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 located adjacent to Portsmouth Harbour between the Gunwharf Quays 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.[2]
Portsmouth Harbour | |
---|---|
General information | |
Location | Portsmouth, Hampshire, England |
Grid reference | SU629000 |
Managed by | South Western Railway |
Platforms | 5 (4 in use) |
Other information | |
Station code | PMH |
Classification | DfT category C1 |
History | |
Opened | 2 October 1876 |
Original company | Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway |
Pre-grouping | Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway |
Post-grouping | Southern Railway |
Passengers | |
2016/17 | 2.059 million |
2017/18 | 2.035 million |
Interchange | 0.144 million |
2018/19 | 2.101 million |
Interchange | 0.188 million |
2019/20 | 2.036 million |
Interchange | 0.121 million |
2020/21 | 0.540 million |
Interchange | 14,576 |
Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
The station opened on the 2nd October 1876[2] 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Portsmouth Direct Line, which runs between this station and London Waterloo station.[3] The construction of the station superseded an earlier pier on the site called the Albert Pier that was used for passenger steamships in the mid-Victorian era.[2]
The station 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.
Railways in the Portsmouth area | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Legend | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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, 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 |
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.[8]
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 Great Western Railway.
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.[9]
Railway stations in Hampshire | |||
---|---|---|---|
Exeter to London | |||
Weymouth to London | |||
Portsmouth to London |
| ||
Alton to London | |||
Brockenhurst to Lymington | |||
Cardiff to Portsmouth | |||
Southampton to Brighton | |||
Eastleigh to Fareham | |||
Southampton to Salisbury via Chandler's Ford |
| ||
Basingstoke to Reading |
| ||
Gatwick Airport to Reading | |||
| |||
Watercress Line |
|
South Western Railway routes | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
South Western Railway - Island Line - National Rail - Southern - CrossCountry - Great Western Railway |
Major railway stations in Great Britain | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
|