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Railway line from London to Portsmouth, England

The Portsmouth Direct line is a railway route between Woking in Surrey and Portsmouth Harbour in Hampshire, England. It forms the principal route for passenger trains between London, Guildford and Portsmouth; connections are made to the ferry services which operate between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The final section of line from Havant to Portsmouth is shared with other passenger routes. The line was opened in stages, in part by the Portsmouth Railway, independently of the established railway companies, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) and the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBCSR), both of which had rather circuitous routes to Portsmouth. Both of those companies were antagonistic to the direct line, but in 1859 a through train service was operated in the face of obstructive tactics. The LBSCR controlled the route from Havant into Portsmouth, but eventually acquiesced in granting running powers, and making its line on Portsea Island, where the Portsmouth conurbation is situated, joint with the LSWR. The latter company took over the Portsmouth Railway in 1859. The gradients on the line made it difficult to operate in steam days, but it was electrified on the third rail system in 1937. There was heavy traffic connected with the Royal Navy at Portsmouth, and with the holiday traffic to Hayling Island, Southsea and the Isle of Wight. While the former dominance of those traffics has reduced, the extension of London commuting has greatly increased, and the line conducts a busy passenger business.

Portsmouth had long been an important centre for the Royal Navy and its support activities, and for ship construction and repair; it was also an important commercial port. In 1803 R A Edlington drew up proposals for a horse drawn railway between Portsmouth and London; in the same year William Jessop proposed a horse railway from Blackfriars, London to Portsmouth, in part making use of the Surrey Iron Railway. Neither of these proposals was carried forward. Other schemes for a Portsmouth to London railway were put forward over the years, including, in 1844, a planned line to use the atmospheric system of traction. The London and Southampton Railway (L&SR) opened throughout from London (Nine Elms) to Southampton on 11 May 1840. The L&SR and commercial interests in Portsmouth shared an aspiration for a Portsmouth rail connection, and a branch was proposed to run to Portsmouth from Bishopstoke (later renamed Eastleigh) on the L&SR, running through Fareham and Cosham. A Parliamentary Bill was presented in 1837 for a Portsmouth Junction Railway, friendly to the L&SR, to construct it. At this time there was considerable resentment among citizens of Portsmouth against Southampton, and this played against the idea of a branch line to Portsmouth off the Southampton main line: Portsmouth would get a roundabout route to London. The Corporation opposed the Bill in Parliament, and it failed. The L&SR now put forward a branch from Bishopstoke to Gosport, close to Portsmouth but on the west side of the waterway known as Portsmouth Harbour. Requiring only 15 miles (24 km) of new line, this was an affordable proposition. An Act had lately been passed for a ferry, referred to then as a floating bridge, across the harbour between Portsmouth and Gosport. The L&SR obtained Parliamentary authorisation for its Gosport branch on 4 June 1839; section 2 of the Act authorised changing the company name to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR); this was a deliberate move to ameliorate tension between the towns of Portsmouth and Southampton. The Gosport line opened on 29 November 1841. For the time being, Portsmouth had its railway, although not the direct line it sought.

In 1844 money supply in the United Kingdom had become easier, and for the first time railway schemes were attractive investments. This meant that the established companies were no longer secure in their own territory, as challenging new schemes promoted locally were proposed. This led to the Railway Mania of 1845 when huge numbers of railway schemes, not all of them well thought out, were put before the public.

