Brighton railway station

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Brighton
Brighton station concourse
Location
Place Brighton
Local authority Brighton and Hove, East Sussex
Coordinates 50°49′44″N 0°08′28″W / 50.8288, -0.1411Coordinates: 50°49′44″N 0°08′28″W / 50.8288, -0.1411
Operations
Station code BTN
Managed by Southern
Platforms in use 8
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 * 11.295 million
2005/06 * 11.855 million
History
Key dates Opened 11 May 1840
National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Brighton from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
Portal:Brighton railway station
 UK Railways Portal
This article is about the railway station in England. For the subway station in Brooklyn, New York City, see Brighton Beach (BMT Brighton Line).

Brighton railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. It was built by the London & Brighton Railway in 1840, initially connecting Brighton to Shoreham-by-Sea, westwards along the coast, and shortly afterwards connecting it to London 82 km (51 miles) to the north, and to the county town of Lewes to the east.

Immediately to the north of the station is Network Rail's ECR and infrastructure maintenance depot, and Southern's, Lovers Walk Depot, used for servicing most of Southern's single voltage Class 377 Electrostar fleet and their newly acquired Class 442s. The depot is partially on the site of Brighton railway works.

Trains are operated by franchises trading under the names Southern, First Great Western, First Capital Connect, and CrossCountry.

The station has a large double-spanned curved glass and iron roof covering the platforms, which was substantially renovated in 1999 and 2000[1].

Contents

[edit] Services

The station provides fast and frequent connections to Gatwick Airport and London Victoria, as well via the Thameslink line through the City of London to Bedford. During normal service, most trains to (and through) London use the Brighton main line to get there. Some trains also run via Kensington (Olympia) station en route to Manchester or—via Salisbury and Bristol—to Cardiff, in both cases avoiding the need to change trains in central London. Trains to Lewes and beyond leave Brighton station over the spectacular London Road viaduct.

South West Trains also used to operate regular services from this station, to Reading and Paignton, via Worthing and Chichester. These services were withdrawn from 10th December 2007, due to new franchise obligations and South West Trains no longer operate any services from Brighton. This has caused some disruption to commuters as there are now no direct services from Brighton to Basingstoke and Winchester.

Typical hourly off-peak service pattern

(tph = trains per hour)

  Preceding station     National Rail     Following station  
Terminus   Southern
West Coastway		   Hove
  Southern
London-Brighton		   Preston Park
  Southern
East Coastway		   London Road
(Brighton)
Terminus   First Capital Connect
Bedford-Brighton		   Preston Park
Terminus   First Great Western
Worcester-Brighton		   Hove
Terminus   CrossCountry
Brighton-Manchester Piccadilly
Mondays-Saturdays only		   Haywards Heath
Disused Railways
Shoreham   British Rail
Southern Region
Steyning Line		   Terminus

[edit] Accidents

On 4 August 1909, a motor-train hauled by Terrier No.83 Earlswood collided with the buffers at Brighton, due to the driver's error. Nineteen people were injured.[2]

[edit] History and development

The original station site was rapidly extended in the nineteenth century to allow for a goods yard — on a site somewhat lower than the station, and initially accessed by a tunnel under it. The tunnel entrance was filled in after new tracks were laid into the goods yard, but a portion of it was converted into offices during World War II, and these were in use until the early twenty-first century. A portion of the tunnel is still used by a local rifle club.

A second tunnel runs under the station which once provided an open-air cab run at shallower gradient than Trafalgar Street outside, which had been the main approach to the station before the construction of Queen's Road (which was financially supported by the railway, and intended to improve access). The cab run was covered (forming a tunnel) when the station above was extended over it on cast iron columns. The cab run remains in situ but has been sealed at the station end.

Subsequent extensions included extra platforms and considerable trackwork for the goods yard (including a new bridge over New England Road), and Brighton railway works.

In the twentieth century the railway-related manufacturing work ceased, after which Isetta cars were briefly built in a part of the works.

The site of the goods yard has been redeveloped, and much of it forms the New England Quarter.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Project information from Kier Construction Ltd
  2. ^ Middlemass, Tom (1995). Stroudley and his Terriers. York: Pendragon, p51. ISBN 1 899816 00 3. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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