The line was opened in three stages by the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) between 1848 and 1863, creating what was then known as
Mid-Sussex route to Portsmouth.
Three Bridges–Horsham A single track
branch line was opened on 14 February 1848, with passing places at the intermediate stations at
Crawley and
Faygate. The line was doubled throughout in 1862. The stations now at
Ifield and
Littlehaven were not opened with the line, both being opened on 1 June 1907: Ifield as
Lyons Crossing Halt and Littlehaven as
Rusper Road Halt; both serving the outskirts of their nearby towns. An additional stop was opened at
Roffey Road Halt; however this station was closed in 1937, as the land next to the station had remained undeveloped.
Horsham–Pulborough The
Midhurst Railways line from
Horsham to
Pulborough,
Petworth and
Midhurst was opened on 10 October 1859. The section from Hardham Junction to Midhurst was closed between 1964 and 1966. The
Steyning Line from Horsham to
Shoreham by Sea was opened on 1 July 1861 branching off at
Itchingfield Junction south of Horsham. It closed in 1966. The line from
Christs Hospital to Guildford opened in 1865 and closed in 1965.
Pulborough–Arundel The line between
Hardham Junction south of Pulborough, and
Arundel Junction on the
coast line via
Arundel was finally opened on 3 August 1863 creating a through route to Portsmouth. Originally, the main LB&SCR route from London to Portsmouth used the
Portsmouth line to reach Horsham. However, with the increase in demand at
Gatwick Airport, the mainline services were re-routed in 1978 to serve the airport and then travel via Three Bridges.
Electrification The line was
electrified using the (750 V DC third rail) system by the
Southern 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 through
Dorking and
Sutton, 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 by
electric multiple units. For most of the rest of the twentieth century, an hourly express service was provided which joined/divided at
Barnham, 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. An all-stations stopping service also ran hourly via Crawley to Bognor Regis, usually via Littlehampton.
Later work Two bridges on the line, The Black Rabbit Bridge (just north of
Arundel) and the Peppering Bridge (a few hundred yards further on) were replaced during the August
Bank 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 and
Pulborough. As the two-week
Arundel Festival was drawing to a close over the weekend,
Southern maintained a service into the station from the
West Coastway Line from
Bognor Regis via Barnham and Ford, and a reversal at Littlehampton. == Services ==