This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Arun Valley line" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Arun Valley line
Southern class 377 train bound for Victoria passes under the A29 road bridge south of Pulborough in West Sussex in 2009
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	South East England
Termini	Littlehampton Three Bridges
Stations	11
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Southern Thameslink
Rolling stock	Class 377[1] Class 700[2]
History
Opened	1863
Technical
Line length	30 mi 46 ch (49.2 km) (Between Three Bridges and Arundel junctions)[3]
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DCthird rail
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Arun Valley line
Legend
Brighton Main Line toLondon Victoria &London Bridge Three Bridges Three Bridges to T. Wells Central Line toTunbridge Wells Brighton Main Line toBrighton Crawley Ifield Faygate Roffey Road Halt Littlehaven Portsmouth Line toPeckham Rye Horsham Junction Horsham River Arun A24 Stammerham Junction Christ's Hospital Cranleigh line toGuildford Itchingfield Junction Steyning Line toShoreham-by-Sea Billingshurst Pulborough River Arun Hardham Junction Midhurst Railways toChichester &Petersfield Amberley North Stoke Tunnel ( 83 yd 76 m ) Arundel West Coastway line toBrighton Arundel Junction West Coastway line toLittlehampton &Barnham

TheArun Valley line, also known as theMid Sussex line, is part of theSouthern- andThameslink-operatedrailway services. For the initial part of the route trains follow theBrighton Main Line, and at a junction south ofThree Bridges the route turns westwards. It then runs viaCrawley,Horsham (where there is a junction with thePortsmouth Line) andArundel, before meeting theWest Coastway line atArundel Junction. Trains on the Arun Valley line then mostly proceed to eitherBognor Regis orPortsmouth Harbour, with an additional peak hour service which first proceeds toLittlehampton, and subsequently to Bognor Regis.

Many stations on this line retain the short platforms which were originally built, not being extended by theSouthern Railway when the line wasmodernised in the 1930s, nor by any subsequent operators. This causes operational difficulties to this day, which require frequent platform and on-train announcements with longer trains, telling passengers they must travel in the correct part of the train.

The line was opened in three stages by theLondon, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) between 1848 and 1863, creating what was then known asMid-Sussex route to Portsmouth.

A single trackbranch line was opened on 14 February 1848, with passing places at the intermediate stations atCrawley andFaygate. The line was doubled throughout in 1862. The stations now atIfield andLittlehaven were not opened with the line, both being opened on 1 June 1907: Ifield asLyons Crossing Halt and Littlehaven asRusper Road Halt; both serving the outskirts of their nearby towns. An additional stop was opened atRoffey Road Halt; however this station was closed in 1937, as the land next to the station had remained undeveloped.

TheMidhurst Railways line fromHorsham toPulborough,Petworth andMidhurst was opened on 10 October 1859. The section from Hardham Junction to Midhurst was closed between 1964 and 1966. TheSteyning Line from Horsham toShoreham by Sea was opened on 1 July 1861 branching off atItchingfield Junction south of Horsham. It closed in 1966. The line fromChrists Hospital to Guildford opened in 1865 and closed in 1965.

The line betweenHardham Junction south of Pulborough, andArundel Junction on thecoast line viaArundel was finally opened on 3 August 1863 creating a through route to Portsmouth.

Originally, the main LB&SCR route from London to Portsmouth used thePortsmouth line to reach Horsham. However, with the increase in demand atGatwick Airport, the mainline services were re-routed in 1978 to serve the airport and then travel via Three Bridges.

The line waselectrified using the (750 V DC third rail) system by theSouthern Railway in 1938 as part of the proposals to electrify the lines from London to Portsmouth. This originally only covered the section from Horsham to Littlehampton and Barnham, as the main line was the line throughDorking andSutton, as opposed to the line to Three Bridges, but plans were extended to electrify the "branch" as well in the same year.

Electric services were provided byelectric multiple units. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, an hourly express service was provided which joined/divided atBarnham, with 4 or 8 coaches continuing to Bognor and 4 to Portsmouth Harbour. This called at Arundel, Pulborough and latterly Billingshurst, going via Sutton and Dorking.^[4] An all-stations stopping service also ran hourly via Crawley to Bognor Regis, usually via Littlehampton.

Two bridges on the line, The Black Rabbit Bridge (just north ofArundel) and the Peppering Bridge (a few hundred yards further on) were replaced during the AugustBank Holiday weekend of 2009. The line was completely closed to traffic during these major engineering works and a replacement bus service served stations between Arundel andPulborough. As the two-weekArundel Festival was drawing to a close over the weekend,Southern maintained a service into the station from theWest Coastway Line fromBognor Regis via Barnham and Ford, and a reversal at Littlehampton.^[5]

There are currently four trains per hour in each direction over the route off-peak, made up of twin portions from two trains per hour from London Victoria. This is the most frequent service on the route since the late 1970s.

Down-line services:Both divide at Horsham, the train closest to the hour has a front portion which is fast to Barnham then stopping to Portsmouth Harbour. The rear portion calls at all stations to Bognor Regis.The 30-minutes-past train's front portion again runs fast to Barnham then is semi-fast to Portsmouth Harbour. The rear section again calls all stations to Bognor Regis.

Up-line service:Again two trains an hour, both services attach at Horsham. The Bognor Regis section always arrives first unless there is disruption and then a section from Portsmouth Harbour arrives. Once the train has attached it runs semi fast to London Victoria via the Horsham Branch Line (Horsham to Three Bridges) and the fastQuarry Line.Each of the up services arrive with normally a 10-minute interchange for the Thameslink services to Peterborough via Redhill and London Bridge and the one closest the hour for the Mole Valley service towards London Victoria via Dorking.

Typical off-peak journey times from London Victoria (via Redhill and Gatwick Airport)

Based on December 2006 timetable, prior to the introduction of the train split at Horsham and the non-stop services Horsham to Barnham. In 2016 most of the off-peak fast services reached Barnham in 80–81 minutes and Chichester in 88; peak-hour services were slightly slower.
Stations in italics are served by through trains but are not part of the Arun Valley line.

Typical off-peak journey times from London Bridge (via Redhill and Gatwick Airport)

Based on December 2006 timetable. Stations in italics are served by through trains but are not part of the Arun Valley line. There are two trains per hour on this route. Some stations between London Bridge and Gatwick Airport have been omitted.Faygate is served during peak hours only.

• Butt, R.V.J. (1986).The Caterham Railway. Patrick Stephens Ltd.ISBN 1-85260-508-1. Archived fromthe original on 17 July 2011.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toArun Valley Line.

• Map showing Arun Valley Line route
• Interactive map of Arun Valley Line stations, bus links and things to do
• A website outlining the main stations along the line with links to local websites at each stop

51°07′01″N0°09′40″E / 51.117°N 0.161°E /51.117; 0.161

• Rail transport in West Sussex
• Railway lines in South East England
• Railway lines opened in 1863
• Standard gauge railways in England
• 1863 establishments in England

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from March 2017
• All articles needing additional references
• Use dmy dates from July 2015
• Use British English from July 2015
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata