The Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway (BLHR) was formed on 7 February 1844 and received Parliamentary approval for the construction of a line between Brighton and Lewes on 29 July 1844. Work was started by September, engineered by John Urpeth Rastrick, with the route crossing a valley with the London Road viaduct then running through the South Downs to Falmer before descending to Lewes, with a station at . This section opened on 8 June 1846. On 27 June that year a single line extension was opened to just outside Hastings at with an intermediate station at to serve Eastbourne (this section was later doubled in January 1849).