Christchurch railway station (England)


Christchurch railway station serves the town of Christchurch in Dorset, England. The station is on the London Waterloo to line operated by South Western Railway. It is down the line from Waterloo.

History

Between 1862 and 1886, Christchurch station was sited elsewhere to the east of Fairmile Road in Christchurch - see Christchurch railway station. Until 1935 the current station also serviced the line from - see Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway.
The line was electrified in 1967 when faster more frequent services were introduced.

Services

Although passed by the faster trains to it has an hourly semi-fast and stopping service from Waterloo, usually formed by a class 444 Desiro electric multiple unit. This gives a journey time of about two hours from London. As well as Christchurch, the station is useful for reaching eastern parts of Bournemouth. The majority of services were previously operated by class 442 Wessex Electrics which were withdrawn in February 2007.
The station is able to accommodate trains of up to eight coaches, longer trains only open the doors in the first five or eight coaches depending on the type of unit operating the service.
Road access to the station is from the northern end of Stour Road, near to the junction with Bargates coming from the town centre, at the end of Fairmile coming from the direction of Bournemouth International Airport and the Wessex Way.