Rowlands Castle railway station serves the village of Rowland's Castle, Hampshire, England. It is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line, 63 miles 18 chains (101.8 km) down the line from London Waterloo via Woking.[1]
Rowlands Castle ![]() | |
---|---|
![]() | |
General information | |
Location | Rowland's Castle, East Hampshire England |
Coordinates | 50°53′31″N 0°57′25″W |
Grid reference | SU734108 |
Managed by | South Western Railway |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Station code | RLN |
Classification | DfT category E |
History | |
Opened | 1 January 1859; 163 years ago (1859-01-01) |
Passengers | |
2016/17 | ![]() |
2017/18 | ![]() |
2018/19 | ![]() |
2019/20 | ![]() |
2020/21 | ![]() |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
The main station building, dating to 1859, was designed by Sir W Tate and is Grade II listed.[2]
The station was once one of three between Petersfield and Havant, but is the only one to have enjoyed a regular service. Havant New, to the south, was a temporary station built during an inter-company dispute - the Battle of Havant; Woodcroft Halt, to the north, was open for a few years round World War 2, mainly for service personnel.
Formerly there were goods and coal sidings trailing off the Up Line at the Petersfield end of the station. There was only one crossover between the two running lines, which meant that goods trains that arrived from the Petersfield direction (usually on the 0450 Goods Woking to Rowland's Castle) had to "set-back" into the headshunt and "fly shunt" (i.e. run off) wagons into the sidings rather than propelling them. This was a skilled movement and not normally permitted by the Rule Book. There was also a siding trailing off the up line, Havant side of the station, serving a brickworks adjacent to the remains of the Castle.
The station has two tracks, and two platforms, and the standard service is hourly to both Portsmouth and Waterloo. All services are operated by South Western Railway using Class 444 and 450 EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[3]
During the peak hours, there are additional services to London as well as services to Portsmouth Harbour. There is also one late evening service to Southampton Central.
The station is staffed from 6:30 - 9:30 in the morning. At all other times, people are served by ticket machines.
Preceding station | ![]() |
Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Petersfield | South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line |
Havant | ||
Historical railways | ||||
Line open, station closed | Southern Railway Portsmouth Direct Line | Line and station open |
Railway stations in Hampshire | |||
---|---|---|---|
Exeter to London | |||
Weymouth to London | |||
Portsmouth to London |
| ||
Alton to London | |||
Brockenhurst to Lymington | |||
Cardiff to Portsmouth | |||
Southampton to Brighton | |||
Eastleigh to Fareham | |||
Southampton to Salisbury via Chandler's Ford |
| ||
Basingstoke to Reading |
| ||
Gatwick Airport to Reading | |||
| |||
Watercress Line |
|
South Western Railway routes | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
South Western Railway - Island Line - National Rail - Southern - CrossCountry - Great Western Railway |