Editing Crawley (section)

=== Rail ===
[[File:Crawley Station 01 (07-07-2007).JPG|thumb|right|[[Crawley railway station|Crawley station]], with five storeys of offices above the ticket office and concourse area]]

The first railway line in the area was the [[Brighton Main Line]], which opened as far as [[Haywards Heath railway station|Haywards Heath]] on 12 July 1841 and reached Brighton on 21 September 1841. It ran through Three Bridges, which was then a small village east of Crawley, and [[Three Bridges railway station|a station]] was built to serve it.<ref name="VicKeithTBB4">{{Harvnb|Mitchell|Smith|1986a|p=4.}}</ref>

A line to [[Horsham railway station|Horsham]], now part of the [[Arun Valley Line]], was opened on 14 February 1848. [[Crawley railway station|A station]] was provided next to Crawley High Street from that date.<ref name="VicKeithCL4">{{cite book|last= Mitchell|first= Vic|author2=Keith Smith|title= Southern Main Lines: Crawley to Littlehampton|year= 1986|publisher=Middleton Press|location= Midhurst|isbn= 0-906520-34-7|page= 4}}</ref> A new station was constructed slightly to the east, in conjunction with the Overline House commercial development, and replaced the original station which closed on 28 July 1968. The ticket office and Up (London-bound) platform waiting areas form the ground floor of the office building.<ref name="Body75">{{Harvnb|Body|1984|p=75.}}</ref>

The urban area of Crawley is served by a total of three rail stations including [[Ifield railway station]]. Due to Crawley's expansion this station is now surrounded by the town's western areas. Opened as ''Lyons Crossing Halt'' on 1 June 1907 to serve the village of Ifield, it was soon renamed ''Ifield Halt'', dropping the "Halt" suffix in 1930.<ref name="VicKeithCL15">{{Harvnb|Mitchell|Smith|1986b|p=15.}}</ref>

Regular train services run from Crawley, and also Ifield, to [[London Victoria railway station|London Victoria]] and [[London Bridge railway station|London Bridge]] stations, [[Gatwick Airport railway station|Gatwick Airport]], [[East Croydon railway station|East Croydon]], [[Horsham railway station|Horsham]], [[Bognor Regis railway station|Bognor Regis]], [[Chichester railway station|Chichester]], [[Portsmouth Harbour railway station|Portsmouth]] and [[Southampton Central railway station|Southampton]]. Three Bridges has direct [[Govia Thameslink Railway|Thameslink]] trains to [[Bedford railway station|Bedford]] and [[Brighton railway station|Brighton]].<ref name="tt3">{{cite web|url=http://southernrailway.go-cms.co.uk/content/doc/pdf/timetable_a_157.pdf|title=West Coastway and Arun Valley: London, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Arun Valley & Brighton to Hove, Worthing, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Portsmouth & Southampton|access-date=7 April 2008|publisher=New Southern Railway Ltd|year=2007|work=Southern timetable booklet 3 (at Southern website)|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080624191331/http://southernrailway.go-cms.co.uk/content/doc/pdf/timetable_a_157.pdf |archive-date = 24 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="tt2">{{cite web|url=http://southernrailway.go-cms.co.uk/content/doc/pdf/timetable_a_195.pdf|title=Brighton Main Line: London, East Croydon, Tonbridge and Redhill to Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges, Crawley and Horsham|access-date=7 April 2008|publisher=New Southern Railway Ltd|year=2007|work=Southern timetable booklet 2 (at Southern website)|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080624191335/http://southernrailway.go-cms.co.uk/content/doc/pdf/timetable_a_195.pdf |archive-date = 24 June 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>