West Coastway line

The West Coastway line is a railway line in England linking the densely populated conurbations of Brighton/Hove/Littlehampton and Southampton/Portsmouth, with 1.3 million people between them. It has short southward branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. Some trains using part of the route operate as direct continuations of passenger services to/from London, particularly those to the branch stations mentioned.
From Brighton the East Coastway line continues to Hastings via Lewes, Eastbourne and Bexhill, and then to Ashford International, Kent via the Marshlink line.
Its bulk, east of the city of Portsmouth, was electrified by the Southern Railway before the Second World War. Stations and track further west are since the late 1980s considered additions, enabling through-trains and electrified trains to travel the whole route and to the north via Eastleigh or via Botley stations – between the 1930s and 1980s, passenger trains with direct current traction could not serve the entire West Coastway Line. The London and South Western Railway ran the tracks west of Farlington Junction which lies north of Portsmouth by the inland shore of Langstone Harbour. This section was served and timetabled separately before its electrification, a vestige of having had a different original railway company.
Definition and electrification.
The West Coastway line runs almost alongside or within a few miles of the south coast of Sussex and Hampshire, between Brighton and Southampton.
East of Portsmouth the line was electrified (using 750 V DC third rail) by the Southern Railway before the Second World War in two stages:
Services.
Southern is the main operator of passenger services and stations on the line east of Portsmouth. Service patterns have varied over the years, but have always included a slow service (calling at most or all stations) from Brighton to Portsmouth. Regular services run from London Victoria via Gatwick which avoid Brighton by using the tunnel between Preston Park and Hove. These services run to Littlehampton (2016); similar services extended to Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton particularly in the initial decades of open competition between operators, making use of statutory and negotiated running rights. Other services run from London Victoria via Gatwick and the Arun Valley line to Bognor Regis or along more of the West Coastway line, between Ford and nearby Chichester, to Portsmouth or Southampton. All of the Southern services are operated by electric multiple-units. Many of these trains join/"couple" or divide/"uncouple" during their journey, historically at Barnham Junction, today at Horsham.
The section west of Portsmouth sees trains from typically three operators. Its stations are managed by South Western Railway, who operate regular services from Portsmouth either to Southampton or to London Waterloo (less directly than its Portsmouth Direct Line, instead via Fareham, Botley, Hedge End and Eastleigh). Great Western Railway operate diesel passenger trains from Portsmouth to and , with occasional services to the West Country or . Southern operate hourly services: between Brighton and Southampton Central; and between London Victoria and Southampton. The Southampton to London Victoria trains introduced at electrification created many direct routes, from Southampton, Swanwick, Fareham and Cosham to the West Sussex coast and particularly to Gatwick Airport.
Beyond the line and its main links to London, before late 2007 trains ran from Reading or Basingstoke to Portsmouth or Brighton; Basingstoke to Portsmouth being current. The Department for Transport withdrew the obligation of South West Trains to run Brighton services — being somewhat orbital around London — which left free train paths which were filled by extra Southern trains mainly bound to or from London.
Prior to the 1980s electrification of the "(south) Hampshire lines", including the part of this line west of Farlington, they were operated as a separate entity terminating at Portsmouth – few trains traversed the Cosham to Farlington triangle which lies north of Portsmouth and Langstone Harbours, excepting a daily Brighton–to-Exeter through (direct) train. After dieselisation using 3H units in 1958, the general service pattern every hour was one semi-fast from Portsmouth to Southampton and Salisbury (some extended to Bristol), one stopping to Southampton Central and one train to Botley and Eastleigh (some extended to Reading and, until 1966, Romsey via Chandler's Ford).
History.
The lines now operated under the banner "West Coastway" have a complex history and were built in stages by five different companies between 1840 and 1889.
The line from Brighton to Shoreham was a branch of the London and Brighton Railway which opened 12 May 1840, before the completion of the main line. The extensions of this line to Worthing (opened 24 November 1845), to Arundel & Littlehampton (opened 16 March 1846) and to Chichester (opened 8 June 1846) were built by the Brighton and Chichester Railway. In July 1846 these two companies merged with others to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR), which continued the line to Havant (opened 15 March 1847) and Portsmouth (opened 14 June 1847). Part of this section became jointly owned with the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), following the opening of the LSWR line from Fareham to Portcreek Junction on 1 October 1848 (connecting to the Eastleigh–Fareham line).
The "Southampton and Netley Railway" built a line to connect with the Victoria Military Hospital at Netley, which opened 5 March 1866 and was operated by the LSWR. The final connecting link from Netley to Fareham was opened by the LSWR on 2 September 1889.
In the meanwhile the LBSCR opened the Littlehampton branch from Ford Junction on 17 August 1863 and the Bognor Regis branch from Barnham Junction on 1 June 1864.
Developments, major engineering features and minor station closures.
With the junction at St Denys the West Coastway Line joins the route of the South Western main line