Worthing railway station

Worthing
Looking westwards from Worthing station
Location
Place	Worthing
Local authority	Worthing, West Sussex
Grid reference	TQ145033
Operations
Station code	WRH
Managed by	Southern
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	C[1]
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13	2.608 million
2013/14	2.602 million
2014/15	2.576 million
2015/16	2.578 million
2016/17	2.104 million
History
Key dates	Opened 24 November 1845 (24 November 1845)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Worthing from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Worthing railway station is the largest of the five stations serving the town of Worthing in West Sussex (The other stations being East Worthing, West Worthing, Durrington-on-Sea and Goring-by-Sea). It is 10 miles 46 chains (17.0 km) down the line from Brighton. The station is managed by Southern, who operate the majority of trains serving it; Great Western Railway and Thameslink who only run a handful of services per day during peak hours. It is one of the main stations on the West Coastway Line; all timetabled trains stop here.

At times in its history the station had been named Worthing Central. This name is sometimes incorrectly still used, either out of habit or intentionally to distinguish it from West Worthing and East Worthing stations.

Worthing is the only station in DfT category C that has not been given a subcategory; it is listed by DfT as simply "C", while all other stations in this group have been divided into C1 and C2.^[1]

History

The station opened on 24 November 1845. The first service arrived early in the morning from Shoreham but the official opening was scheduled for mid-day. Crowds thronged on Teville Bridge adjoining the station to witness a train from Shoreham drawn by a locomotive called "Ercombert", probably named after Eorcenberht of Kent (died 664), a king of Kent. As the train passed under the bridge, a local band of musicians played the National Anthem.^[2]

The original station buildings opened in 1845 and are now Grade II listed.^[3] They were converted into 2 cottages sometime after 1859 when a new station was built further west. This "new" station was rebuilt and expanded in 1911.^[4]

In August 2007, ticket barriers were introduced separating the platforms from the ticket office. However, their effectiveness is compromised by the layout of the station insofar as the rear car park entrance leads directly to the subway connecting the platforms. A small ticket booth, frequently unmanned, has been installed in the subway in an attempt to address this issue. In April 2009, the station was made fully accessible to disabled passengers, which new ticket windows which can be adjusted to height and a ramp was also provided. The station was also fitted with new folding doors.

Facilities

The main station entrance is on the south side in Station Approach. The passenger car park is on the north side of the station in Southcourt Road and has a separate entrance to the station. Parking is free only on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The concourse and ticket office leads directly to the side platform (platform 3), which is used mostly for westbound services. The island platform (platforms 1 and 2) is connected to this platform by a subway, which also leads out to the car park.

Station facilities include:

Platform layout

The station has three platforms, all of which are long enough to accommodate 12-carriage trains.

• Platform 1: only used at peak times, often for terminating services;
• Platform 2: used for eastbound services to Brighton and London Victoria;
• Platform 3: used for westbound services to Littlehampton, Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton Central, Bristol Temple Meads and beyond.

Services

Most trains serving the station are run by Southern, with the typical off-peak service consisting of the following:

• Eastbound:
  • 4tph to Brighton via Hove;
  • 2tph to London Victoria via Hove and Gatwick Airport.
• Westbound:
  • 2tph to West Worthing only;
  • 2tph to Littlehampton;
  • 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour via Chichester and Havant;
  • 1tph to Southampton Central via Chichester, Havant and Fareham.

On Sundays the eastbound service is halved in frequency (2tph to Brighton and 1tph to London Victoria), while westbound there is 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour, 1tph to Littlehampton and 1tph to Southampton Central.

Great Western Railway serves the station with two services a day to Bristol Temple Meads via Southampton Central, Salisbury and Bath Spa, one of which continues to Great Malvern via Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Foregate Street. In the opposite direction, there is one daily service from Great Malvern (via Bristol Temple Meads) and one from Portsmouth Harbour. On Sundays there is no service to or from Great Malvern, but there is a service to and from Cardiff Central (via Bristol Temple Meads).

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
East Worthing or Lancing		Southern West Coastway Line		West Worthing
Lancing or Shoreham-by-Sea		Thameslink Bedford - Littlehampton		West Worthing
Lancing		Southern Brighton - Portsmouth		Angmering (West Worthing at peak times)
Shoreham-by-Sea		Great Western Railway Cardiff-Brighton		Barnham

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Worthing railway station.

• Train times and station information for Worthing railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 50°49′07″N 0°22′33″W / 50.81861°N 0.37583°W / 50.81861; -0.37583