| Southampton Central | |||
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|---|---|---|---|
| Location | |||
| Place | Southampton City Centre | ||
| Local authority | Southampton | ||
| Operations | |||
| Station code | SOU | ||
| Managed by | South West Trains | ||
| Platforms in use | 4 | ||
| Live departures and station information from National Rail | |||
| Annual Passenger Usage | |||
| 2004/05 * | 4.655 million | ||
| 2005/06 * | 4.845 million | ||
| History | |||
| Key dates | Opened 1895 Enlarged 1934-1935 |
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| National Rail - UK railway stations | |||
| * Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Southampton Central from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. | |||
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Southampton Central railway station is a main line railway station serving the city of Southampton in Hampshire, southern England. It is on the Wessex Main Line, the South Western Main Line and the West Coastway Line. The station is managed by South West Trains who operate the majority of services, including frequent trains to London Waterloo. Other operators are CrossCountry (providing services to Birmingham and beyond), First Great Western (to Bristol Temple Meads) and Southern, which links Southampton to London Victoria via the south coast and Gatwick Airport, and to London Bridge following a similar route excluding Gatwick Airport. All the platforms are split into two sections, a and b, allowing two services to occupy a platform at the same time. Platforms 1 and 4 are, however, rarely used in this manner except when a train divides.
- Platform 1 is used for services to London Waterloo from Weymouth and Poole, First Great Western services to Portsmouth Harbour and CrossCross services to the north of England from Bournemouth
- Platform 2 is used for local services to Portsmouth and the stopping service to Romsey via Eastleigh. It is the usual platform for the stopping service to London Waterloo beginning at Southampton Central.
- Platform 3 is used for local services to Totton (runs to Salisbury via Redbridge (Hampshire) from 9 December 2007) and the local service to Westbury. This train sometimes departs from platform 2b. The Southern service from London Victoria usually terminates and departs from platform 3a.
- Platform 4 is used for services to Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth as well as Cardiff Central
There is also an ex-Red Star Parcels bay on the Bournemouth end of Platform 4. Known as Platform 5, a number of slow trains used to start from there, but they were phased out. Now it is used for stabling units, and often a Class 450 unit can be seen in there. All traces of the platform branding has, however, been removed. A number of empty stock loops are located a short distance away allowing terminating trains to clear the platforms for through services if required, and also to allow passenger services to pass freight trains.
Contents |
Services
Rail
Southampton Central has three trains an hour to London Waterloo of which two take approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes and the Poole stopping service taking approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes (this service is over taken by the express service at Eastleigh). Romsey can be reached from Southampton Central using trains departing in both directions, by South West Trains via Chandlers Ford in the up and down directions and by First Great Western via the Salisbury line in the down direction only. The service operated by Southern operates Mondays-Saturdays only.
On 9 December 2007 a number of changes were made to South West Trains, First Great Western and Southern services. The current London Waterloo to Southampton Central stopping service has been extended to Poole, replacing in part the former Brockenhurst to Wareham stopping service. The former Poole train has been extended to Weymouth. The Totton to Romsey shuttle and the Salisbury to Southampton Central portion of the First Great Western Westbury to Southampton Central service have been replaced by a South West Trains Salisbury to Romsey via Southampton Central and Chandlers Ford service, this calls at Romsey twice on its journey [1] [2]. Southern have introduced a new service from Southampton Central to Brighton, the service to London Victoria now runs via Horsham rather than via Hove. Further changes are planned to occur in December 2008 when CrossCountry launches its new timetable with most CrossCountry trains operating between Bournemouth and Manchester Piccadilly though some will continue to Newcastle [3]
Bus
The station has a free shuttle link service that links the station to the city centre and to Town Quay, for the Isle of Wight (Red Funnel) and Hythe ferries. This service is operated by Uni-link and departs from the Weymouth side of the station along with Uni-link's other routes which serve the station. Bus services operated by First, Solent Blue Line (all of which now operate under their BlueStar brandname), Wilts and Dorset and Stagecoach use stops on the London side. Taxi ranks are located on both sides of the station.
History
Southampton Central station was opened as Southampton West in 1895, to replace the original Blechynden/West End station (note nearby road namings). It was enlarged in 1934-1935 (from two platforms to four), and became Southampton Central. Soon after the closure of Southampton Terminus station near the docks in 1966, the station was rebuilt in 1967, losing its clocktower which was replaced with an office block. At this point it was renamed Southampton, although many years later it was once again renamed to Southampton Central.
External links
- Train times and station information for Southampton Central railway station from National Rail
- Map and aerial photo of Southampton Central railway station from Multimap.com
