its eastern end collapsed, depositing failed tunnel segment fragments and many tonnes of infill material on the track. News pictures show that the concrete segments adjoining the hole which are still in place appear to have an unhealthy downwards bow at the point where two segments meet.

Related Topics:
30 June - 2005

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A Marylebone-bound train was standing at the eastbound platform at the moment of collapse; its driver saw the collapse and raised the alarm, thereby having all traffic stopped. No-one was injured. A westbound train which had left Denham had to make an emergency stop between stations, and reversed back to Denham Golf Club to allow its passengers to alight. Again, no-one was injured.

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Service Restoration

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Following work on removing infill material and various concrete segments, both those which actually failed and those which were judged to be unsafe but which did not actually collapse, the trackwork and signalling system have been restored. Train services resumed from start of normal timetable on Saturday 20th August 2005.

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