30-571: The West Coastway line is a railway line in England linking the conurbations of Brighton/Hove/Littlehampton and Southampton/Portsmouth , with 1.3 million people between them. It has short southward branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis , which offer direct services to and from London . From Brighton the East Coastway line continues to Hastings via Lewes , Eastbourne and Bexhill , and then to Ashford International , Kent via
60-626: A population of 474,485 (2011 census), making it England 's 12th largest conurbation. This was an increase of around 3% from the 2001 population of 461,181. Named the Brighton / Worthing / Littlehampton conurbation by the Office for National Statistics for the 2001 census and Brighton and Hove Built-up area for the 2011 census, the area has also been known as Greater Brighton , although the Greater Brighton City Region that
90-579: Is due to its tight boundaries between the South Downs national park to the north, and the English Channel to the south together with less land devoted to domestic gardens in English seaside towns than in inland towns. It is a multi-centred conurbation and the eastern part, the city of Brighton and Hove , has approximately half of its population. The total distance in a straight line from
120-561: Is one of two stations serving the town of Malvern , Worcestershire , England (the other being Malvern Link station ) on the Hereford to Worcester section of the Cotswold Line . It is situated downhill from the centre of Great Malvern and close to Barnards Green . The station retains most of its original Victorian station design by the architect Edmund Wallace Elmslie and is a Grade II listed building . Great Malvern station
150-562: The Brighton and Chichester Railway . In July 1846 these two companies merged with others to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR), which continued the line to Havant (opened 15 March 1847) and Portsmouth (opened 14 June 1847). Part of this section became jointly owned with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), following the opening of the LSWR line from Fareham to Portcreek Junction on 1 October 1848 (connecting to
180-780: The Eastleigh–Fareham line ). The Southampton and Netley Railway built a line to connect with the Victoria Military Hospital at Netley , which opened 5 March 1866 and was operated by the LSWR. The final connecting link from Netley to Fareham was opened by the LSWR on 2 September 1889. In the meanwhile the LBSCR opened the Littlehampton branch from Ford Junction on 17 August 1863 and the Bognor Regis branch from Barnham Junction on 1 June 1864. With
210-604: The Marshlink line . The section east of Portsmouth was electrified by the Southern Railway before the Second World War . The electrification of the tracks further west in the late 1980s enabled electric trains to travel the whole route via Netley to Southampton or via Botley to Eastleigh . The London and South Western Railway ran the tracks west of Farlington Junction , north of Portsmouth, by
240-624: The Snow Hill Lines . A handful of West Midlands Trains services start or terminate here each day, to/from Worcester & Birmingham. Great Western Railway operate a roughly hourly service to London Paddington via the Cotswold Line and Oxford (some of which run to/from Hereford ) and every two hours (except Sundays) to Bristol Temple Meads via Gloucester . Many Bristol services continue onwards to Westbury & Weymouth . Terminating services (including all from Bristol) generally run empty to Malvern Wells to reverse, then return to
270-657: The Brighton conurbation trails the Southampton and Portsmouth conurbation . The Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation was the largest on the Channel before Portsmouth and Southampton's conurbations were combined for much official data analysis after the 2011 census. This conurbation is also the UK's most densely populated major conurbation outside London with 5,304 inhabitants per square kilometre (13,740/sq mi). This
300-553: The Cosham to Farlington triangle which lies north of Portsmouth and Langstone Harbours, except a daily Brighton-to-Exeter through (direct) train. After dieselisation using 3H units in 1958, the general service pattern every hour was one semi-fast from Portsmouth to Southampton and Salisbury (some extended to Bristol), one stopping to Southampton Central and one train to Botley and Eastleigh (some extended to Reading and, until 1966, Romsey via Chandler's Ford). The lines now operated under
330-492: The London-bound platform. In 2022 Network Rail is spending £8 million on restoration of the platform canopies, sculptures, overhead glazing and ironwork. The work, which will not cause any disruption to services, is expected to be finished by early 2023. The Victorian station clock is now also working following an £8,000 restoration in 2021 after having been stuck for over three years. The work included replacing all
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#1732772431963360-473: The Southern Railway before the Second World War in two stages: Southern is the main operator of passenger services and stations on the line east of Portsmouth . Service patterns have varied over the years, but have always included a slow service (calling at most or all stations) from Brighton to Portsmouth . Regular services run from London Victoria via Gatwick which avoid Brighton by using
390-936: The West Coastway line, between Ford and nearby Chichester, to Portsmouth or Southampton. All of the Southern services are operated by electric multiple-units . Many of these trains join/"couple" or divide/"uncouple" during their journey, historically at Barnham , today at Horsham (except on Sundays, when trains still divide at Barnham). The section west of Portsmouth sees trains from typically three operators. Its stations are managed by South Western Railway , who operate regular services from Portsmouth either to Southampton or to London Waterloo (less directly than its Portsmouth Direct Line , instead via Fareham, Botley, Hedge End and Eastleigh). Great Western Railway operate diesel passenger trains from Portsmouth to Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff Central , with occasional services to
420-580: The West Country or Great Malvern . Southern operate hourly services: between Brighton and Southampton Central ; and between London Victoria and Southampton . The Southampton to London Victoria trains introduced at electrification created many direct routes, from Southampton, Swanwick, Fareham and Cosham to the West Sussex coast and particularly to Gatwick Airport. In 2024, Southern proposed significant service pattern changes, by diverting all
450-461: The banner "West Coastway" have a complex history and were built in stages by five different companies between 1840 and 1889. The line from Brighton to Shoreham was a branch of the London and Brighton Railway which opened 12 May 1840, before the completion of the main line . The extensions of this line to Worthing (opened 24 November 1845), to Arundel & Littlehampton (opened 16 March 1846) and to Chichester (opened 8 June 1846) were built by
