Havant railway station

Havant is a junction station and provides passengers with an interchange between the West Coastway line and the Portsmouth Direct Line. It therefore has services to Portsmouth, London Waterloo, London Victoria via Gatwick Airport, Brighton, Southampton and less frequent long-distance services to Wales and the west country. Havant was also once the junction for the Hayling Island branch, which was often referred to as the Hayling Billy line.

A diagram showing the layout changes of Havant station, with level crossings labelled as LC

[edit] History

Referring to the main picture, the gap between the left two tracks was once occupied by another fast track. This four track arrangement was once typical for less well-used stations. Over time, as Havant grew in population, the usage of the station grew. It is now served by all passenger services.

This is the third station to be named Havant. The first was built by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) 500 m to the east - a small wayside station (called Havant Halt). It was demolished after a serious fire. A newer station was built 200 m west to serve the then new London and South Western Railway (LSWR) Portsmouth Direct Line. This station was demolished so that a bigger station could be built 300 m further west to serve the new Hayling Island branch line. It had three platforms, one for Hayling Island and two for the stopping main line services. Many years ago, the Hayling Island tracks were removed and replaced with a car park and a fence on the south side of the platform.

For many years the station had four tracks, two for slow trains and two inner lines for fast trains. The northernmost of the two fast tracks (as mentioned above) has now been removed. The remaining fast (through) track was removed in late 2006. Judging by the new track layout east of the station, this arrangement seems to be permanent.

[edit] Recent changes

Since July 2006, The Hayling Island platform face no longer exists and a new cycle centre has been built in place of the former platform. A new station name poll has been erected at the position also. As well as these, most of the signs within the station have also been changed and new seats have been installed on the platforms. This is inline with commitments made in the current South West Trains franchise. The signs are in the more traditional style (as seen at Clapham Junction, Wimbledon and across the Southern Railway network).

There has been some discussion about putting a third (terminating) platform in the gap, however this would have to be very short and narrow. There has also been discussion about reinstating the Hayling Island platform, and even the whole Hayling Island branch. Both of these proposals have now been completely abandoned.

[edit] The last 'fast' track & other changes

The fast southbound through track was removed in December 2006 and both the entry and exit from the southbound platform were straightened out to allow a quicker entry and exit speed. New crossovers were put in place to allow bi-directional working on both platforms. From west to east the new layout will be: new NB->SB crossover, new SB->NB crossover, existing road bridge, platforms, new NB->SB crossover, existing SB->NB crossover, level crossing. The level crossing was also resurfaced and new crossing gates installed

[edit] The "Battle of Havant"

The "Battle of Havant" took place between the LB&SCR and the L&SWR. The two railway companies fought for the right to use LB&SCR tracks into Havant so the L&SWR could reach Portsmouth. For more details see Denvilles halt.

Such battles were quite common in the United States where they were called frog wars.

[edit] External links

Train times and station information for Havant railway station from National Rail
Map and aerial photo of Havant railway station from Multimap.com

Preceding station		Following station
Rowlands Castle	South West Trains Portsmouth Direct Line	Bedhampton
Chichester	South West Trains Reading-Brighton	Fareham
Chichester	First Great Western Cardiff-Brighton	Cosham
Warblington	Southern	Bedhampton
Warblington	Southern	Cosham Mondays-Saturdays only