The London and Southampton line ran through Woking, and on 10 May 1844 the Guildford Junction Railway was authorised to construct a six mile branch from there to the important manufacturing town of Guildford. The authorised share capital was £55,000. The company was backed by the LSWR; it opened four days late (because of doubts about the stability of the tunnel at Fareham) on 5 May 1845. An Act of 21 July 1845 authorised the company's absorption by the LSWR, and this was put into effect on 4 August 1845. The transfer cost the LSWR £75,000. It was the first part of the eventual Portsmouth Direct Line to become operational, although there is no evidence that this was the long term objective. Two other routes had been promoted in the same Parliamentary session; one was a Guildford, Chichester and Portsmouth Railway, intended to run from the Guildford Junction line and through Godalming and Midhurst to Chichester and Portsmouth. This proposal was supported by the LSWR, but was thrown out by Parliament. At the same time the London and Croydon Railway (L&CR) had authorisation for an Epsom branch from Croydon, to be worked on the atmospheric system, in which stationary engines exhausted air from a pipe laid between the rails; the leading carriage of trains carried a piston which ran in the tube, and the air pressure differential propelled the train. The L&CR now fostered a Direct London & Portsmouth Railway which would run from Epsom via Dorking and Godalming to Portsmouth. This too was unsuccessful in Parliament. The Portsmouth extension of the Chichester line ran along the coast to Havant, later the site of a junction with the Portsmouth Direct Line. It ran on to make a triangular junction; the northern spur ran to Cosham, there joining an LSWR spur from its Gosport branch, facing Bishopstoke (Eastleigh). The southern spur ran to Portsmouth, where there were two platform faces at a terminus on Commercial Road; the site later became Portsmouth & Southsea station. The junctions were Farlington Junction (east), Cosham Junction (west) and Portcreek Junction (south apex). From a point just west of Cosham station to Portsmouth was jointly owned by the LSWR and the Brighton and Chichester Railway (soon to be LBSCR); the Brighton and Chichester Railway owned the line from Cosham Junction and Portcreek Junction back to Chichester; and from west of Cosham to Fareham belonged to the LSWR. In 1846 the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR) was formed by Act of 27 July; the London and Brighton Railway and the London and Croydon Railway merged to form the LBSCR. The same Act authorised the combined company to acquire the Brighton and Chichester Railway. The line from Chichester to Havant was opened on 15 March 1847; from Havant to Portsmouth on 14 June 1847; and from Farlington Junction to Cosham, for goods traffic, on 26 July 1848, and for passengers on 2 January 1860. From Portcreek Junction to Cosham Junction opened for goods on 1 September 1848, and for passengers on 1 October 1848. In Parliament, the Guildford, Chichester, Portsmouth and Fareham proposal was considerably reduced in scope and became the Guildford Extension and Portsmouth & Fareham Railway. Its Act of 27 July 1846 only authorised disconnected sections from Guildford to Godalming and from Fareham to Portsea Junction. At Godalming it would form a junction with the intended Direct London and Portsmouth Railway. The Act also included the power to purchase the Guildford Junction Railway and operate it as a continuous line from the LSWR at Woking to Godalming and then use running powers over the planned Direct London and Portsmouth Railway. The LSWR was authorised to acquire the company in the same Act of 1846 and exercised that right by the LSWR Act of 9 July 1847.

The Direct London and Portsmouth Railway line was authorised on 26 June 1846, to run from Epsom via Godalming to a Portsmouth terminus. For a time this seemed to be a future Portsmouth main line, but in 1847 it submitted a further Bill proposing to sell its line to the LBSCR. By this time Parliament had become hostile to railway schemes floated simply to sell on to existing lines, and the Bill was thrown out. This had the immediate effect of killing off the Direct London and Portsmouth company.

The future Portsmouth Direct Line was now in place from Woking to Godalming, and from Havant to Portsmouth & Southsea station. In 1852 the Portsmouth Railway was promoted, advancing a similar route to the Direct Portsmouth Railway, and hoping to adopt its assets; the "Direct" company was wound up by Act of 31 July 1854. The Portsmouth Railway got its authorising Act on 8 July 1853, for a 32 1/4 mile route from Godalming (LSWR, at a junction just north of the original terminus) to Havant (LBSCR, on the line from Chichester to Portsmouth). The LSWR and the LBSCR both opposed the scheme in Parliament. Authorised share capital was £400,000. The contractor Thomas Brassey undertook the construction. The line would make London to Portsmouth a distance of 73 miles; Waterloo—Bishopstoke—Portsmouth was 95 3/4 miles. (Waterloo to Gosport was about 86 miles, and London Bridge—Brighton—Portsmouth was 95 1/4.) Meanwhile the Portsmouth Railway Directors considered how it could make a connection to an existing railway's network. The LSWR and LBSCR hostility was obvious, but the South Eastern Railway (SER) had a line not far away, just south of Guildford at Shalford; perhaps a connection to their line, and thence to London via Redhill, would be feasible. On 24 July 1854 the Company got authorisation to extend northwards from Godalming to join the SER, a new line running broadly parallel to the LSWR line, and building a new south to east curve to join the SER. This would have been an extremely long route to London, and in any case it was defeated when negotiations with the SER and the LBSCR for traffic running over their lines failed. It appears that the SER board had an anti expansion policy at the time. In 1857 the Portsmouth Railway agreed with the LSWR on access to the LSWR line at Godalming to Shalford. The earthworks at Shalford forming a south to east curve to the SER line were completed, but no track was ever laid on it. Negotiations to lease the line to the LSWR foundered because of the LSWR's insistence on gaining LBSCR acquiescence, which was not forthcoming. At length however the LSWR was motivated by fear that a rival company would indeed take over the line, gaining access deep inside the LSWR territory. On 24 August 1858 the LSWR agreed to lease the Portsmouth Railway line for £18,000 per annum. Whether physical violence took place is uncertain, but with numerous employees on each side and tempers running high it is likely that scuffles broke out.

