Bournemouth railway station

Bournemouth National Rail
Location
Place Bournemouth
Local authority Borough of Bournemouth
Grid reference SZ096919
Operations
Station code BMH
Managed by South West Trains
Number of platforms 4
DfT category C1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 2.583 million
– Interchange  Increase 58,257
2011/12 Increase 2.605 million
– Interchange  Increase 65,655
2012/13 Decrease 2.505 million
– Interchange  Increase 71,636
2013/14 Increase 2.624 million
– Interchange  Decrease 69,293
2014/15 Increase 2.625 million
– Interchange  Increase 74,731
History
Pre-grouping London and South Western Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
20 July 1885 Opened (Bournemouth East)
1 May 1899 Renamed (Bournemouth Central)
10 July 1967 Renamed (Bournemouth)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bournemouth from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bournemouth railway station is the main railway station serving the beach-side town of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. It was known as Bournemouth East (1885 to 1899) and then Bournemouth Central (1899 to 1967). It has long been treated as an obligatory stop (major stop) on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth.

A previous incarnation of Bournemouth East station was on another site. Ticket barriers were installed in 2008 and British Transport Police have a Bournemouth office at the station which acts as a regional hub.[1]

History

Looking eastward in 1963

The station was designed by William Jacob, chief engineer of the London and South Western Railway, and opened on 20 July 1885 as Bournemouth East replacing the original station of the same name on the other side of Holdenhurst Road from 1870 to 1885, see Bournemouth East railway station (Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway).[2] The station was over 1–km from the town centre on the insistence of town authorities of the time. It was renamed Bournemouth Central on 1 May 1899 and became Bournemouth on 10 July 1967 following the closure of Bournemouth West. By 1967 third rail electrification had reached Bournemouth and continued beyond to Branksome and Bournemouth Depot but no further. From the end of steam most trains were formed of 4REP EMUs coupled up with one or more unpowered 4TC units. The 4TC units would be uncoupled at Bournemouth and attached to a Class 33/1 diesel locomotive for the onward journey to Weymouth. This continued until the electrification of the line from Branksome to Weymouth and the introduction of Wessex Electric units in 1988. The end of steam also saw the removal of the station's centre tracks which ran between the up and down lines serving platforms 2 and 3 respectively and the demolition of the locomotive sheds to the west; the station car park took over their site.

The station roof was severely damaged by the Great Storm of 1987 that hit the South of England. It was extensively refurbished in 2000 by Railtrack after many years of disrepair and being surrounded by scaffolding to protect people from falling debris.

Ticket barriers were installed in 2008.

Bournemouth railway station was once served by services and goods deliveries across five railways, the South Western Main Line, Southampton and Dorchester Railway, Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway, Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway and Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Accidents and incidents

Layout

The station has four platforms:

Platforms 3 and 4 are continuous, and both can accommodate full-length trains. This means Bournemouth has one of the longest platforms in the country. Other stations with this arrangement include Gloucester, Cambridge and Edinburgh Waverley.

Motive power depot

BR Standard 5MT 4-6-0 No. 73110 approaching the station 10 May 1958. The Locomotive Depot is visible behind the locomotive.

A small locomotive depot was opened at Bournemouth East in 1870, but closed in 1883.[5] This was replaced by a larger shed, adjacent to Bournemouth Central station, in 1883. This in turn was supplemented by another shed nearby in 1888. In 1921, the 1883 shed was closed and the 1888 one was extended to increase capacity, and between 1936 and 1938 this was rebuilt and enlarged. The new shed included a 65 ft (20 m) turntable and a 50 LT (51 t) hoist. However the facilities remained cramped and awkwardly sited; there were proposals to move the depot to Branksome which were never implemented. This site therefore remained in use until June 1967 when the site was cleared.[6]

Services

A CrossCountry service

Rail

The station is primarily served by South West Trains, who operate fast and semi-fast trains from Waterloo to Weymouth, and stopping services from London Waterloo to Poole,[7] all of which stop at Bournemouth and have long done so. In addition, CrossCountry operate services from Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly via Birmingham New Street. There is one CrossCountry service Monday to Saturday only from Nottingham but no return working.[8] All CrossCountry services at Bournemouth use Voyager DEMUS. Before the CrossCountry service was standardised in 2007 there were for many years CrossCountry services to many other destinations, including the 'Dorset Scot' and 'Wessex Scot' and other trains to Scotland via both the West Coast Main Line and East Coast Main Line, and also to Liverpool Lime Street.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Brockenhurst   CrossCountry
Bournemouth-Manchester		   Terminus
Brockenhurst
or
Southampton Central		   South West Trains
London-Weymouth express services		   Branksome or Terminus
Pokesdown   South West Trains
London-Weymouth semi-fast services		   Poole
Pokesdown   South West Trains
London-Poole stopping services		   Branksome
Historical railways
Meyrick Park Halt
Line open, station closed		   London and South Western Railway
Southampton and Dorchester Railway		   Boscombe
Line open, station closed

From 1990 Network SouthEast and then Connex South Central used to operate a London Victoria-Bournemouth service, but this was truncated at Southampton and is now operated by Southern. The service was one of the few regular services to use platform 1.

Bus

Bournemouth railway station also serves as a hub for local bus services. On the down side of the station is Bournemouth Travel Interchange which is served by Wilts & Dorset and Yellow Buses, both companies operate frequent services to the town centre. A regular bus service to Bournemouth Airport, the Bournemouth Airport Shuttle, is operated by Yellow Buses. It is also a stop on National Express coach routes which serve the town.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bournemouth railway station.
  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  2. ↑ "Bournemouth Central - History" semgonline.com
  3. ↑ Trevena, Arthur (1981). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 2. Redruth: Atlantic Books. p. 42. ISBN 0-906899 03 6.
  4. ↑ Mortimer, Simon (2007). Baywatch (4th edition). Kentrail Enthusiasts Group.
  5. ↑ Griffiths, Roger; Paul Smith (1999). The directory of British engine sheds. 1. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 50. ISBN 0 86093 542 6.
  6. ↑ Hawkins, Chris; George Reeve (1979). An historical survey of Southern sheds. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 15. ISBN 0 86093 020 3.
  7. ↑ Timetable 28 (national numbering scheme), 2015, South West Trains, Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  8. ↑ Table 51 & 158 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Coordinates: 50°43′41″N 1°51′50″W / 50.728°N 1.864°W / 50.728; -1.864

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