Trains to Reading

"Reading is often called a city of parks. There are over a hundred of them in a miniature town. Each park has its own characteristics.” OrangeSmile

Reading is a historic town in the county of Berkshire in southern England, situated 38 miles west of London. The minster town serves as an important junction for railways running from West London and the South Midlands.

Being at the heart of a beautiful area of the Thames Valley, Reading sits where the Thames and Kennet rivers meet amid rolling hills, cosy pubs and cottages, all surrounded by a number of small, historic towns and villages including Pangbourne and Streatley, with many of them now being part of Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The Forbury Gardens in the city centre have recently regained their old Victorian lustre having undergone major restorations. If you happen to visit the adjoining ruins, you'll discover that they are the remains of what once was an influential and powerful Abbey before it was ransacked by Henry VII.

Recently, the town gained more attention due to the local football team's stint in the Premier League, although it has now returned to the second tier. The club has a major benefactor in Sir John Madejski, who was behind the stadium that was built in the south end of the town. Aside from the stadium, there has been a considerable amount of investment in that area of the town, where you can now see business parks, commercial properties and new housing developments as well as shopping centres.

Reading is one of the UK's main railway interchanges and as such is being served by inter-city and regional train services which runs across many locations in the country, such as London, Manchester, Cardiff and many more. If you're coming from London, you should be able to catch the train from Paddington station and take one of the inter-city trains that stop first in Reading. They run several times an hour and take approximately ten minutes. A train service also runs twice an hour from London Waterloo. Taking this route will take an hour and 25 minutes and is therefore only advisable for those travelling from South West London.