The Portsmouth Railway opened to Havant only, on 1 January 1859 and the issue of through running went to an arbitrator; his award was rejected, and the LBSCR obtained an injunction, preventing the LSWR from using the joint line. However, when the injunction came before Vice Chancellor Wood on 19 January 1859 he refused the restraining order, but did not adjudicate on the terms of use of the line. During the course of legal proceedings an order was given that the line throughout from Havant should be made part of the joint railway, but this was never actually done. Through running of Portsmouth Railway trains started on 24 January 1859, tolerated by the LBSCR without prejudice to its legal position, pending further negotiations. The negotiations made no progress whatever, and in March 1859 the LBSCR introduced new through trains with very low fares. The LSWR soon retaliated with its own new trains and low fares. The LBSCR had appealed against the refusal to grant its injunction, and in April 1859 reserved judgement was given in favour of the LBSCR position: LSWR trains over the direct route had to be discontinued, and LSWR trains had to be terminated before Havant, at a temporary station immediately north of Havant LBSCR, with the passengers being conveyed on to Portsmouth by road. Remarkably the shareholders of the Portsmouth Railway – the line was leased to the LSWR by them – demanded an increase in the rental charge. This was declined and eventually the status quo was agreed; in fact the Portsmouth Railway was amalgamated with the LSWR by Act of 21 July 1859.

The Act authorising amalgamation of the LSWR and the Portsmouth Railway had included clauses specifying a minimum passenger service: six daily in summer and four daily in winter. For some years the LSWR provided only this minimum service on the Portsmouth Railway route, continuing to run good services to Gosport. In fact the LSWR wanted to avoid the route overshadowing the longer original route via Bishopstoke, and Direct Line passenger services remained slow and infrequent.

