Reading station. Clean, bright, functional railway station. Less than 15 minutes from Central London. Take the Great Western line.

I'd have to say that this is a pretty major station, especially considering that there are an awful lot of platforms, and pretty much all of the trains that pass through here will stop. It's also the western terminus of the Elizabeth Line, which is helpful, especially if you work in the city. I was going to say that it is the edge of London, but I suspect Reading is a separate city all of its own. Pretty cool station though. read more

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One of the station's biggest strengths is how easy it is to get around. Clear signage, wide walkways, and multiple entrances help manage the constant flow of commuters, students, and visitors. Ticket barriers are efficient, and there are plenty of ticket machines read more

The first Reading station is over 160 years old, but the one that now exists is modern and surprisingly easy to navigate. Several platforms with overhead and underground pedestrian transfer, with access by stairs, escalator and lift ("elevator" in American). Reading is the first major station west of London and so is served often by trains heading in to London Paddington and these can get very busy during the morning and afternoon rush hours. In the morning, the trains run almost every 10 minutes! Food offerings are plentiful with AMT Coffee kiosks scattered about as well as a West Cornwall Pasty, Costa Coffee, Burger King, Bagel Factory and a few more. Marks and Spencer also has a small food hall and there is a small WH Smith's. And that's just in the ticketing area, there are more on the platforms. Information booth is staffed during daytime hours and there are also staffed ticket booths plus a dozen automated ticket machines. The departure board is easy to read. Once you're on the platform, there are waiting areas as well as more food options. Each platform also has a small display showing the next three trains for that platform. The Paddington train has usually been on platform 5, but the westbound train to Swansea or Bristol is 10, so do check the boards. There's also a line to Gatwick. Reading Rail Station is also a major terminus for buses with at least two dozen stops just outside that will take you throughout the Reading/Berkshire area and the Rail-Air coaches to Heathrow. Clean and easy to transfer, originate and terminate travel, this is a very nice full service rail station. read more

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Reading is the major junction on the former Great Western line out of Paddington, and the second busiest station on the Western Region after Paddington itself. It handles over 14 million passengers a year, with a further 2.5 million changing trains here, making it the 20th busiest in the UK. The station opened in 1840 as a temporary terminus of the Great Western railway, before the line was completed to Bristol in 1841. As built, it had a single long platform used by trains in both directions, an awkward arrangement that surprisingly lasted until 1898 as London-bound trains had to cross over the tracks for westbound trains. Reading became a junction with the addition of lines to Newbury and Hungerford (1847), Basingstoke (1848), London via Wokingham (1856) and Guildford (1855). The Wokingham and Guildford trains had their own terminus to the south east of the station (on the site of the new concourse), but were integrated properly into the rest of the station in 1965. Its importance as a junction grew with the extension of the former Newbury and Hungerford line to Taunton in 1906, forming the main direct line to Exeter, Plymouth and Cornwall. The station was rebuilt in 1860 with the present attractive buildings and clock tower in Bath stone, and a new entrance and footbridge was added adjacent to this in 1989. As others have said, it has the full range of shops and facilities you'd expect for a station of this size, although the passenger facilities remain somewhat cramped. Services to London in particular are excellent, with up to 9 fast departures an hour, taking from 28 to 32 minutes for the journey. The present station has 10 platforms, but the development of both passenger and freight services from Birmingham (via Banbury) towards Southampton and Bournemouth, coupled with the increasing frequency of services to Cardiff, Bristol and the West of England, has made the station something of a bottleneck: in the evening peak, the station handles over 40 departures an hour. Plans are therefore afoot to rebuild the station completely in a £460m scheme, which includes 5 new platforms (increasing the number of through platforms by 75%), a new northern entrance, passenger subway, and two flyovers to the west of the station to remove the east-west and north-south conflicts. Work will start late in 2009 for completion by 2015. read more

Reading - An HST arriving into platform 4, bound for Great Malvern via Oxford - Train Stations Near Me - Reading, RDG

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This is a modern and big train station! Well laid out with a very good selection of shops. Escalators, lifts and stairs with signage to platforms is well visible. Overall a nice and easy to navigate station with a good coffee shop selection and several other convinience stores, even a hotel chocolat! read more

Reading - GWR train on platform 7B - Train Stations Near Me - Reading, RDG

Can I just say I hate this newly updated station. I hate it because as if my route from Brighton (cutting out London) to the West country isn't enough of a ball-ache (usually 3 changes), the platform used to be a straightforward walk a few yards up from my arriving one making it easy to catch my connections. Now, they've changed it all around and made it a mission away. As I ran to make my connecting train I DID make it in time only to be told I couldn't be allowed on. Wtf?! What is the point in being such a jobsworth really?? I had to wait outside it for a few minutes before it actually took off! I had plenty of time AND there was hardly anyone on it. Cheers mate. As I plodded to the next platform having 20 minutes to wait for another train, I decided to get out my bagel I'd packed and share it with the now grizzly wee boy. Looked for somewhere to park our behinds and shock horror! There is NOWHERE to sit. Seriously Reading, are you that clever that you've gone to all this trouble to build a nice big station and you forget to put seats on the platforms? Fantastic. Also when you step off the gatwick train (usually very busy) it's difficult to see the information board as its in a awkward place and can get very crowded with people straining to see. Again blindingly shrewd. Really it's getting an extra star because trains run regularly through it and there are shops to grab refreshments. It's alright really I think my yelp induced hangover didn't help... read more

My home town. I've grown up with this station squeezing, growing and changing itself every year as it gets busier and busier and just doesn't know how to deal with itself. It's got most things you need for a station - WHSmiths. Check. A Burger King. Check. An M&S food. Check. Boots etc... If it's not in the station itself then it's going to be a couple of minutes walk away in the town centre proper. That's the real benefit of this station, it's right in the middle of Reading. Network Rail is ripping the place to shreds over the next year and it's going to look completely different and have new platforms. Don't expect them to keep topping up the already peeling paint job in the meantime though. read more

