West Coastway Line

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
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southern Great Western Railway (train operating company) South West Trains
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
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	75 mph (121 km/h) - 85 mph (137 km/h)

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 Southampton to Ashford International, via Brighton, Lewes, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings and Ore.

The line 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, and stage two 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 not originally part of the West Coastway line, some only being electrified in the 1980s.

Southern is the main operator of passenger services and stations on the line. Their primary route is a slow service (calling at most or all stations) from Brighton to Portsmouth. They also operate regular services from London Victoria via Gatwick both of which avoid Brighton by using the tunnel between Preston Park and Hove. Both services now run to Littlehampton with onward connections to Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton (change at Worthing). There is also a service from London Victoria via Gatwick and the Arun Valley Line that runs along the West Coastway line, between Ford and Chichester. All of the Southern services are operated by electric multiple-units.