Worthing railway station

Worthing
Looking westwards from Worthing station
General information
Location	Worthing, Worthing, West Sussex England
Grid reference	TQ145033
Managed by	Southern
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	WRH
Classification	DfT category C
History
Opened	24 November 1845
Passengers
2015/16	2.578 million
2016/17	2.104 million
2017/18	2.225 million
2018/19	2.395 million
2019/20	2.342 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Worthing railway station is the largest of the five stations serving the town of Worthing in West Sussex (The other stations being East Worthing, West Worthing, Durrington-on-Sea and Goring-by-Sea). It is 10 miles 46 chains (17.0 km) down the line from Brighton. The station is managed by Southern, who operate the majority of trains serving it; Great Western Railway and Thameslink who only run a handful of services per day during peak hours. It is one of the main stations on the West Coastway Line; all timetabled trains stop here.

At times in its history the station had been named Worthing Central. This name is sometimes incorrectly still used, either out of habit or intentionally to distinguish it from West Worthing and East Worthing stations.

Worthing is the only station in DfT category C that has not been given a subcategory; it is listed by DfT as simply "C", while all other stations in this group have been divided into C1 and C2.

History

The station opened on 24 November 1845. The first service arrived early in the morning from Shoreham but the official opening was scheduled for mid-day. Crowds thronged on Teville Bridge adjoining the station to witness a train from Shoreham drawn by a locomotive called "Ercombert", probably named after Eorcenberht of Kent (died 664), a king of Kent. As the train passed under the bridge, a local band of musicians played the National Anthem.

The original station buildings opened in 1845 and are now Grade II listed. They were converted into 2 cottages sometime after 1859 when a new station was built further west. This "new" station was rebuilt and expanded in 1911.

In August 2007, ticket barriers were introduced separating the platforms from the ticket office. However, their effectiveness is compromised by the layout of the station insofar as the rear car park entrance leads directly to the subway connecting the platforms. A small ticket booth, frequently unmanned, has been installed in the subway in an attempt to address this issue. In April 2009, the station was made fully accessible to disabled passengers, which new ticket windows which can be adjusted to height and a ramp was also provided. The station was also fitted with new folding doors.

Facilities

The main station entrance is on the south side in Station Approach. The passenger car park is on the north side of the station in Southcourt Road and has a separate entrance to the station. Parking is free only on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The concourse and ticket office leads directly to the side platform (platform 3), which is used mostly for westbound services. The island platform (platforms 1 and 2) is connected to this platform by a subway, which also leads out to the car park.

Station facilities include:

• Booking hall
• Ticket Office (3 windows)
• Automatic Ticket Gates
• Lifts
• Espresso Coffee shop (also sells newspapers)
• Snack bar (in the booking hall)
• Waiting rooms
• Toilets (refurbished February 2007)
• Departure boards: 2 on each platform and 4 in ticket hall (including 1 that only shows direct services)
• Car Park
• Telephones
• Bicycle Storage

Platform layout

The station has three platforms, all of which are long enough to accommodate 12-carriage trains.

• Platform 1: only used at peak times, often for terminating services
• Platform 2: used for eastbound services to Brighton, London Victoria and Bedford
• Platform 3: used for westbound services to Littlehampton, Portsmouth Harbour, Southampton Central, Bristol Temple Meads and beyond.

Services

Off-peak services at Worthing are operated by Southern using Class 313 and Class 377 EMUs and by Great Western Railway using Class 158 DMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 2 tph to London Victoria via Gatwick Airport
• 4 tph to Brighton (2 semi-fast, 2 stopping)
• 2 tph to West Worthing
• 2 tph to Littlehampton
• 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour
• 1 tph to Southampton Central

These services are operated by Southern. There are also two trains per day, operated by Great Western Railway which run between Brighton and Bristol Temple Meads via Salisbury with one continuing to Great Malvern.

During the peak periods, there are a small number of trains between Littlehampton, London Bridge and Bedford, operated by Thameslink.

On Sundays, the services to West Worthing do not run and the service to London Victoria and Littlehampton is reduced to 1 tph.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
East Worthing		Southern West Coastway Line		West Worthing
Lancing				Angmering
Shoreham-by-Sea		Great Western Railway West Coastway Line		Barnham
Lancing		Thameslink Bedford to Littlehampton Peak Hours Only		West Worthing

External links

• Train times and station information for Worthing railway station from National Rail