Portsmouth Direct Line

Portsmouth Direct line
Portsmouth Direct line
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Hampshire West Sussex Surrey South East England
Operation
Opened	1858
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	South West Trains
Rolling stock	Class 450 Class 444
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	90 mph (145 km/h) max.

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 and Portsmouth. The name was derived unofficially, but has entered widespread use for the physical infrastructure between Woking and Portsmouth Harbour, and for the passenger train service from London over the route. The final section of line from Havant to Portsmouth is shared by other passenger routes.

In the first decades of the nineteenth century Portsmouth was an important centre for the Royal Navy and its support activities, and for ship construction and repair; it was also an important commercial port. The London and Southampton Railway (L&SR) opened throughout from London to Southampton on 11 May 1840. The L&SR and commercial interests in Portsmouth shared an aspiration for rail connection, and a branch was proposed from Bishopstoke (later renamed Eastleigh) on the L&SR and a Parliamentary Bill was presented in 1837 for a Portsmouth Junction Railway, friendly to the L&SR to construct it. However Portsmouth Corporation considered a branch line and circuitous route to London unsatisfactory, and opposed the Bill, which failed.

Promoters in Portsmouth already planned a much more direct London route via Arundel and Horsham, and this scheme now took on new energy; but its supporters were unable to raise the capital for a long new line. The L&SR now put forward a branch from Bishopstoke to Gosport, close to Portsmouth but on the west side of Portsmouth Harbour. Requiring only 15 miles (24 km) of new line, this was a more affordable proposition. The L&SR obtained Parliamentary authorisation on 4 June 1839, and changed the Company name to the London and South Western Railway (LSWR). The Gosport line opened on 29 November 1841. Communication between Gosport and Portsmouth itself was by a newly opened ferry, referred to at the time as a floating bridge.

The London and Southampton line ran through Woking, and on 10 May 1844 the Guildford Junction Railway was authorised to construct a branch from there to the important manufacturing town of Guildford. The capital was £55,000. This was the first part of the eventual Portsmouth Direct line to be built, but at first the promoters planned to use William Prosser's patent system. This would use wooden rails and auxiliary guide rails to steer the vehicles, which would have special wheels. Quite apart from the practicality of this unproven arrangement, it would have prevented through train operation.

The Guildford Junction Railway wished to make an alliance with the LSWR but the wooden track system was an obstacle; however it was strategically important as a way to reach Portsmouth, either for the LSWR or the London and Brighton Railway (L&BR), which planned a line there. On 27 September 1844 the Guildford Junction Company agreed to sell itself to the LSWR for £75,000, on the basis that it would lay conventional track and compensate Prosser. The line opened on 1 May 1845, the first part of what became the Portsmouth Direct line to be operational.