The Portsmouth terminus of the line was at the present day Portsmouth and Southsea station. There was considerable ferry traffic to the Isle of Wight and to Gosport, involving road transfers through the streets of Portsmouth. Southsea was developing as an important resort, and it too was remote from the Portsmouth station. In 1859 the Portsmouth council promoted a tramway, but this scheme, together with some other, independent, proposals, failed. Southsea Pier was opened in 1861, on the southern side of Portsmouth; it was later renamed Clarence Pier. An independent Landport & Southsea Tramway built a horse drawn street running line from the Portsmouth station to Clarence Pier and this became the main embarkation point for train to ferry passengers; the tram conveyed a luggage trolley vehicle, and it had first and second class accommodation. The Clarence Pier tramway opened on 15 May 1865. There was a Victoria Pier at the end of Portsmouth High Street, not tramway connected. The extension was opened to traffic on 2 October 1876, and London trains generally now used the Harbour station, but other trains terminated at the Town station. When the Portsmouth Railway was constructed, it bypassed the original Godalming terminus, although a passenger service to it was retained for the time being. It was closed to passengers on 1 May 1897. Haslemere, Havant, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour stations were all greatly enlarged to give 800 feet (244 m) platform lengths to handle twelve car trains. Resignalling was undertaken at Woking Junction and Havant, but complete resignalling was not thought to be needed. Partial signalling improvements were commissioned in June and July 1937, and the electric train service started on 4 July 1937, although numerous trial runs had already been undertaken. A fleet of 312 new or rebuilt vehicles were provided for the entire scheme, which included routes to Alton and Staines. Fast services were operated by a new design of four car express unit; they were provided with corridors throughout, including from one unit to the next when running in multiple formations. Restaurant facilities were provided in most express trains, which generally ran as twelve coach trains, formed 4 COR + 4 RES + 4 COR. The 4 RES units had restaurant facilities; 19 were built; there were 29 units designated 4 COR, without catering facilities. These were designated class 404 in British Railways days. The outer vehicles in each set were motor coaches, equipped with two 225 hp (168 kW) English Electric motors, and English Electric electro pneumatic control equipment. For stopping trains (including on the Alton line), 38 two car units designated 2 BIL were produced; these had side corridors and lavatories, but no corridor connection between the coaches. They had one control trailer coach and one motor coach equipped with two 275 hp (205 kW) motors and Metropolitan Vickers control equipment. New maintenance sheds were provided at Fratton (and also at Wimbledon and Farnham); the Fratton shed had four roads each capable of holding eight cars. Electric trains started running to steam train timings to Guildford from 3 January 1937, and Portsmouth & Southsea station was first reached by an electric service on 8 March 1937. There was a Royal Navy Fleet Review at Portsmouth on 20 May 1937 to commemorate the coronation of King George VI, and twenty 12 car special electric trains ran between London and Portsmouth in connection, in addition to the ordinary steam service. On 1 July 1937 an official inaugural run took place to Portsmouth & Southsea, reached in 91 minutes, and the return run making the standard stops for the new train service with one additional stop at Surbiton accomplished the journey in 99 minutes. There had been some concern about the ability to keep time as the 12 car trains had slightly less installed power than the corresponding earlier Brighton line formations and the hilly route was more challenging, but these concerns proved unnecessary. A speed of 78 mph (126 km) was recorded descending Witley bank.

After electrification, the basic train service remained unaltered for many years, but in 1971 was changed to one fast, one semi fast and one stopping train per hour. Additional stops were later added to the semi fast train. This pattern continued into the 1990s, but by 1996 it had changed to two fast trains per hour from Waterloo, a semi fast and an hourly shuttle from Guildford to Haslemere.

The October 2022 shows an off peak pattern of an hourly fast train from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour, and hourly stopping train to Portsmouth & Southsea, and an hourly semi fast train to Haslemere.

From 1970 to 2004, the predominant rolling stock consisted of the Class 421 (4CIG) and Class 423 (4VEP) units, with fast trains up to the early 1990s also including a Class 412 (4BEP) buffet unit in the centre of the 12 car consist (Class 422 (4BIG) before mid 1983). Some peak trains were augmented using 2 car Class 414 (2HAP) units until 1991. During most of the 1990s, Class 442 "Wessex Electric" units operated most of the fast services. Since 2007, services had been provided mostly by Class 444, supported by Class 450, electric multiple units. Unusually, the 450s, designed for stopping services, run certain fast services on Monday to Friday and most services on Saturday. This has led to complaints by people who disliked the high density 3+2 seating in some parts of these trains. From January 2020, following an extended cascading process, partially refitted class 442 'Wessex Electrics' started to bolster the class 444 on both Portsmouth and Poole services. the Class 442s were withdrawn from service in March 2021.

The central part of the route, from Guildford to Havant, runs through relatively thinly populated country. The line was designed on the "undulating principle"; that is, successive relatively steep gradients were accepted to reduce construction cost. In the days of steam operation this made the route difficult for enginemen. The line falls at 1 in 152 from Woking Junction to Worplesdon, then climbing at 1 in 111 for a mile and falling at 116 to Guildford. After gentle gradients, the line then climbs from Farncombe to Haslemere for nine miles, stiffening to 1 in 80. It then falls at 1 in 100 and 1 in 80 with intermittent respites to Liss, nine miles. A second climb of three miles (5 km) at 1 in 100 / 1 in 110 follows to a summit at Buriton Tunnel, then falling at 1 in 80, 1 in 100 and then more gently for 8 miles (13 km) to Havant. After Havant the gradients are considerably more gentle, with the exception of the short sharp climb at Portsmouth & Southsea on to the Harbour line.