Romsey - Transport

Transport

Romsey is within 10 miles (16 km) of both the M27 and M3 motorways, providing fast links along the south coast and to London, and to the Midlands and the North via the A34. The A36 runs a few miles west of the town, providing a direct but not particularly quick route to the West of England and South Wales. There are cycle links to Southampton.

Romsey has a railway station with frequent services (operated by First Great Western) running on the route between Portsmouth and Cardiff, via Southampton, Salisbury and Bristol.

In 2004, an hourly South West Trains local service was introduced, running to Chandler's Ford and Eastleigh and then down to Southampton and Totton. The noise from these new services attracted many complaints from local residents, who demanded their withdrawal, and there were also suggestions that some of the journeys regularly carried no passengers. However, its future is assured under the new South West Trains franchise, which saw the service altered from December 2007 to run from Romsey to Southampton via Eastleigh as currently, then back to Romsey via Millbrook and Redbridge and on to Salisbury. The result is more train services for Romsey than at any other time in its history, with particular improvements for passengers travelling to Southampton or Salisbury.

A dedicated shuttle bus used to link Romsey with fast London trains at Winchester. The ticket bought from the bus driver in Romsey covered the entire journey from Romsey Bus Station to London Waterloo with a combined journey time of 90 minutes, making the service popular with commuters. This service was discontinued in 2009 despite a vigorous campaign to save the service.

Other bus services are provided by Wilts & Dorset within the town and to Salisbury, BlueStar to Southampton and Eastleigh and Stagecoach within the town and to Winchester.

For more details on bus routes in Romsey see List of bus routes in Eastleigh & Romsey.