Cooden Beach railway station

Cooden Beach National Rail
Location
Place Cooden Beach, Bexhill-on-Sea
Local authority Rother, East Sussex
Coordinates 50°49′59″N 0°25′37″E / 50.833°N 0.427°ECoordinates: 50°49′59″N 0°25′37″E / 50.833°N 0.427°E
Grid reference TQ709065
Operations
Station code COB
Managed by Southern
Number of platforms 2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05  105,484
2005/06 Decrease 103,002
2006/07 Increase 104,911
2007/08 Increase 106,598
2008/09 Increase 110,546
2009/10 Decrease 106,012
2010/11 Increase 114,038
2011/12 Increase 121,568
2012/13 Increase 121,900
2013/14 Decrease 118,060
History
Original company London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Pre-grouping London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
11 September 1905 Opened as Cooden Golf Halt
by 1922 Renamed Cooden Halt
7 July 1935 Renamed Cooden Beach
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Cooden Beach from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Cooden Beach serves Cooden at the western end of Bexhill in East Sussex. It is on the East Coastway Line, and train services are provided by Southern.

The station

The station was first opened on 11 September 1905 as Cooden Golf Halt[1] to serve a growing area of new, mainly high quality, housing located close to the beach (hence its later name). By 1922, the name had been simplified to Cooden Halt.[1] With the growing housing development of the 1930s and the electrification of the line a new enlarged station was built adopting its present name of Cooden Beach on 7 July 1935.[1] The station building is at street level and a subway leads to the platforms with their wooden shelters. The shop next to the ticket office (now combined) has been a sporting goods store and a carpet store.

In the latter half of 2005 and early 2006, Cooden Beach station underwent a minor refurbishment programme to bring the station in line with Southern's image (the company's dark green colour scheme was implemented). The improvements included new double glazing on the subways leading to the platforms and opening up the waiting rooms, which had been closed for at least a decade. The last major refurbishment, by Connex, opened up the old ticket office and shop and turned it into a Costcutter supermarket but a whole station refurbishment was never completed.

The station had a ticket office since its change from a halt, as well as an adjoining shop; however since the latter days of British Rail and early Connex times, the station was unmanned and a single ticket machine and Permit to travel dispenser were the only station furniture. The introduction of the mini-market seems to have boosted visits to the station and trains now run more frequently. Although in 2008 the mini market was sold off and a new ticket office was rebuilt.

Cooden Beach is a penalty fare station with most trains operating Southern's strict Penalty Fares policy.

Services

The typical off-peak service is:

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Normans Bay
Pevensey & Westham
on Sundays
  Southern
East Coastway Line Stopping
  Collington

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 68. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.

External links