Southern Water criticised for not maintaining Volk's Railway station

Southern Water owns and maintains the rusting Black Rock station on Brighton seafront.

The station is part of the 140-year-old Volk’s Railway which recently won railway of the year 2024.

One rail enthusiast, who wished to remain anonymous, said the building is in an “appalling state” with rusted iron, peeling paint and no working toilets.

The passenger criticised rust at the station and the lack of toilet facilities (Image: Supplied)

The man visited the electric railway because of its recent award. 

He said: “I travelled to the end station at Black Rock where I had to disembark and re-embark to continue my journey back towards Brighton.

“There is only a booking office which unfortunately has a leak in the roof directly over your head so you get wet having your ticket inspected.

“There are no facilities whatsoever at the station, the toilets having apparently closed some time ago.

“The car park is a building site and the state of the overall building is appalling with rusted iron, peeling paint, broken drain pipes, the aforementioned leaky roofs and a smell of sewage. 

The visitor said the roof was leaking and paint was peeling off the walls (Image: Supplied)

“I asked the railway staff why this station was such a contrast to the stations along the rest of the line and they told me this was because this station was ‘maintained’ by Southern Water.

"I can only assume Southern Water’s maintenance of this building follows the same attitude as their maintenance of sewage works.

“It is such a shame to have this award-winning railway blighted by a water company failing to maintain its infrastructure.”

Brighton and Hove City Council owns and operates Volk’s Railway but said the Black Rock station building is owned by Southern Water which is responsible for its maintenance.

Volk's Railway recently celebrated its 140th anniversary (Image: Edward Koehler)

Southern Water said maintenance works are scheduled for the station but did not confirm when they will happen.

Councillor Alan Robins, chairman of the council’s culture, heritage, sport, tourism and economic development committee, said: “Our regeneration work at Black Rock has nearly finished now.

“We’ve sorry this has meant the car park at the Black Rock Volks railway station has looked a bit of a mess.

“The station itself belongs to Southern Water. We very much hope they will invest in the building to match the investment we’ve made around it.”