Fratton railway station

Fratton National Rail

Looking North-West
Location
Place Fratton
Local authority Portsmouth
Coordinates 50°47′47″N 1°04′26″W / 50.7964°N 1.0740°W / 50.7964; -1.0740Coordinates: 50°47′47″N 1°04′26″W / 50.7964°N 1.0740°W / 50.7964; -1.0740
Grid reference SU653000
Operations
Station code FTN
Managed by South West Trains
Number of platforms 3
DfT category C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05  1.246 million
2005/06 Increase 1.289 million
2006/07 Increase 1.369 million
2007/08 Increase 1.465 million
2008/09 Increase 1.577 million
2009/10 Decrease 1.486 million
2010/11 Increase 1.530 million
2011/12 Increase 1.583 million
2012/13 Decrease 1.552 million
2013/14 Increase 1.571 million
2014/15 Increase 1.644 million
History
Original company London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
Post-grouping Southern Railway
1 July 1885 Opened (Fratton)
4 July 1905 Renamed (Fratton and Southsea)
1 December 1921 Renamed (Fratton)[1]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Fratton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Railways in the Portsmouth area

Legend
Portsmouth Direct Line
to London Waterloo via Guildford

West Coastway Line
to Southampton

West Coastway Line
to Brighton & London Victoria

Portchester
Havant
M27
Bedhampton
Cosham
A3(M)

A27
Portsbridge Creek
Hilsea
Southsea Railway 1885-1914
Fratton
Jessie Road Bridge Halt
Albert Road Bridge Halt
Portsmouth & Southsea

East Southsea
Admiralty Line
to HMNB Portsmouth

Portsmouth Harbour
FastCat
to Ryde Pier Head

Gosport Ferry
to Gosport

Fratton railway station is a railway station in Portsmouth, located near Fratton Park, the stadium of association football (soccer) club Portsmouth F.C..

It is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line which runs between London (London Waterloo) and Portsmouth (Portsmouth Harbour).

Platforms

Normally, platforms 2 and 3 serve Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour, with platform 1 serving all other destinations. Platforms 2 and 3 are also signalled to allow northbound passenger departures.

History

The railway line through Fratton was planned by the Brighton and Chichester Railway as part of the Chichester to Portsmouth Branch Railway, approved in 1845.[2] The line was completed in 1847, the Brighton and Chichester railway merging with several other companies to form the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in 1846, who went on to operate the line. Fratton was once the junction for the Southsea Railway which closed in 1914.

After the Motive power depot closed in the late 1950s, some former sidings were used during the withdrawal of the South West Trains greyhound fleet around 2003. The same sidings were then used in 2007[3] and in 2009 for freight trials, this involved DB Schenker Rail (UK) hauling small container trains to and from eastleigh.[4] The Idea was abandoned in 2010 due to running costs.

Portsmouth Area Resignalling (PARS)

The Portsmouth Area Resignalling project was instigated in late 2006, aiming to improve the flexibility of the track layout in the Fratton area. Platform 1 became the Up Main, Platform 3 became the Down Main with Platform 2 as a bidirectional through platform (although the main function of platform 2 is down line trains). Prior to the project, trains could not reverse south to north at Fratton in service.

The work, scheduled by Network Rail to take place between 23 December 2006 and 4 February 2007, was subject to a massive overrun. The works were first extended six weeks into mid-March 2007 but in late February it became obvious that there were major problems with the new equipment being installed by the contractor Siemens AG.[5]

Until 1 April 2007 there were only three trains per hour between Fratton and Portsmouth Harbour with the remaining services terminating at Fratton and passengers using a replacement bus service. After 2 April 2007 there were five trains per hour running between Fratton and Portsmouth - three South West Trains services, one Southern service and one Great Western Railway service with some services still terminating at Fratton with passengers forced to change to continue their journey. The "six-week project" was eventually completed in October 2007 - some ten months after it started.

New DDA compliant footbridge planned

A new footbridge is now operational, linking the island platform (platforms 2 and 3) with the Up Main platform (1). This has stairs and lifts to allow disabled users full access to all trains, with lifts designed for easy wheelchair use.

Motive power depots

The London Brighton and South Coast Railway and the London and South Western Railway jointly built a motive power depot at Fratton in 1891, replacing an earlier one at Portsmouth Town station. It was of the double roundhouse type. It came under the ownership of Southern Railway (Great Britain) in 1923 and British Railways in 1948. This building was badly damaged by bombs during the Second World War but repaired in 1948. It closed 2 November 1959, but the building continued to be used for stabling locomotives for several years. They were demolished in 1969.[6] Fratton Traction Maintenance Depot, operated by South West Trains now occupies part of the site.

Service pattern

South West Trains
Southern
Great Western Railway
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Havant   Southern
West Coastway Line
  Portsmouth
& Southsea
Hilsea    
Hilsea   South West Trains
Portsmouth Direct Line (stopping services)
  Portsmouth
& Southsea
Havant   South West Trains
Portsmouth Direct Line
  Portsmouth
& Southsea
Hilsea   South West Trains
West Coastway Line
  Portsmouth
& Southsea
Cosham   Great Western Railway
West Coastway Line
  Portsmouth
& Southsea
Havant    
Disused railways
Terminus   Southsea Railway   Jessie Road
Bridge Halt

References

  1. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
  2. "Hampshire County Council - Railways of Hampshire". 29 January 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  3. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/uk.railway/5VYHgAGV2zM
  4. http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/deal-to-be-struck-to-turn-fratton-into-freight-depot-1-1257605
  5. Rail repairs overrun indefinitely BBC, 28 February 2007, 12:51 GMT
  6. Chris Hawkins and George Reeve, An historical survey of Southern sheds, Oxford: OPC, 1979, pp.38-9.

Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland, S.K. Baker ISBN 0-86093-553-1

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