Pokesdown railway station serves the

Pokesdown Pokesdown is a suburb of Bournemouth in Dorset, England. It lies just east of Boscombe and west of Southbourne. History Evidence of human occupation in the area dates back to the Bronze Age. In 1909 when Lock's Field was being developed into wh ...

Boscombe Boscombe is a suburb of Bournemouth, England. Historically in Hampshire, but today in Dorset, it is located to the east of Bournemouth town centre and west of Southbourne. Originally a sparsely inhabited area of heathland, from around 1865 B ...

and Southbourne areas of Bournemouth in

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. Covering an area of , ...

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 ...

. It is on the

South West Main Line The South West Main Line (SWML) is a 143-mile (230 km) major railway line between Waterloo station in central London and Weymouth on the south coast of England. A predominantly passenger line, it serves many commuter areas including south we ...

, down the line from . The station is served by South Western Railway, who operate semi-fast services from London Waterloo to Weymouth and stopping services from London to Poole.

The station

The station was opened on 1 July 1886 by the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...

. It was originally named ''Boscombe'', which was altered on 1 October 1891 to ''Pokesdown (Boscombe)'', since the station was closer to Pokesdown than Boscombe. On 1 May 1897, when Boscombe station was opened, the station was renamed again to just ''"Pokesdown"''. In 1930, the station was again renamed, becoming ''Pokesdown for Eastern Bournemouth'', although it reverted to ''Pokesdown'' under British Railways. In the 1930s the Southern Railway made the platform facilities considerably larger, allowing the station to accommodate longer trains. Although some facilities have since been removed, at the time they provided an asset for the non-stopping services because there were tracks to use as fast lines in the up and down direction. During the 1970s two of the four tracks were removed, and the signal box was closed. On 16 May 2009 the station signage was changed to ''Pokesdown for Boscombe'' with announcements at other stations and on trains changed later on but the station remains officially named Pokesdown. The station is a short bus journey or walk from

's main shopping area. Some South Western Railway services operated by two four- or five-carriage electric multiple units coupled together cannot be accommodated fully by the platforms and only selected doors open on such trains.

Disabled access

Lifts are present at Pokesdown station but are now disused albeit with evidence of their former existence still in place. A campaign involving the local MP

Tobias Ellwood Tobias Martin Ellwood (born 12 August 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician and soldier who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth East since 2005. He has chaired the Defence Select Committee since 2020 and was a Go ...

which began calling for the restoration of lifts at the station appears to have been successful with the winning bidders for the South Western Franchise, South Western Railway, required to install new lifts by 31 December 2019. However, this date has been pushed back to at least September 2020 because of difficulties accessing the disused lift shafts safely. Until lift access is restored, the only means of access to Pokesdown's platforms is via stairs from the bridge.

Services

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

{{Dorset railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1886 Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Bournemouth DfT Category E stations Railway stations served by South Western Railway