# Eastleigh railway station

Eastleigh railway station serves the town of Eastleigh in the English county of Hampshire. It is located on the South West Main Line and is the junction station for two other routes, the Eastleigh-Fareham Line and the Eastleigh-Romsey Line. It is 73 miles 35 chains (118.2 km) from London Waterloo. South of the station are Eastleigh Railway Works and Eastleigh Depot.

## History

The station was built by the LSWR and was called Bishopstoke when it was opened in 1839. The station-house was designed by Sir William Tite and has been Grade II listed since 1983. It was renamed Bishopstoke Junction in 1852 (the branch to Fareham and Gosport having opened in 1841), Eastleigh and Bishopstoke in 1889, and finally Eastleigh Station in 1923.
The station has been a busy and important junction throughout its life, having gained a second branch line to Salisbury via Romsey in 1847 and a large carriage & wagon repair shops (later to become Eastleigh Works) in 1891. The main Waterloo to Bournemouth line was electrified in 1967, but the Romsey line closed to passenger traffic two years later in May 1969. The Portsmouth line remained diesel worked until 1990, but was then added to the electrified network. Passenger services over the line to Romsey restarted in 2003.
In 2015 the forecourt of the station received major improvements at a cost of £500,000

## Accidents and incidents

On 28 January 2020, a freight train derailed whilst moving at a slow speed just outside the station. It caused major structural damage to the tracks and disruption for several days across the whole South West Main Line between Southampton Central and Basingstoke. Delays lasted well into February. The derailment was caused by a defect which allowed the track to spread underneath the train.

## Services

The station and its services are operated by South Western Railway. They operate services on three different lines, one is to Portsmouth Harbour via Hedge End, one is on the South West Main Line to Poole via Bournemouth. Both of these services start from London Waterloo. The third route is on the Salisbury to Romsey "Figure 6" stopping line.
Southern also operate one daily service on Mondays to Fridays in the late evening to Brighton only.
Great Western Railway operate one train to Portsmouth in the evening Sundays to Fridays, one train to Bristol in the late evening on Mondays to Fridays and one train to Westbury in the late evening on Saturdays.
The general off-peak service follows the pattern of:
* 1 tph to Poole
* 2 tph to London Waterloo
* 1 tph to Salisbury
* 1 tph to Portsmouth Harbour
* 1 tph to Romsey
The general Sunday service is similar, but with just one train to Waterloo per hour: the Poole and Portsmouth Harbour services join/split at Eastleigh, then run to/from London Waterloo as a joint service until 4pm when the services are separated, with the Portsmouth Harbour service as a stopping service to London Waterloo.
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station |
| Shawford or Winchester | South Western Railway London-Poole | Southampton Airport Parkway |
| Winchester | South Western Railway London-Portsmouth Harbour | Hedge End |
| Chandler's Ford | South Western Railway Romsey to Salisbury local services | Southampton Airport Parkway |
| Fareham | Southern Brighton-Southampton Limited Service | Southampton Airport Parkway |
| Fareham or Hedge End | Great Western Railway Cardiff - Portsmouth via Southampton Limited Service | Southampton Airport Parkway |

## Connections

Eastleigh station is also served by a number of bus routes; they are as follows:
* Bluestar 2 to Southampton and Fair Oak, via Portswood and Bishopstoke
* Bluestar 5 to Romsey and Boyatt Wood, via North Baddesley and Chandler's Ford
* Bluestar 24 to Eastleigh bus station and Hedge End, via Southampton Airport and West End, Hampshire
* Bluestar C7 to Marwell Zoo
* UniLink U1C to National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, via University of Southampton and Southampton Central station