Littlehaven railway station
Littlehaven railway station serves the areas of Littlehaven, Holbrook and Roffey in the northeast of the town of Horsham, West Sussex, England. It is on the Arun Valley Line, 36 miles 50 chains (58.9 km) down the line from London Bridge, measured via Redhill.[1]
Littlehaven  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Littlehaven, Horsham |
| Local authority | Horsham, West Sussex |
| Grid reference | TQ186324 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | LVN |
| Managed by | Southern |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
| DfT category | E |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2014/15 |  |
| 2015/16 | |
| 2016/17 | |
| 2017/18 |  |
| 2018/19 | |
| History | |
| 1848 | Line opened |
| 1 June 1907 | Station opened (Rusper Road Halt) |
| 1 July 1907 | Renamed (Littlehaven Crossing Halt) |
| 31 December 1907 | Renamed (Littlehaven Halt) |
| 5 May 1969 | Renamed (Littlehaven) |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Littlehaven from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
History
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway opened the first part of the line in 1848. However, the stations at Littlehaven, Roffey Road Halt and nearby Ifield were not opened until 1907; Littlehaven opened as Rusper Road Halt and subsequently changed to Littlehaven Crossing Halt and then Littlehaven Halt all within the first year of service. Similarly, Ifield was initially known as Lyons Crossing Halt. Roffey Road Halt closed in 1937.
The station was completely rebuilt with minimal facilities after traffic decreased.
In 2013, work began to extend the platforms to handle 8 carriages (up from 4), which will reduce delays caused by longer trains blocking the road while stopped.
Level crossing
There is a level crossing at the eastern (London) end of the platforms, where the line crosses Rusper Road. The crossing gates were considered for replacement with modern barriers in the early 1990s but as there was a history of late passengers running over the crossing to catch their train it was dismissed. Therefore, the adjacent signal box was manned 24 hours a day. In October 2012 the level crossing was rebuilt and automatic barriers installed to replace the old fashioned gates. This meant that the crossing operator's job was now redundant, with CCTV used to control the crossing from the Three Bridges signal centre.[2] This upgrade was finally made necessary due to a number of incidents of people driving through the wooden gates when closed, resulting in expensive replacement gates having to be constructed.[3][4]
Services
The station is operated by Southern and served by Thameslink services. The typical off-peak service pattern is:
- 2 tph to Horsham
- 2 tph to Peterborough
Facilities include disabled access to both platforms via side ramps from the level crossing, and a ticket office on the Horsham-bound platform. Its opening hours are 0640–1334 Monday to Saturday only.
| Preceding station | |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faygate | Southern Arun Valley Line limited service |
Horsham | ||
| Thameslink Arun Valley Line |
||||
References
- Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 19B. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "Crossing changes good news says councillor".
- "People carrier hits barrier at train station crossing".
- "Camera deployed to stop level crossing crime".
External links
- Train times and station information for Littlehaven railway station from National Rail