Horsham would have been an important midway point in two of the original proposals for a
London to
Brighton railway via the
Adur valley but in the event Sir
John Rennie's proposed direct line through
Three Bridges (in east
Crawley) and
Haywards Heath was given parliamentary approval. As a result, the original Horsham station was the terminus of a single track branch line from Three Bridges opened by the
London Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) in February 1848. Between 1859 and 1867, the station was enlarged on several occasions to coincide with the doubling of the branch line from Three Bridges; the extension of the railway from Horsham along the
Arun Valley Line; the opening of new lines from Horsham to
Shoreham via
Steyning and from
Christ's Hospital to
Guildford. Finally, in 1867, a new
route to
Dorking,
Leatherhead and thence to London, was opened. The station was again partially rebuilt and resignalled, with three signal boxes, in 1875. The present station was built by the
Southern Railway in the
International Modern Style in 1938 to coincide with the
electrification of the line. The building was designed by
James Robb Scott and is grade II listed, see external links below. The lines to Guildford and Shoreham both fell victim to the
Beeching Axe in the mid-1960s, the former being closed to passengers on 14 June 1965 and the latter on 7 March 1966. In September 2011, the station frontage was closed to undergo extensive refurbishment work to the main ticket hall. It reopened late in 2012 with a new side entrance, internal lift access, relocated barriers and stairway, a new ticket office, and new information screens. The platforms received a rebuild of the roofing and refurbished waiting rooms. Previously, the building was shared with Henfield Hire, who vacated in order to give the floor space needed to create the new features and new ceiling and lights and so completing a complete reconfiguration of the layout. == Accidents and incidents ==