Christchurch railway station

Christchurch railway station is a station serving the town of Christchurch in Dorset (formerly Hampshire) in England. The station is on the London Waterloo to Weymouth line operated by South West Trains.

History

Between 1862 and 1886, Christchurch station was sited elsewhere to the east of Fairmile Road in Christchurch - see Christchurch original railway station. Until 1935 the current station also serviced the line from Ringwood - see Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway. The line was electrified in 1967 when faster more frequent services were introduced.

Services

Although passed by the faster trains to Bournemouth it has an hourly semi-fast and stopping services from Waterloo, usually formed by a class 444 Desiro electric multiple unit. This gives a journey time of about two hours from London. As well as Christchurch, the station is useful for reaching eastern parts of Bournemouth. The majority of services were previously operated by class 442 Wessex Electrics which were withdrawn in February 2007.

The station is able to accommodate trains of up to 8 coaches, longer trains only open the doors in the first 5 or 8 coaches depending on the type of unit operating the service.

Road access to the station is from the northern end of Stour Road, near to the junction with Bargates coming from the town centre, at the end of Fairmile coming from the direction of Bournemouth International Airport and the Wessex Way. (A fairly steep bridge over the railway marks the point where Fairmile and Bargates, one straight road, meet.)