480-443: The cab road at the front of the station. The buildings are in local Malvern Rag stone and follow a French Gothic theme. A particular feature of the station are the deep canopies which are supported by elaborate, cast-iron girders, which are in turn supported by columns with elaborate capitals. These capitals are decorated with high relief mouldings depicting different arrangements of flowers and foliage. The sculptor William Forsyth
510-486: The country. Although in need of extensive restoration and generally not open to the public, the Worm is itself Grade II listed. The station is served by two train operating companies : West Midlands Trains (who manage the station) and Great Western Railway . West Midlands Trains operate services to Birmingham New Street via Worcester and Hereford every hour and also some services to Whitlocks End and Dorridge via
540-422: The inland shore of Langstone Harbour . This section was served and timetabled separately before its electrification, a vestige of having had a different original railway company . The West Coastway line runs almost alongside or within a few miles of the south coast of Sussex and Hampshire , between Brighton and Southampton . East of Portsmouth the line was electrified (using 750 V DC third rail) by
570-678: The junction at St Denys the West Coastway Line joins the route of the South West Main Line In July 2022, Transport for the South East proposed that an underground line should be built to connect Southampton Central and Netley stations, thus shortening the travel time between Southampton and Portsmouth to under 35 minutes. Brighton and Hove built-up area The Brighton and Hove Built-up area or Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation has
600-438: The obligation of South West Trains to run Brighton services — being somewhat orbital around London — which left free train paths which were filled by extra Southern trains mainly bound to or from London. Prior to the 1980s electrification of the "(south) Hampshire lines", including the part of this line west of Farlington, they were operated as a separate entity terminating at Portsmouth – few trains traversed
630-599: The services from Southampton Central to London Victoria to Portsmouth Harbour, as well as doubling Southampton Central to Brighton services, with an additional stop at Woolston . The lightly-used Littlehampton to Portsmouth & Southsea and Bognor Regis services will be replaced by a new Brighton to Chichester (via Littlehampton) service. The new changes are planned for June 2024. Beyond the line and its main links to London, before late 2007 trains ran from Reading or Basingstoke to Portsmouth or Brighton; Basingstoke to Portsmouth being current. The Department for Transport withdrew
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#1732772431963660-524: The settlements coalesce: Settlements very close to the conurbation but not included in the official statistics include the towns of Peacehaven and Telscombe (separated from Brighton by Telscombe Tye, a small open space, population 23,000), Newhaven (joined to Peacehaven, population 11,000) and Seaford (separated from Newhaven by the River Ouse , population 22,000). The coastal towns of Sussex with neighbouring Hampshire and south Kent including
690-611: The settlements that make up the Brighton and Hove built-up area are the sunniest places in the United Kingdom. The coast has consistently more sunshine than the inland areas: sea breezes, blowing off the sea, tend to clear any cloud from the coast. The sunshine average is approximately 1,900 hours a year; this is much higher than the UK average of 1,340 hours a year. 50°49′26″N 0°20′06″W / 50.824°N 0.335°W / 50.824; -0.335 Great Malvern railway station Great Malvern railway station
720-520: The station to take up their next scheduled working. There was previously a branch line to Ashchurch via Upton-on-Severn and Tewkesbury . Operated by the Midland Railway , it was closed in 1952. Before May 2022, there was one through service to & from Brighton . This service has since been withdrawn. There is a ticket office and an award-winning café which opened in 1984, named 'Lady Foley's Tea Room', after Lady Emily Foley , on
750-462: The tunnel between Preston Park and Hove. These services run to Littlehampton (2016); similar services extended to Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton particularly in the initial decades of open competition between operators, making use of statutory and negotiated running rights . Other services run from London Victoria via Gatwick and the Arun Valley line to Bognor Regis or along more of
780-415: The western edge of Littlehampton to the eastern edge of Saltdean is between 23 and 24 miles (37 and 39 km). Along the shore or by road, it is slightly further. The conurbation's population is made up of the following settlements as defined by the Office for National Statistics : Notes: There are some small gaps that help maintain distinct identities of places in the conurbation, although in places
810-404: Was a key sponsor of the building of Great Malvern station. She had a waiting room made for her exclusive use at Great Malvern Station, which is now ‘Lady Foley's Tea Room’. The station celebrated its 150th birthday on 23 May 2010 with the unveiling of a plaque and a special train. An additional part of this celebration was the reinstatement of some of the highly decorated lighting columns around
840-595: Was created in 2014 from seven local authorities in Sussex covers a much larger area. The conurbation dominates West and East Sussex , with around one in three of Sussex's population living within its boundaries. It is also the second largest conurbation in the South East region of England and the second largest conurbation on the English Channel coast, in either England or France . In both of these cases
870-409: Was employed to work on the buildings and designed the metal capitals of the columns which support the canopies above both platforms of the station. At the end of Platform 2 is the entrance to the Worm, an enclosed passageway which leads under Avenue Road into the former Imperial Hotel (now Malvern St James ). It formed a private pedestrian access and is believed to be the only structure of its kind in
900-538: Was opened by the Worcester and Hereford Railway in 1860 and the present buildings, by architect Edmund Wallace Elmslie, were completed in 1862. The Midland Railway and the London and North Western Railway collaborated on the construction cost; the solicitor, Samuel Carter , was also solicitor to both of these major companies. It was later absorbed by the Great Western Railway . Lady Emily Foley
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