Christchurch railway station serves the town of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

(formerly in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

), England. The station is on the

London Waterloo Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...

to line operated by South Western Railway. It is down the line from Waterloo.

History

Between 1862 and 1886, Christchurch station was sited elsewhere to the east of Fairmile Road in Christchurch - see Christchurch (RC&BR) railway station. Until 1935 the current station also serviced the line from - see

Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway The Ringwood, Christchurch and Bournemouth Railway was a railway company to link Christchurch and Bournemouth, England, to the London and South Western Railway's Southampton and Dorchester line at Ringwood. The RC&BR opened in 1862 from Christch ...

. The line was electrified in 1967 when faster more frequent services were introduced.

Services

Although passed by the faster trains to it has an hourly semi-fast (to , does not run on Sundays) and stopping (to Poole) service from Waterloo, usually formed by a class 444 Desiro

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

. This gives a journey time of about two hours from London. As well as Christchurch, the station is useful for reaching eastern parts of Bournemouth. The majority of services were previously operated by class 442 Wessex Electrics which were withdrawn in February 2007. The station is able to accommodate trains of up to eight coaches, longer trains only open the doors in the first five or eight coaches depending on the type of unit operating the service. Road access to the station is from the northern end of Stour Road, near to the junction with Bargates coming from the town centre, at the end of Fairmile coming from the direction of

Bournemouth International Airport Bournemouth Airport (previously known as Hurn Airport and Bournemouth International Airport) is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England. The site opened as RAF Hurn in 1941, but was transferred to civil contr ...

and the Wessex Way. (A fairly steep bridge over the railway marks the point where Fairmile and Bargates, one straight road, meet.) All passenger trains serving this station are operated by South Western Railway. As of February 2022, the following services call here in both directions: * Monday - Friday ** 1 train per hour on Weymouth - London Waterloo semi-fast service ** 1 train per hour on Bournemouth - Winchester stopping service *** these services are join / split at Southampton Central from the fast Weymouth service giving 2 trains per hour for London in peak hours * Saturday ** 1 train per hour on Weymouth - London Waterloo semi-fast service ** 1 train per hour on Poole - Winchester stopping service * Sunday ** 1 train per hour on Poole - London Waterloo stopping service

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christchurch Railway Station Railway stations in Christchurch, Dorset DfT Category D stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1886 Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations served by South Western Railway 1886 establishments in England