It is sited on the northern edge of the town centre, near to the main retail and commercial areas and the River Thames.

Between 1865 and 1867, a station building, built of buff bricks from Coalbrookdale with Bath Stone dressings, and incorporating a tower and clock, was constructed for the Great Western Railway.

[7][8] In 1898 the single sided station layout was replaced by a conventional design with 'up', 'down' and 'relief' platforms linked by a pedestrian subway.

[13] This was long enough for a single eight coach train, which was later found to be inadequate,[14] and so a second terminal platform (4B) serving the same line was opened in 1975[15] for the commencement of the service from Reading to Gatwick Airport.

In July 2007, in its white paper Delivering a Sustainable Railway, the government announced plans to improve traffic flow at Reading, specifically mentioned along with Birmingham New Street station as "key congestion pinch-points" which would share investment worth £600 million.

[16] On 10 September 2008 Network Rail unveiled a £400 million regeneration and reconfiguration of the station and surrounding track to reduce delays.

[17][18] The following changes were made: The redevelopment was designed to provide provision for future Crossrail and Heathrow Airtrack services at Reading station.

[21] Electrification of the Great Western main line through Reading station was completed in time for electric trains to commence service between Paddington and Didcot Parkway on 2 January 2018.

[23] This was subsequently relocated by Network Rail, during the redevelopment works in the early 2010s, to the northern side of the tracks to the west of the station.

The resulting closure of the railway line and evacuation of the station caused travel chaos for several hours, but no-one was injured.

[28] In the chainage notation traditionally used on the railway, its location on the Great Western main line is 35 miles 78 chains (35.98 mi; 57.90 km) from Paddington.

Relief line platforms 13–15 have access to the underpass for services to London Waterloo and Gatwick Airport.

This enabled removal of the old footbridge to commence, starting with the two sections nearest the car park which were lifted out in the first two weeks of that month.

[clarification needed] Network Rail offered these to museums and the railway preservation movement, for a zero price, but subject to the cost of delivery being recompensed.

The main routes offered by CrossCountry are to Newcastle and Manchester Piccadilly to the north and Southampton Central and Bournemouth in the south.

The Elizabeth line operates a service to Abbey Wood, stopping at most stations to Ealing Broadway.

The secondary North Downs Line connects Reading with Guildford, Reigate, Redhill and Gatwick Airport.

An electric suburban line operated by South Western Railway links Reading to Wokingham, Bracknell, Ascot, Staines, Richmond, Clapham Junction and London Waterloo.

Reading station was intended to be the western terminus for the proposed Heathrow Airtrack rail service.

Airtrack was cancelled by BAA in April 2011[37] but, in October 2011, Wandsworth Council announced a revised plan called Airtrack-Lite.

Great Western Railway will run this route when completed in 2027, connecting up with the Elizabeth Line branch and replacing the Heathrow Express.