Newbury station was opened on 21 December 1847[2] as part of the Berks and Hants Railway from Reading to Hungerford.

However, the expansion of the DN&SR and the later opening of the LVR created a bottleneck in Newbury, especially for express trains on the Reading to Plymouth line.

The 1960s saw the closure of both the DN&SR and the LVR due to declining passenger and freight traffic on both lines.

Regular local services southwards to Winchester ended in March 1960 and those northwards to Didcot in September 1962.

When the United States Air Force decided it no longer needed to use the rail link it handed control back to BR in 1973.

[4] As a result of the closure of the LVR the bay platform on the north side at the western end of the station was no longer needed and the track was removed.

The south bay was later removed when the station was resignalled and the track layout altered to allow down expresses to serve the north side platform.

The sole east end bay on the north side of the line is maintained for use for eastbound passenger services starting at Newbury.

[6][7] Electrical wire gantries have also been erected over the station canopies, which were cut back for the removal of the footbridge.

This facility is not frequently used in the current timetable except during periods of severe line congestion to avoid delays, however, it was not uncommon for Down trains to call on this platform in the past.

Special chartered trains hauled by steam locomotives often use the loop to take on water because it has good road access although the Down platform in Newbury station can also be used for this purpose.

The station's facilities include a staffed ticket office open on weekdays and weekends; car parks on both sides of the station; covered bicycle storage;[9] taxi rank; toilets and a shop on Platform 2 and waiting rooms on both main platforms.