Portsmouth & Southsea railway station

An earlier and smaller station building was opened as Portsmouth on 14 June 1847 and served as a terminus station. The present station was built in 1866 and was further extended via additional high level platforms to Portsmouth Harbour in 1876. It was later renamed Portsmouth Town on 2 October 1876 when it was relocated to Fratton Goods Yard. Currently, a Premier Inn hotel and University of Portsmouth student accommodation blocks now occupy the site of the former Portsmouth Town goods station. The station's present-day name of Portsmouth & Southsea originates from 1925 after 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 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 opened in 1857 and branched off from the west end of today's platform 1 and passed through the east side of Victoria Park, close to the rear of Stanhope Road, before crossing Bishop Crispian Way via a level crossing (the gates still exist) and entering the naval base at the Unicorn Gate. The Admiralty Line was closed in 1977. During the 1980s, Portsmouth & Southsea station lost three of its five low level platforms and adjoining sidings to redevelopment, a large Matalan retail store (originally a W.H.Smith Do It All DIY retailer) and car park were built on their location to the south of Station Street. Part of the station, specifically the 1980s canopy over high level platforms 1 and 2, is still in its original red Network SouthEast livery. In early 2021 strengthening work was carried on Landport Viaduct which carries the high level platforms 1 & 2. Presently, the station is still informally and colloquially known as Town Station by Portsmouth's local population, despite Portsmouth having been awarded city status on 21 April 1926. == 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, Guildford, Woking, Brighton, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon and London Victoria. The station is split into two distinct parts: the high level island (Platforms 1 and 2) for through trains to the harbour, and the low level (bay Platforms 3 and 4) 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 Ryde Hovertravel 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: • 2 tph to via Guildford (1 fast, 1 stopping) • 1 tph to via Basingstoke • 3 tph to • 1 tph to Southern: • 2 tph to via Horsham • 1 tph to via Worthing • 2 tph to Great Western Railway: • 1 tph to via • 1 tph to ==References==