Newhaven Marine railway station

Newhaven Marine railway station is a station in Newhaven, East Sussex, England near Newhaven Harbour. It is legally open, but has been closed to passengers since August 2006 due to safety concerns.[1] The station has been a site of fascination due to the operation of "Parliamentary train" services to the station which do not appear in timetables and which are inaccessible to the public but which nonetheless call at the station once a day in order to fulfill the legal obligations of an 'open' station.[2][3]

Newhaven Marine
The entrance to the platform at Newhaven Marine before demolition of the station in 2017.
Location
PlaceNewhaven
Local authorityLewes
Coordinates50.7875°N 0.0566°E / 50.7875; 0.0566
Grid referenceTQ450006
Operations
Station codeNVM
Number of platforms1
DfT categoryF1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
History
Original companyLB&SCR
Pre-groupingLB&SCR
Post-groupingSouthern Railway
17 May 1886Opened as Newhaven Harbour (Boat Station)
14 May 1984Renamed Newhaven Marine
August 2006Services suspended on safety grounds
May 2017Demolished
National Rail – UK railway stations

In May 2018, it was revealed that the station was being considered for a legal closure as part of plans to improve freight connectivity in the area.[4] A daily parliamentary service ran as empty stock movement until early 2019. On 15 January 2020 the Department for Transport (DfT) opened a formal public consultation to close the station. The consultation close date was 11:45 on 19 April 2020. If the closure proposals are successful, the station will close on or after 28 September 2020.[5]

History

The first station adjacent to the site was named Newhaven Wharf which opened with the line from Lewes on 8 December 1847 and closed when Newhaven Harbour station opened.[6][7] The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) opened the station on 17 May 1886, as Newhaven Harbour (Boat Station). On 14 May 1984 British Railways renamed it Newhaven Marine.[8]

The line to Newhaven Marine branches off the Seaford line at Newhaven Harbour Junction. The single platform of Newhaven Marine is numbered 3; it is long enough for 12 coaches, and is 16 chains (320 m) to the south of Newhaven Harbour station (56 miles 67 chains (91.5 km) measured from London Bridge via Redhill[9]). There is a run-round loop.[10]

While Newhaven Marine was once a busy station, offering connections for ferry passengers travelling to Dieppe in France, gradual reductions in ferry passenger numbers led to a fall in demand for the station.[11] By 2006, it was served by a daily Parliamentary train, the name given to services in the UK which are operated in order to meet the legal obligations of train companies to keep a station or line open. In August 2006, the station was closed to the public due to safety concerns over the condition of the roof canopy,[1] which was later removed.[12] A daily service continued to operate, stopping at the station platforms but with passengers unable to access it.[12] Attention was brought to the situation in a BBC Radio 4 programme, The Ghost Trains of Old England, in October 2010,[2] and the station became well known among railway enthusiasts for its unusual status.[3][13] At this time, much of the station building remained standing, with fences preventing access to the platforms.[2][3] A poster at the station offered ticket-holders a taxi to Newhaven Harbour station at the scheduled time of the Parliamentary train, although the journey between the two stations is less than a 2 minute walk.[2][3]

Services and station today

In 2017, the station buildings were demolished and access to the site remained impossible,[14][15] but a daily service continued to call at the station, albeit barred from passenger use, until early 2019 when it was suspended due to engineering works.[5][14]

Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Terminus   Southern
Seaford Branch Line		   Newhaven Harbour

Today, Newhaven Marine consists of a run-around loop adjacent to the old station platform. Further south, the track extends into Newhaven East Quay, to a marine-dredged aggregates handling plant.[16] Aggregates and sand imported from ships are carried by conveyor and loaded onto freight trains towards London. The first aggregates train was operated by DB Cargo UK and ran on 18 June 2020.[17]

See also

References
  1. "Newhaven Marine Railway Station". Hansard. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  2. "The Ghost Trains of Old England". BBC. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  3. Pipe, Vicki; Marshall, Geoff (1 June 2011). "Newhaven Marine Ghost Train". Geoff Marshall (YouTube). Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  4. Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP. "Improving Port Connectivity". Lexology. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. Newhaven Marine station closure 15 January 2020
  6. https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/media/1737/newhaven_eus_report_maps.pdf
  7. Southern Region Record by R.H.Clark
  8. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 169. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  9. Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 17A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  10. Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 17A. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  11. Gilbert, Gerard. "Travel: Channel ferry gets that sinking feeling". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  12. Department of Transport. "Freedom of Information Request 105003 response" (PDF). What do they know. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. "Seaside postcard: Newhaven". Diamond Geezer. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  14. David, Gareth (25 May 2017). "Ghost train to Newhaven Marine". RailwayWorld. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  15. "Switch! Reverse that! - Episode 6, Day 9 - Bognor Regis to Gatwick Airport". All the Stations. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  16. "Newhaven Marine & Port Development Documentation". Rail Record. 11 February 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  17. "First Train Enters Newhaven Marine Aggregates Terminal". Rail Record. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
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