Worthingrailway station is the largest of the five stations serving the town of Worthing in West Sussex. It is down the line from Brighton. The station is managed by Southern, who operate the majority of trains serving it; Great Western Railway and Thameslink who only run a handful of services per day during peak hours. It is one of the main stations on the West Coastway Line; all timetabled trains stop here. At times in its history the station had been named Worthing Central. This name is sometimes incorrectly still used, either out of habit or intentionally to distinguish it from and stations. Worthing is the only station in DfT category C that has not been given a subcategory; it is listed by DfT as simply "C", while all other stations in this group have been divided into C1 and C2.
History
The station opened on 24 November 1845. The first service arrived early in the morning from Shoreham but the official opening was scheduled for mid-day. Crowds thronged on Teville Bridge adjoining the station to witness a train from Shoreham drawn by a locomotive called "Ercombert", probably named after Eorcenberht of Kent, a king ofKent. As the train passed under the bridge, a local band of musicians played the National Anthem. The original station buildings opened in 1845 and are now Grade II listed. They were converted into 2 cottages sometime after 1859 when a new station was built further west. This "new" station was rebuilt and expanded in 1911. In August 2007, ticket barriers were introduced separating the platforms from the ticket office. However, their effectiveness is compromised by the layout of the station insofar as the rear car park entrance leads directly to the subway connecting the platforms. A small ticket booth, frequently unmanned, has been installed in the subway in an attempt to address this issue. In April 2009, the station was made fully accessible to disabled passengers, which new ticket windows which can be adjusted to height and a ramp was also provided. The station was also fitted with new folding doors.
Facilities
The main station entrance is on the south side in Station Approach. The passenger car park is on the north side of the station in Southcourt Road and has a separate entrance to the station. Parking is free only on Sundays and Bank Holidays. The concourse and ticket office leads directly to the side platform, which is used mostly for westbound services. The island platform is connected to this platform by a subway, which also leads out to the car park. Station facilities include:
Platform layout
The station has three platforms, all of which are long enough to accommodate 12-carriage trains.
Platform 1: only used at peak times, often for terminating services
Platform 2: used for eastbound services to, and
Platform 3: used for westbound services to,,, and beyond.
Services
Most trains serving the station are run by Southern with some Thameslink and GWR services at peak times, with the typical off-peak service consisting of the following:
Eastbound:
*4 to via ;
*2tph to via Hove and.
Westbound:
*2tph to only;
*2tph to ;
*1tph to via and ;
*1tph to via Chichester, Havant and.
On Sundays the eastbound service is halved in frequency, while westbound there is 1tph to Portsmouth Harbour, 1tph to Littlehampton and 1tph to Southampton Central. Great Western Railway serves the station with two services a day to via, and, one of which continues to via, and. In the opposite direction, there is one daily service from Great Malvern. On Sundays there is no service to or from Great Malvern, but there is a service to and from Cardiff Central.
