Southampton to Fareham Line

The "Southampton to Fareham Line" is the name of a railway line in England, along the south coast of West Sussex and Hampshire, to the west of Brighton.

[P83, Route Recognition 1: Southern Region, Colin J. Marsden, 1985, ISBN 0-7110-1553-8] [Chapters 5,6,8,& 9, Surrey and Sussex by Rail, ed. Graham Collett, 1988, ISBN 0-7117-0331-0] [Photo 105 caption, Southern Main Lines - Crawley to Littlehampton, 1986, Middleton Press] .

The line was electrified (750V DC third rail) by the British Railways Board during 1990.

Services

Southern are the main operator of passenger services and stations on the line. Their primary route is a slow service (calling at most or all stations) from Brighton to Portsmouth. They also operate two regular clockface services from London Victoria via Gatwick both of which avoid Brighton by using the tunnel between Preston Park and Hove. One service runs to Littlehampton and the other to Southampton. All of the Southern services are operated by electric multiple-units.

First Great Western and South West Trains share an hourly path between Brighton and Fareham. This provides a useful fast service along the line. The First Great Western services are extended from Fareham to Southampton, Salisbury and beyond via the Wessex Main Line. The South West Trains services run from Fareham north to Basingstoke or Reading. Most of the through services are operated by diesel multiple-units.

South West Trains also operate regular services from Portsmouth to Southampton and from Portsmouth to London Waterloo via Fareham.

History

Opening dates were as follows
* 5 March 1866 "Southampton and Netley Railway" (LSWR controlled) opened to connect with the Victoria Military Hospital at Netley
* 2 September 1889: connecting link Netley - Fareham opened

The routes

* Fareham First opened in 1841 as part of the Eastleigh-Fareham line. The east and west Coastway routes opened 1848 and 1889 respectively (see dates above). Here were also junctions for Gosport (the original connection from London to the Portsmouth area) and to Alton via the Meon valley - both closed.
* Swanwick
* Bursledon
* Hamble
* Netley Original terminus of the "Southampton and Netley Railway", built to serve the Military Hospital, which had its own short railway and station. The line from here to St Denys was originally single track (later doubled)
* Sholing
* Woolston
* Bitterne on the outskirts of Southampton. Here was a passing point when the line was single track.With the junction at St Denys the West Coastway Line joins the route of the South Western Main Line

References

External links

* [http://www.southernrailway.com/static/img/network_maps/full_network_map.gifSouthern Railway map, including the West Coastway Route]