Brockenhurst railway station is a railway station serving the village of Brockenhurst

Brockenhurst

Brockenhurst is a village situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. The New Forest is a national park and Brockenhurst is therefore surrounded by woodland that attracts thousands of visitors all year round. The nearby towns surrounding Brockenhurst are Lymington and Lyndhurst. Brockenhurst...

 in Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located on the South Western Main Line

South Western Main Line

The South Western Main Line is a railway line between London Waterloo and Weymouth on the Dorset coast, in the south of England. It is a major railway which serves many important commuter areas, as well as the major settlements of Southampton and Bournemouth...

 from London Waterloo

Waterloo station

Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....

 to Weymouth. It is also the junction of the Lymington Branch Line

Lymington Branch Line

The Lymington Branch Line is a railway that runs from Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier, both in the New Forest. The railway line is around long, and is single track throughout its length. It diverges from the South Western Main Line at Lymington Junction; and, at Lymington Pier, trains connect with...

 with the main line.

Station layout

The station has four platforms:

• Platform 1 - Up loop platform used by stopping services to Poole where it is overtaken by the express services to Weymouth and CrossCountry services to Bournemouth. This is occasionally used by Lymington services.
• Platform 2 - for through services towards Southampton, Winchester and London Waterloo.
• Platform 3 - for through services towards Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth.
• Platform 4 - Down loop platform for Lymington services, this can also be used by other down services, but this is rare.

The station has an unusual luggage traverser bridge, which can be moved out over the track to give access to platform 1. It is mainly used for disabled passengers and at peak times

Rush hour

A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice a day—once in the morning and once in the evening, the times during when the most people commute...

 for the large flow of students to Brockenhurst College

Brockenhurst College

Brockenhurst College, or colloquially known as Brock, is in the tertiary sector providing education in a wide range of courses for many different ages...

.

Services

The station is primarily served by South West Trains

South West Trains

South West Trains is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight...

, who operate fast and semi-fast trains from Waterloo to Weymouth, stopping services from Waterloo to Poole, and local stopping services to Lymington

Lymington

Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...

. In addition, CrossCountry

CrossCountry

CrossCountry is the brand name of XC Trains Ltd., a British train operating company owned by Arriva...

 operate services from Bournemouth to Manchester. The Lymington Branch Line

Lymington Branch Line

The Lymington Branch Line is a railway that runs from Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier, both in the New Forest. The railway line is around long, and is single track throughout its length. It diverges from the South Western Main Line at Lymington Junction; and, at Lymington Pier, trains connect with...

 was operated as a "heritage" service, known as The Lymington Flyer, using restored British Rail Class 421

British Rail Class 421

The British Rail Class 421 electrical multiple units were built at BR York Works between 1964 and 1972. Units were built in two batches, and were initially introduced on services on the Brighton Main Line. Later units were introduced on services to Portsmouth. These units replaced older Southern...

s until 22 May 2010, when they were withdrawn. The service is now provided by a British Rail Class 158

British Rail Class 158

British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train, built for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs...

. Some peak time South West Trains services by-pass the station without stopping.