Rowlands Castle railway station

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; 166 years ago (1859-01-01)
Passengers
2019/20	0.124 million
2020/21	47,426
2021/22	96,954
2022/23	0.113 million
2023/24	0.121 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The main station building, dating to 1859, was designed by William Tite 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.

Services

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]

• 1 tph to London Waterloo via Guildford
• 1 tph to Portsmouth & Southsea

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	National Rail			Following station
Petersfield		South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line		Havant
	Historical railways
Woodcroft Halt Line open, station closed		Southern Railway Portsmouth Direct Line		Havant Line and station open

Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
  A 1910 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Rowlands Castle railway station