Portsmouth Harbour railway station

Portsmouth Harbour railway station is a railway station in Portsmouth, England. It is situated beside Gunwharf Quays in the city's harbour, and is an important transport terminal, with a bus interchange and ferry services to Gosport and the Isle of Wight. The station currently has four platforms in use: numbered 1, 3, 4 and 5. It is managed by South Western Railway. Platform 2 is no longer in use, having been decommissioned in the early 1990s following major repair and refurbishment work to the pier that the platforms sit on.[1] The station is built on a pier made of wood, between the Gunwharf Quays shopping centre and the Historic Dockyard.

Portsmouth Harbour
The station entrance (February 2014)
Location
PlacePortsmouth
Local authorityPortsmouth
Grid referenceSU629000
Operations
Station codePMH
Managed bySouth Western Railway
Number of platforms5 (4 in use)
DfT categoryC1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 2.206 million
2015/16 2.162 million
2016/17 2.059 million
2017/18 2.035 million
– Interchange  0.144 million
2018/19 2.101 million
– Interchange  0.188 million
History
Key datesOpened 2 October 1876 (2 October 1876)
Original companyPortsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway
Pre-groupingPortsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway
Post-groupingSouthern Railway
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Portsmouth Harbour from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History
A 1910 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing railways in the vicinity of Portsmouth Harbour (lower left centre)

The station opened in 1876 as the terminus of Chief Engineers Frederick Banister's Portsmouth Waterside Extension to the Portsmouth Direct Line, which runs between this station and London Waterloo station.[2] It was rebuilt in 1937 when the route was electrified but was almost totally destroyed during World War II by fire after German bombing, then rebuilt after the war.

Accidents and incidents

Services
Railways in the Portsmouth area
Portsmouth Direct Line
to London Waterloo via Guildford
West Coastway Line
to Brighton & London Victoria
West Coastway Line
to Southampton Central
Portchester
Havant
M27
Bedhampton
Cosham
A3(M)
Farlington Halt
A27
Portsbridge Creek
HMNB Portsmouth
Admiralty Line
Hilsea
Portsmouth & Southsea
Fratton
Portsmouth Harbour
Southsea Railway 1885–1914
Gosport Ferry to Gosport
Wightlink to Ryde Pier Head
Jessie Road Bridge Halt
 Albert Road Bridge Halt
 East Southsea

The station is served by a number of train operators. South Western Railway operate two services to London Waterloo on the Portsmouth Direct Line (via Guildford) and the other route to London Waterloo is via Fareham, Winchester and Basingstoke. They also operate local trains to Southampton Central.

There are train services along the West Coastway route, operated by Southern to Brighton, Littlehampton, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon and London Victoria. Great Western Railway operate trains via Southampton, Salisbury and Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central, via the Wessex Main Line.

The ferry from Portsmouth Harbour Station to Ryde on the Isle of Wight is operated by Wightlink. National Rail tickets between the Isle of Wight and stations on Great Britain include travel on the ferry.

The trains are as follows:

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Portsmouth
& Southsea		   South Western Railway
Portsmouth Direct Line		   Terminus
Portsmouth
& Southsea		   Southern
West Coastway Line		   Terminus
Portsmouth
& Southsea		   Great Western Railway
Portsmouth Harbour-Cardiff Central		   Terminus
 Ferry services
Terminus   Wightlink
ferry		   Fishbourne
Terminus   Wightlink
high-speed catamaran		   Ryde Pier Head
Terminus   Gosport Ferry
Passenger ferry		   Gosport
Connection to Portsmouth International Port for Brittany Ferries to France/Spain and Condor Ferries to the Channel Islands

Former services

The station was served by Virgin CrossCountry until May 2003 with services to and from Liverpool and Manchester with InterCity 125 sets and in its last years, Class 220 Voyagers and Class 221 Super Voyagers.[7]

The station was also served by Wessex Trains with one train a day to and from Penzance, as well as the services that are now run by its successor First Great Western.

Future

With the award of the South West Region franchise to South Western Railway in 2017, Portsmouth City Council announced the intention to "spruce up" the station as part of a £90 Million investment by the new operating company. Potential improvements could include a direct walking route in to the Gunwharf Quays shopping complex.[8]

References
  1. "From Platform 0 to Platform 9¾: The strange world of British Rail mathematics" Jefferson, Ed; City Metric website article 3 August 2016; Retrieved 23 May 2019
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 March 2005. Retrieved 7 April 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Bishop, Bill (1988). Off the rails. London: Bracken Books. p. 13. ISBN 1 85170 2083.
  4. Table 186 National Rail timetable, May 2019
  5. Table 123 National Rail timetable, May 2019
  6. Table 158 & 165 National Rail timetable, May 2019
  7. Virgin Train's Pompey pull-out Rail issue 462 28 May 2003 page 14
  8. "Portsmouth Harbour railway station targeted for improvements as part of £90m package". Portsmouth.co.uk. Portsmouth News. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.

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