The trains running under the East Coastway name serve stations between Brighton, Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings, Ore and Ashford, together with the branch line to Seaford.

They follow the Brighton Main Line and turn east over the 28-arch London Road viaduct, which offers views of the housing in Preston and Withdean to the north, and the city to the south.

The train route leaves the Brighton Main Line at Keymer Junction, which is just located south of Wivelsfield.

As the train slows down to 70 mph, it passes Hamsey level crossing before turning south to run along the River Ouse and entering 395 yards (361m) long Lewes Tunnel.

The line follows a near-straight route to Berwick, then heads on a slightly undulating gradient over the River Cuckmere and then downhill towards the current Polegate station.

Shortly after the site of Stone Cross Halt, which was opened in 1905 and closed in 1935, the route has a slight gradient towards Pevensey and Westham.

The line then passes the Beachlands estate on the south and a caravan site before reaching Normans Bay, originally opened as a halt and still maintains an hourly service.

Some trains from London and Brighton continue beyond Hastings to Ore, where there is a turnaround siding, the old depot having been closed and redeveloped.

On 27 June that year, a single-line extension was opened to just outside Hastings at Bulverhythe, with an intermediate station at Polegate to serve the nearby towns of Hailsham and South Bourne, the latter now part of Eastbourne.

A new junction station with four platforms was constructed and opened on 1 November 1857, serving trains to Brighton, London, Uckfield, Newhaven, Eastbourne, and Hastings.

To accommodate more platforms and reduce the tight curves, the station was rebuilt, realigned, and reopened on 17 June 1889.

[10] A 1+3⁄4-mile-long (2.8 km) branch line from east of London Road station to Kemp Town opened on 2 August 1869.

The line was primarily constructed to alleviate the LBSCR's fears of another company approaching Brighton from the east.

Additional branches were later added to the line, including a siding built in 1870 for the Eastbourne Gas Company, which straddled the railway.

[16] The branch ceased steam working in April 1960, after which diesel shunting locomotives took over[17] until the line was closed in early 1967.

[16] The LB&SCR introduced motor train services between Eastbourne and St Leonards West Marina in 1905.

[19] All the lines, as far as Ore (except for the Kemp Town branch), were electrified using the 750 V DC third rail system by the Southern Railway, which opened in May 1935.

[20] Because of its proximity to the East Sussex Coast, the line was targeted several times in bombing raids during World War II.

During a daylight air raid on 25 May 1943, a German bomber dropped five bombs that hit the upper goods yard north of Brighton station.

Temporary repairs were quickly made to the structure and the damaged brickwork was fully restored by the end of the year.

A typical Southern service along the route is: In circumstances when the Brighton Main Line has both running lines closed between Preston Park and Keymer Junction, some services between Brighton and London may be diverted via Lewes, with trains having to reverse at the end of the station.

Signal boxes were situated at Berwick, Polegate Crossing, Hampden Park, Eastbourne, Pevensey and Westham, Bexhill and Bo-Peep Junction.

The line reopened on Monday 16 February 2015 with Hampden Park Signal Box being demolished over the weekend.