The redheaded man, whose name is later revealed to be Andy, is a commuter who lives in the London suburb of Witney. He often rides the train to and from the city at the same time as Rachel. On the fateful Saturday night when Rachel travels to Witney to confront Tom and Anna, she remembers little from her blackout except for the redheaded man helping her up the stairs near the station after a fall. Rachel begins to fear the redheaded man, believing that he harmed her in the underpass or was otherwise connected to Megan’s murder—yet Andy eventually reveals himself to be a harmless, fun-loving man who simply came to Rachel’s aid in a moment of need.
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The Redheaded Man / Andy Character Timeline in The Girl on the Train
The timeline below shows where the character The Redheaded Man / Andy appears in The Girl on the Train. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Rachel: Two
...She drunkenly decides to get off at the Witney stop. As she does, she notices a redheaded man smiling—or sneering—from the opposite end of the carriage.
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Rachel: Four
...platform, yet the flashback kept deepening, and she recalled being helped up by the strange redheaded man from the train.
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...room where she met with Gaskill and a female officer, Detective Sergeant Riley. Rachel described the redheaded man she saw at the train station and reported that he helped her up after she...
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...the train lurches to a stop at the Witney signal, Rachel catches sight of the red-haired man again. He smiles at her. Rachel again remembers him helping her up on the stairs...
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Rachel: Eight
...the news. When the train stops at Witney, Rachel gets off—she decides to look for the redheaded man . After half an hour of waiting on the platform, however, she still hasn’t spotted...
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Rachel: Nine
...even to look out at the houses. Just then, a man sits down beside her— the redheaded man from the Saturday of Megan’s disappearance. He greets Rachel and asks if she remembers him...
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Rachel: Thirteen
...the train won’t start again. Rachel screams in horror as Jason starts violently attacking Jess. The redheaded man approaches Rachel and urges her to calm down—it’s already too late to do anything.
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Rachel: Fourteen
That afternoon, after her interview, Rachel is on her way to the train when the redheaded man grabs her arm and apologizes for his behavior on the train the other day. He...
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