Preston Park railway station

Preston Park
Preston Park station looking northwards, viewed from the side path to Woodside Avenue - Photographed 9 December 2006
Location
Place	Brighton
Local authority	Brighton & Hove
Operations
Station code	PRP
Managed by	Southern
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.284 million
2005/06 *	0.268 million
2006/07 *	0.287 million
2007/08 *	0.302 million
2008/09 *	0.321 million
History
1 November 1869	Opened (Preston)
1 July 1879	Renamed (Preston Park)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Preston Park from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Preston Park railway station serves the northern suburban areas of Brighton in East Sussex, England. It is on the Brighton Main Line and Thameslink 2 km (1½ miles) north of Brighton railway station, and train services are provided by Southern and First Capital Connect. There are also two spur lines that run from Preston Park through a tunnel to Hove station.

History

The London Brighton and South Coast Railway opened a new station named Preston, on 1 November 1869 to serve the growing parish of Preston, then north of the Brighton boundary. The station was enlarged and remodelled to its present design in 1879 during the construction of the spur line from the main line to Hove and the West Sussex coast line. The station was then renamed Preston Park although the nearby Preston Park did not exist until 1883.

In 1881 the notorious railway murderer Percy Lefroy Mapleton alighted at the station after having killed Isaac Frederick Gold and dumped his body in Balcombe tunnel.

Facilities

The station has a pair of island platforms, linked by a subway; only three platform faces are now in operation. The three tracks through the station reduce to two before traversing Patcham Tunnel, almost two miles (3.2 km) further north.

Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club's former home, Withdean Stadium is located a short walk from the station, and for this reason the club offers free travel vouchers with its match tickets — allowing fans to travel from Brighton to Preston Park without there being an apparent surcharge of the train fare.

Preston Park station was featured in parts of Rizzle Kicks Music video for their single "Down with the Trumpets" which peaked at No' 8 in the UK's top 40 in the summer of 2011.^{[citation needed]}

Layout

Side platform Platform 3

National Rail towards Brighton, Hove, Worthing and Littlehampton

National Rail towards Haywards Heath, Gatwick Airport, London Victoria, London Bridge, St Pancras Intl, Luton and Bedford from Brighton

Platform 2 Island platform Platform 1

National Rail towards Haywards Heath, Gatwick Airport and London Victoria from Littlehampton

Other important information:

• Platform 1 is not used on Sundays
• There are no trains to Littlehampton and London Bridge on Sundays
• There are no trains to St Pancras Intl, Luton and Bedford on Saturdays and Sundays

Services

The typical Monday-Friday service from this station is:

• 2 trains per hour to Brighton (FCC)
• 1 train per hour to Littlehampton (SN)
• 2 trains per hour to Bedford via London Bridge and London St Pancras (FCC)
• 1 train per hour to London Victoria (SN)

The typical Saturday service from this station is:

• 2 trains per hour to Brighton (FCC)
• 1 train per hour to Littlehampton (SN)
• 2 trains per hour to London Bridge (FCC)
• 1 train per hour to London Victoria (SN)

The typical Sunday service from this station is:

• 1 train per hour to Brighton (SN)
• 1 train per hour to London Victoria (SN)

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Hassocks		Southern Brighton Main Line		Brighton
		First Capital Connect Thameslink
Burgess Hill		Southern West Coastway		Hove
Burgess Hill or Hassocks		Southern Gatwick Express Peak Times Only		Brighton

See also

• Transport in Brighton and Hove
• Brighton railway station

External links

• Train times and station information for Preston Park railway station from National Rail