It's a very busy station, but it's huge and well laid out. The escalators work well and there are ample number of elevators too. The size and neat uncluttered layout is such a different experience after the chaotic (Busy) national rail stations within London and the smaller stations as you leave the city. Cabs are very easy to hail (There's a taxi stand outside) and the high street is a short walk away. The staff is extremely helpful and forthcoming with information. read more

I think the city planners did alright with this one. It is very near the centre, but almost everything is one side of the station. To me it seems like this layout for a large town or small city works very well. The pub in the station (link) is well worth a visit too. Has had some drama in its 170 year existence too from a roof being blown off by a freak wind (complete with unfortunate roofer), right through to an IRA bomb in the toilets 18 years ago! read more

Wow...train station is huge now!!! Still friendly staff and good pasty place and an m and s. Plus a rail air which is excellent. read more

This station is like a little corner of hell. Is it really so hard, when half of the country is covered in snow, to put the heating on? No? I honestly believe that it was colder in here, than it was outside. We pottered about in shops to keep warm. I wonder if that's their ploy... There's nothing in the station that will wow you, oooh an Upper Crust! It's actually pretty well laid out. I'm just shocked that at sub zero temperatures (probably), they were too stingy to heat the damn place. Mad at them. It was cold. read more

Very efficient and regular service to and from London. Very nicely situated and with a pleasant pub next door with timescreens so you don't miss your train. read more

Reading - Train Stations Near Me - Reading, RDG

This train station is horrible and the staff is worse. They don't allow you to buy cheap tickets with credit cards. So you ask the staff and they say, just go get cash from the ATM. So you do, but you only get £20 bills from the machine and you can't buy low cost tickets with £20 bills for the same reason you can't use the card... Ridiculous. The staff doesn't tell you you can just walk through and buy the ticket on the train until after you miss a few trains and are about to miss the last train. Stupid system, dirty station, rude staff, avoid this station if you can. Other than that, Reading itself is lovely and I love walking around over by the river! Hit up the Jurassic Mini Golf, and get some new threads at Topman in The Oracle shopping center! read more

Built in 1850, Frome Railway Station is one of the oldest railway stations still operating in Britain. In it's heyday it was a two-track station with busy waiting rooms and toilet facilities. I remember the excitment as a child, waiting on the platform for the Weymouth Train for a family trip to the seaside, and running over the large wooden footbridge to reach the other platform. The station is housed in a classic timber shed, an historical architechtural feature. Nowadays it's just a single-track station but vital for travellers still. It's on the main Bristol-Weymouth line and covers all local stops (Bath, Trowbridge, Westbury, Yeovil, Warminster etc) that are important for commuters. There is one daily direct train to London (at peak outward and inward times for commuter convenience), and since the larger busier hub of Westbury Station is only seven minutes journey up-line then more frequent links to London and the rest of the country are easily obtained. There is a manned office for tickets for a few hours in the mornings, and during this time the waiting room will be open. Often in the mornings on the station approach outside there is a small 'greasy-spoon' bacon butty van which is actually really good quality and very tasty! Otherwise there is little by way of amenities. There is a toilet for use by disabled travellers (that they will have the generic-issue key to) but nothing for other travellers. With the waiting room locked during unmanned times it's rather chilly to sit on the platform - it's covered from the rain but that's about it. There is one public payphone at the platform's end, and that's yer lot. So wrap up warm, buy tickets in advance if possible and be sure to have a cellphone with you in case of delays. Despite the spartan facilities, it's still a very usful station and in an ideal world there would be even more trains and more facilities, making it a great option for ecological-friendly travelling. read more

A great deal of major work going on here at the moment but is does look good. Limited seating available whilst waiting. Dispatch team in abundance and helpful to boot. read more

Reading - Train Stations Near Me - Reading, RDG

Very good station this one. You can get a train to Paddington every 15 minutes and it only takes 25 minutes to get there from Reading. Only downside is that it is freezing (as most train stations are I suppose). read more

Not the biggest station in the world, nor the cleanest, best located, most accessible or well put together. All that said though, the connections from this station cover most of the country and punctuality is usually great. Beware when using the drop-off, as the local traffic camera operators are on the ball 24/7 and, as has happened to me a couple of times, a sixty quid fine for using the wrong entrance (Taxi not car - ten yards apart) is a little hard to swallow. Very centrally located for the town and next to a superb pub. read more

The best thing about Reading station is that it's extremely well served by direct trains to many parts of the country including London, Bristol, Swansea, Plymouth and Birmingham. There are a number of bus stops outside including one for the frequent Heathrow Railair coach service. There's also a taxi rank. Car parking however is very expensive with only a limited number of free 'drop-off' places. The station itself has quite a confusing layout as it's been built piecemeal over many years. The newest part is the main concourse where the main ticket office and machines are situated and there's good range of small shops. However the information screens simply consist of a range of small VDU monitors which are not very clear. In contrast there are very good LCD screens showing local bus services! Access to the main platforms is across a footbridge with escalators (except to platform 9 where there is a narrow steep staircase but lifts are available). read more

It's been under construction for a long time and unlike a lot of other stations not sign posted well. I use it because I have to :-(

Despite the major works of the next few years Reading is such an important junction and interchange that it is one of the key hubs of the network. Facilities are good. read more

Reading - Train Stations Near Me - Reading, RDG

A unique 'station' and has enough trains to all the key destinations. I have however went to pick up tickets and the lady had closed 20 mins early and despite asking her to open, she refused... Apart from that a nice station. read more