Romsey railway station

Coordinates: 50°59′34″N 1°29′36″W / 50.9927°N 1.4933°W

Romsey
Location
Place	Romsey
Local authority	Test Valley
Grid reference	SU356216
Operations
Station code	ROM
Managed by	Great Western Railway
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2009/10	0.413 million
2010/11	0.428 million
2011/12	0.450 million
2012/13	0.459 million
2013/14	0.477 million
2014/15	0.495 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1 March 1847
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Romsey from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Romsey railway station is a railway station serving the town of Romsey in the county of Hampshire in England. It is located on the Wessex Main Line and is the junction station for the Eastleigh to Romsey Line. It is a Grade II listed building.^[1]

History

The station was built by the LSWR and opened on 1 March 1847^[2] on their line from Eastleigh to Salisbury. It became a junction in 1865 when the Andover & Redbridge Railway (also known as the Sprat and Winkle Line) was opened - this joined the earlier route just east of the station before diverging again at Kimbridge Junction a short distance to the north en route to Andover.^[3] The subway connecting the two platforms was added in 1887. The waiting room has a collection of framed photographs from earliest times through to the mid-20th century. The Romsey Signal Box has been preserved and can be visited.

The Andover line fell victim to the Beeching Axe in September 1964,^[4] whilst the Eastleigh route closed to passengers in May 1969 - however it remained open for freight traffic and as a useful diversionary route; it eventually regained a regular passenger service in May 2003.

Services

A South West Trains service to Southampton via Chandlers Ford

The station is managed by Great Western Railway, which runs services southeastward to Southampton Central, Portsmouth Harbour, and Brighton, and northwestward to Salisbury, Bristol Temple Meads, and Cardiff Central.^[5] South West Trains also operates a "figure of six" service running from Salisbury to Romsey and Southampton via Redbridge, then to Eastleigh and back to Romsey via Chandlers Ford.^[6]

There was a rail-link bus operated on behalf of South West Trains by parent company Stagecoach Group, this was numbered as the X66 and linked the station with Winchester railway station via Ampfield. The service ceased on 28 July 2008 when South West Trains withdrew its subsidy citing lack of use despite a protest group having formed and collecting a petition of over 1,000 signatures to oppose the closure.^[7] Stagecoach continue to operate 2 of the morning peak services which were profitable alongside the existing hourly non rail link services.^[8]

References

1. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-491989-romsey-railway-station-romsey-hampshire
2. Southern Region Record by R.H.Clark
3. "Andover & Redbridge Railway (L&SWR)" Speller, John; spellerweb.net; Retrieved 15 August 2016
4. Body, G (1984). Railways of the Southern Region. Cambridge: Patrick Stevens Ltd. p. 135. ISBN 0-85059-664-5.
5. Table 123 National Rail timetable, May 2016
6. Table 158 National Rail timetable, May 2016
7. "1,000 sign petition to save rail station bus link". Southern Daily Echo. Newsquest. 25 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
8. "Rail company withdraws link". Romsey Advertiser. Newsquest. Retrieved 2010-01-03.

External links

• Three Rivers Rail Partnership