Southbourne station in West Sussex gets a new lease of life thanks to platform refurbishment

Passengers in West Sussex will now benefit from £383,000 platform upgrade to improve journeys for all who use the station.

Southbourne railway station serves the village of Southbourne in West Sussex. It is on the West Coastway Line between Brighton and Southampton and lies on the edge of the Chichester Harbour Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty along the Solent.

As part of the ‘Putting Passenger First’ programme, engineers refurbished platforms 1 & 2 which included trestle slab replacement, concrete repairs and tactile installation. The repairs will improve safety while the upgraded platform surface will make the station easier to use for everyone. The new tactile surface will also improve the station experience for visually impaired passengers.

The station is used by the small community of Southbourne and the surrounding West Sussex villages. It was opened at the turn of the 20th century and was originally called Southbourne Halt, although ‘halt’ was later dropped in the late ‘60s.

This improvement work is the latest in a series of upgrades across Sussex and continues from platform refurbishment at Eridge station and major investment at Crawley station. More upgrades are planned this year to modernise the rail network and build back better and stronger than ever before for passengers and freight users.

Shaun King, Network Rail’s route director for Sussex, said: “The railway at Southbourne provides links for passengers who travel on the West Coastway Line. These improvements are great news for passengers and will make a noticeable improvement to their daily journeys.

“Every effort was made to keep disruption to a minimum during these works and we thank passengers and the local community for their patience.”

The station, and the trains that serve it, are managed by Southern, whose Customer Services Director Chris Fowler said: “On behalf of our Southbourne customers, we welcome Network Rail’s investment in safety and comfort here. As people return to the railway they’ll find the refurbished platform complemented by new benches we’re installing as part of our network wide, multimillion-pound station improvement programme.

“If you do have to travel, you can be confident that we are always working hard to keep stations and trains clean and safe. Please remember: ‘hands-face-space’ – wash your hands, wear a face covering and keep your distance from others.”

Photo credit: Network Rail

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