Newhaven Marine railway station was a station in Newhaven, East Sussex,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, at the end off a short branch off the Seaford branch line near . It was the last station to open in Newhaven in 1886 following redevelopment and expansion of the

Port of Newhaven The Port of Newhaven is a port and associated docks complex located within Newhaven, East Sussex, England, situated at the mouth of the River Ouse. International ferries run to the French port of Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, a distance of . Although ...

and served cross-Channel

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat tr ...

s to

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to N ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The station went into decline after the ferry terminal was moved away from it in 1984, and boat train services declined generally after the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994. It was closed to passengers in 2006 on safety grounds, but remained legally open, serving inaccessible

parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...

s until it was formally closed in 2020. The branch remains open for freight traffic.

Location

The station was adjacent to the

at the edge of a branch line south of Newhaven Harbour station, where the main line continues to Seaford. The single platform of Newhaven Marine was numbered 3, which dates from when it was considered part of Newhaven Harbour station (which used platforms 1 and 2). It was long enough for 12 coaches, and was to the south of Newhaven Harbour ( measured from via ).

History

Newhaven Marine railway station, East Sussex, 1992 (geograph 3427336)

The first station to serve cross-Channel traffic, adjacent to the ferry terminal, was named ''Newhaven Wharf'' which opened with the line from on 8 December 1847. It was a

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing su ...

until 1864, when the line was extended to Seaford. On 17 May 1886, the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

opened a station further south that was built on reclaimed land south of Mill Creek, and provided a more direct access to

services that did not have to depend on tide times. The earlier station was renamed Newhaven Harbour and the new station called Newhaven Harbour (Boat Station). The line was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

by the Southern Railway, with work completed on 16 July 1947, with regular electric boat train services from

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

beginning on 15 May 1949. Newhaven Marine offered regular services from Victoria with connections for ferry passengers travelling to

in France. An occasional

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

service ran to . The ferry terminal was relocated further north in the 1980s closer to Newhaven Town, removing Newhaven Marine's principal importance, and services to the station were progressively reduced. The last boat train to run from this station was on 14 May 1984, a British Rail SR V class 4-4-0 steam service. On the same date, the station was renamed Newhaven Marine. Demand for the station was further reduced by the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 leading to a general fall in demand of boat train services.

Parliamentary service

In August 2006, the station was closed to the public due to safety concerns over the condition of the roof canopy, which was later removed. Trains continued to run along the line with a single evening service, stopping at the station platform and reversing back to Newhaven Harbour, but with passengers unable to access the train. Attention was brought to the situation in a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme, ''The Ghost Trains of Old England'' in October 2010, and the station became well known among railway enthusiasts for its unusual status. The station was interesting because of

services to the station that appeared in timetables but were inaccessible to the public, and which nonetheless called at the station once a day in order to fulfil the legal obligations of an 'open' station. A poster at the station offered ticket-holders a taxi to Newhaven Harbour station at the scheduled time of the parliamentary train, although the journey between the two stations was a short walk. In May 2017, the station buildings were demolished and access to the site remained impossible. Service was suspended in early 2019 due to resignalling works.

Closure

In May 2018, it was announced that the station was being considered for a legal closure as part of plans to improve freight connectivity in the area. On 15 January 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) opened a formal public consultation to close the station, citing this reason. It further stated the work required to rebuild and repair the station to modern standards, including closed-circuit television, information points and toilets, would cost over £600,000 and provide no perceivable benefit for the community. As the station site was only accessible via Newhaven Harbour station and the route between the two passed no residential properties,

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

suggested reopening it would provide no travel improvements for anyone. A saving of an estimated £1.9 million was quoted. The closure was advertised on posters and digital signs at Victoria. The consultation ended on 19 April. It attracted 27 responses with only 4 opposing the decision to close the station. Two of these opposed the closure on the basis that it may negatively impact local rail services; the other two raised concerns over the closure of any railway station on environmental grounds. With very little opposition to closure, the DfT announced their proposal to do so on 24 June. The DfT's decision was submitted to the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

for ratification, and after approving the DfT's decision, the station was formally closed on 22 October. Former

parliamentary under-secretary of state Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...

for the DfT and local

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Lewes,

Norman Baker Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes in East Sussex from the 1997 general election until his defeat in 2015. In May 2010 he was appointed ...

, said the 14-year delay to formally close the station was "a joke", sarcastically suggesting that Network Rail could re-open it as "Newhaven Rubble". Following closure, the site of Newhaven Marine was redeveloped to accommodate a siding and turnback for passenger trains, as well as the reception siding for a new freight facility. Further south, the track extends into Newhaven East Quay, to a marine-dredged aggregates handling plant. Aggregates and sand imported from ships are carried by conveyor and loaded onto freight trains towards London. The first aggregates train was operated by

DB Cargo UK DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

and ran on 18 June 2020.

References

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External links