West Coastway Line
The West Coastway Line runs from Brighton to Southampton and is the western equivalent of the East Coastway Line . It connects the Brighton Main Line with the South Western Main Line . In addition to the main line, there are branch lines to Littlehampton , Bognor Regis and Portsmouth , with trains to the latter from London mostly not running via the Brighton Main Line - West Coastway Line, but via the Portsmouth Direct Line or the South Western Main Line- Eastleigh to Fareham Line , as they are operated by another railway company ( South West Trains ). The West Coastway Line is mainly operated by Southern , the infrastructure and real estate are owned by the UK infrastructure authority Network Rail .
history
The construction of the line took a total of 49 years and was realized by a total of five railway companies, whereby it sometimes happened that one company was the successor of the other.
Brighton - Shoreham
The section Brighton - Shoreham-by-Sea was opened on May 12, 1840 as a branch line of the London and Brighton Railway , before their main line, the Brighton Main Line .
Brighton - Worthing - Littlehampton / Chichester - Portsmouth Harbor
The Brighton and Chichester Railway then extended this route: on November 24, 1845 the extension to Worthing was opened, on March 18, 1846 the branch line to Littlehampton and on June 9, 1848 the tracks reached Chichester . In July 1846 the London and Brighton Railway and the Brighton and Chichester Railway were merged with various other railway companies operating in the region to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB & SCR). Havant was reached under their wing on March 15, 1847 , before a short time later, on June 14, 1847, the extension to Portsmouth Harbor was put into operation.
However, a short time later the section to Portsmouth was transferred to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), which in turn also connected Portsmouth from Fareham in order to connect it to the Eastleigh to Fareham Line .
LB & SCR opened the branch line to Bognor Regis on June 1, 1864. About a year earlier, on August 17, 1863, they completed the connection from Ford to the branch line to Littlehampton, so that the place can also be reached from the west.
Southampton - Netley - Fareham
The Southampton and Netley Railway opened on March 5, 1866, the connection Netley Hospital - Southampton. The operation of this line has been the responsibility of the LSWR since the start of operations.
In 1887 the branch line to Littlehampton was expanded to double track.
The Fareham - Netley gap was completed by the LSWR on September 2, 1889.
Between the First and Second World War , the line was electrified with a side conductor rail and 750 volts alternating current .
business
In addition to the operator Southern, the First Great Western and South West Trains trains also run at least in part over the West Coast Line.
Mainly the following relations operate:
- Brighton - Hove - Shoreham-by-Sea - Worthing - Littlehampton
- London Victoria - Gatwick Airport - Hove - Shoreham-by-Sea - Worthing - Littlehampton
- Brighton - Eastleigh - Southampton Central
- Brighton - Portsmouth & Southsea - Portsmouth Harbor
- Southampton Central - Portsmouth Harbor
- Portsmouth Harbor - Fareham - Eastleigh - London Waterloo (via SWML )
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.servinghistory.com/topics/West_Coastway_Line
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
