Portsmouth Harbour railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is situated beside

Gunwharf Quays Gunwharf Quays is a shopping centre located in the Portsea area of the city of Portsmouth in England. It was constructed in the early 21st century on the site of what had once been HM Gunwharf, Portsmouth. This was one of several such facilitie ...

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 Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. 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. The station is located adjacent to Portsmouth Harbour between the

shopping centre and the Historic Dockyard. Unusually for a mainline railway station, it is built over water as the station was originally constructed on wooden piles, which were later replaced by iron supports.

History

The station opened on the 2nd October 1876 as the terminus of Chief Engineers

Frederick Banister Frederick Dale Banister MICE (15 March 1823 – 22 December 1897), was an English civil engineer, best known for his 35 years as the Chief Engineer of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR). Early life Born in London on 15 Marc ...

's Portsmouth Waterside Extension to the Portsmouth Direct Line, which runs between this station and

London Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

. The construction of the station superseded an earlier pier on the site called the Albert Pier that was used for passenger steamships in the mid-Victorian era. The station was rebuilt in 1937 when the route was electrified but was almost totally destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

by fire after German bombing, then rebuilt after the war.

Accidents and incidents

*c.1928, T9 class locomotive No. 337 was derailed on the approach to the station, blocking all lines.

Services

The station is served by a number of train operators. South Western Railway operate two services to London Waterloo, one on the Portsmouth Direct Line (via Guildford) and the other 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 Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort, and pleasure harbour, and the most populous civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south sout ...

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

, East Croydon and

London Victoria Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...

. Great Western Railway operate trains via Southampton,

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

and Bristol Temple Meads to Cardiff Central, via the Wessex Main Line. The ferry from Portsmouth Harbour Station to

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

on the Isle of Wight is operated by

Wightlink Wightlink is a ferry company operating routes across The Solent between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in the south of England. It operates car ferries between Lymington and Yarmouth, and Portsmouth and Fishbourne and a fast passenger-only ...

. National Rail tickets between the Isle of Wight and stations on Great Britain include travel on the ferry. The Monday-Saturday off peak rail service in trains per hour (tph) and trains per day (tpd) is as follows: * Southern **1tph to Brighton (East Sussex) **1tpd to

via Horsham * Great Western Railway **1tph to Cardiff Central via Bristol Temple Meads and Southampton Central * South Western Railway **2tph to London Waterloo via Guildford **1tph to London Waterloo via Fareham and Eastleigh **1tph to Southampton Central

Former services

The station was served by

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

until May 2003 with services to and from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

with

InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

sets and in its last years, Class 220 ''Voyagers'' and Class 221 ''Super Voyagers''.Virgin Train's Pompey pull-out ''

Rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

'' issue 462 28 May 2003 page 14 The station was also served by

Wessex Trains Wessex Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated the Wessex Trains franchise from October 2001 until March 2006, when the franchise was merged with the Great Western and Thames Valley f ...

with one train a day to and from Penzance, as well as the services that are now run by its successor Great Western Railway.

Future

Portsmouth Harbour railway station, the Hard Interchange

With the award of the South West Region franchise to South Western Railway in 2017,

Portsmouth City Council Portsmouth City Council is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government s ...

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.

References

External links

{{Major railway stations in Britain Railway stations in Portsmouth DfT Category C1 stations Former Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1876 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Railway stations served by South Western Railway Railway stations serving harbours and ports in the United Kingdom