West Coastway

West Coastway line
Looking eastwards from Fishersgate, April 2007.
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	West Sussex Hampshire South East England
Termini	Brighton Southampton
Stations	39
Operation
Opened	1840-
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southern Great Western Railway (train operating company) South Western Railway
Depot(s)	Brighton Littlehampton Fratton Southampton
Rolling stock	Class 150 "Sprinter" Class 158 "Express Sprinter" Class 159 "South Western Turbo" Class 313 Class 377 "Electrostar" Class 444 "Desiro" Class 450 "Desiro"
Technical
Line length	62 mi 4 ch (99.86 km)
Number of tracks	2 (up to 4 in areas)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC third rail
Operating speed	85 mph (137 km/h) maximum

The West Coastway line is a railway line in England, along the south coast of West Sussex and Hampshire, between Brighton and Southampton, plus the short branches to Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. At the eastern end, the East Coastway line continues the route from Brighton to Ashford International, via Lewes, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings and Ore.

The line east of Portsmouth was electrified (750 V DC third rail) by the Southern Railway during the inter-war years in two stages. Stage one was from Brighton to West Worthing in 1933, and stage two in 1938 was from West Worthing to Havant (where it joined up with the electrified Portsmouth Direct Line), including the Littlehampton and Bognor branches.

For the purposes of this article, all the stations from Brighton to Southampton are included, although the ex-LSWR lines west of Farlington Junction were worked as a completely separate entity until the late 1980s and were not electrified until then.

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. They also operate regular services from London Victoria via Gatwick which avoid Brighton by using the tunnel between Preston Park and Hove. These services run to Littlehampton (2016); in the past some have run to Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton. There are also services from London Victoria via Gatwick and the Arun Valley Line that run either to Bognor Regis or along the West Coastway line, between Ford and Chichester, to Portsmouth or Southampton. All of the Southern services are operated by electric multiple-units. Historically, many of these trains have joined or divided en route, particularly at Barnham Junction, but currently at Horsham.