Portsmouth & Southsea railway station


Portsmouth & Southsea railway station is the main railway station in central Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It is close to the Commercial Road shopping centre. British Transport Police maintain a presence at the station. There is a taxi rank at the front of the building and regular local buses within five minutes' walking distance.
The station, which is managed by South Western Railway, has ticket barriers in operation.

History

The station was first opened as Portsmouth on 14 June 1847. It was later renamed Portsmouth Town on 2 October 1876 to avoid confusion with other stations in Portsmouth, such as Portsmouth Harbour.
The station's present-day name of Portsmouth & Southsea originates from the closure of the Southsea Railway branch line, which had a terminus station in Southsea named East Southsea from 1885-1914. Competing trams and trolleybuses put the Southsea Railway out of business and it was closed in 1914. Train passengers and tourists bound for Southsea were then diverted to Portsmouth's main railway station, Portsmouth Town which was later renamed Portsmouth & Southsea in 1925.
Portsmouth & Southsea station was once the junction for the Portsmouth Dockyard branch, known as the Admiralty Line. The line branched off from the west end of today's platform 1 and passed through Victoria Park, close to the rear of Stanhope Road, before crossing Bishop Crispian Way via a level crossing and entering the naval base at the Unicorn Gate.
Part of the station, specifically the 1980s canopy over high level platforms 1 and 2, is still in its original red Network SouthEast livery.

Services

The station is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line which runs between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour. In addition there are regular services to Cardiff Central, Bristol Temple Meads, Southampton Central, Eastleigh, Woking, Brighton, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon and London Victoria. The station is split into two distinct parts: the high level and the low level where some trains terminate. In addition, Hovertravel run a bus service from Portsmouth & Southsea which connects to their Hovercraft service from Southsea to the Isle of Wight. The IoW terminal is located next to Ryde Esplanade, with a single price ticket for journeys via rail/hover/rail, similar to that provided by Wightlink from Portsmouth Harbour.
The Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:
South Western Railway:
Southern:
Great Western Railway: