Eastleigh railway station

Eastleigh railway station serves the town of Eastleigh in the English county of Hampshire. It is located on the South West Main Line and is the junction station for two other routes, the Eastleigh-Fareham Line and the Eastleigh-Romsey Line. It is 73 miles 35 chains (118.2 km) from London Waterloo. South of the station are Eastleigh Railway Works and Eastleigh Depot.

Eastleigh
Exterior of the station, June 2019
General information
Location	Eastleigh, Borough of Eastleigh England
Grid reference	SU457190
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	3
Tracks	5
Other information
Station code	ESL
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Opened	10 June 1839
Original company	London and South Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
Passengers
2019/20	1.503 million
Interchange	0.136 million
2020/21	0.375 million
Interchange	30,338
2021/22	0.908 million
Interchange	85,078
2022/23	1.090 million
Interchange	93,127
2023/24	1.147 million
Interchange	95,269
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Eastleigh Railway Station
Designated	14 February 1983
Reference no.	1281411
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

A Special for Salisbury via Southampton in August 1964

The station was built by the LSWR and was called Bishopstoke when it was opened in 1839. The station-house was designed by Sir William Tite^[1] and has been Grade II listed since 1983.^[2] It was renamed Bishopstoke Junction in 1852 (the branch to Fareham and Gosport having opened in 1841), Eastleigh and Bishopstoke in 1889, and finally Eastleigh Station in 1923.

The station has been a busy and important junction throughout its life, having gained a second branch line to Salisbury via Romsey in 1847 and a large carriage & wagon repair shops (later to become Eastleigh Works) in 1891. The main Waterloo to Bournemouth line was electrified in 1967, but the Romsey line closed to passenger traffic two years later in May 1969. The Portsmouth line remained diesel worked until 1990, but was then added to the electrified network. Passenger services over the line to Romsey restarted in 2003.

In 2015 the forecourt of the station received major improvements^[3] at a cost of £500,000^[4]

Accidents and incidents

On 28 January 2020, a freight train derailed whilst moving at a slow speed just outside the station. It caused major structural damage to the tracks and disruption for several days across the whole South West Main Line between Southampton Central and Basingstoke. Delays lasted well into February.^[5] The derailment was caused by a defect which allowed the track to spread underneath the train.^[6]

Services

Class 444 at Eastleigh on up train

Two Class 444 EMUs at Eastleigh station, January 2010

Eastleigh station exterior in June 2009

The station and its services are operated by South Western Railway. They operate services on three different lines, one is to Portsmouth Harbour via Hedge End, one is on the South West Main Line to Poole via Bournemouth. Both of these services start from London Waterloo. The third route is on the Salisbury to Romsey "Figure 6"^[7] stopping line.^[8]

Southern also operate one daily service on Mondays to Fridays in the late evening to Brighton only.

Great Western Railway operate one train to Portsmouth in the evening Sundays to Fridays, one train to Bristol in the late evening on Mondays to Fridays and one train to Westbury in the late evening on Saturdays.

The general off-peak service follows the pattern of:

• 1 tph to Poole
• 2 tph to London Waterloo
• 1 tph to Salisbury
• 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour
• 1 tph to Romsey

The general Sunday service is similar, but with just one train to Waterloo per hour: the Poole and Portsmouth Harbour services join/split at Eastleigh, then run to/from London Waterloo as a joint service until 4pm when the services are separated, with the Portsmouth Harbour service as a stopping service to London Waterloo.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Shawford or Winchester		South Western Railway London-Poole		Southampton Airport Parkway
Winchester		South Western Railway London-Portsmouth Harbour		Hedge End
Chandler's Ford		South Western Railway Romsey to Salisbury local services		Southampton Airport Parkway
Fareham		Southern Brighton-Southampton Limited Service		Southampton Airport Parkway
Fareham or Hedge End		Great Western Railway Cardiff - Portsmouth via Southampton Limited Service		Southampton Airport Parkway

Connections

Eastleigh station is also served by a number of bus routes; they are as follows:^[9]

• Bluestar 2 to Southampton and Fair Oak, via Portswood and Bishopstoke
• Bluestar 5 to Romsey and Boyatt Wood, via North Baddesley and Chandler's Ford
• Bluestar 24 to Eastleigh bus station and Hedge End, via Southampton Airport and West End, Hampshire
• Bluestar C7 to Marwell Zoo
• UniLink U1C to National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, via University of Southampton and Southampton Central station