Hove railway station

Hove railway station is in Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. The station and the majority of trains serving it are operated by Southern. Other operators are First Great Western and South West Trains.

The station is situated a short distance west of the junction between the West Coastway line from Brighton and the Cliftonville Curve, which connects the West Coastway route with the Brighton Main Line. As a result, the station is often used for interchange between Brighton trains and those running to and from London Victoria via the Brighton Main Line. An island platform allows straightforward cross-platform interchange. A separate side platform, with direct access to the station concourse and exit, is used for westbound services.

1 Stations in the Hove area
2 Station architecture
3 Future developments
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Stations in the Hove area

Opened on 1 October 1865, the present station was originally named Cliftonville and West Brighton, before being renamed Hove and West Brighton in 1893 and finally Hove in 1895.

A station named Hove had opened further to the east on 12 May 1840 by the London and Brighton Railway, on its line from Brighton to Shoreham-by-Sea. This closed on 1 March 1880, but a wooden halt named Holland Road Halt was opened a short distance to the west in 1905. Served by local trains towards Worthing and on the branch line to Devil's Dyke, it closed in 1956, with no trace now remaining of its platforms.^[1]

[edit] Station architecture

The original station building at Hove, now used as a hand car wash.

The original station building, dating from the station's opening in 1865, is on the south side of the line and to the east of the present ticket office and concourse, being separated from this by a long footbridge (a public right of way) linking the residential roads of Goldstone Villas and Hove Park Villas. The section of road on which the original building stands is called Station Approach. It is currently in commercial use. The design is very similar to that of the buildings still in use at West Worthing, Shoreham-by-Sea, Portslade and London Road stations, and the former Kemptown station in Brighton.

The island platform looking east, with the long footbridge behind. Southern EMU 377436 stands at Platform 1 with a London Victoria service.

In 1893, coinciding with the first renaming, a new building was provided to the west. This contains the current ticket office and other station facilities. A large steel and glass porte-cochere stands outside at an angle, sheltering the taxi rank, forecourt and entrance area. This was moved from London Victoria following rebuilding works there which had rendered it redundant.

The island platform is reached by subway; access from the footbridge between the old and new buildings is no longer possible, as the stairs from it are locked out of use. This platform has a modest building incorporating a café, staff accommodation and waiting room, with a separate toilet block. A wide canopy runs for most of the length of the platform.

[edit] Future developments

The Thameslink 2000 project (now known as the Thameslink Programme) contains proposals to extend the Thameslink network to various additional routes in southern England; one of these would be the section of the West Coastway line between Hove and Littlehampton, with services running via the Cliftonville Curve from the Brighton Main Line.

[edit] References

^ Mitchell, Vic and Smith, Keith (1983). South Coast Railways - Brighton to Worthing. Middleton Press. ISBN 0-906520-03-7

[edit] External links

Train times and station information for Hove railway station from National Rail
Street map and aerial photo of Hove railway station from Multimap.com

Preceding station		Following station
Brighton	Southern West Coastway Line	Aldrington
Haywards Heath	Southern West Coastway Line	Shoreham-by-Sea
Brighton	South West Trains Reading-Brighton	Shoreham-by-Sea
Brighton	First Great Western Cardiff-Brighton	Shoreham-by-Sea