Trains at Portsmouth Harbour, PDL, 15/08/24

Portsmouth Harbour railway station serves the city of Portsmouth, in Hampshire, England. It is situated in Portsmouth Harbour, between the Gunwharf Quays shopping centre and the Historic Dockyard. It is an important transport terminal, with a bus interchange and ferry services to Gosport and the Isle of Wight.

Unusually for a main line railway station, it is built over water as the station was originally constructed on wooden piles, which were later replaced by iron supports.

The station opened on 2 October 1876
as the terminus of Chief Engineers Frederick Banister's Portsmouth Waterside Extension to the Portsmouth Direct Line, which runs between this station and London Waterloo station.

The construction of the station superseded an earlier pier on the site called the Albert Pier that was used for passenger steamships in the mid-Victorian era.

The station was rebuilt in 1937 when the route was electrified but was almost totally destroyed during World War II by fire after German bombing, then rebuilt after the war.

A short branch line built on piles used to connect the station to the neighbouring dockyard, but this was taken out of service when a German bomb damaged the swing bridge in 1941.

The station is owned by Network Rail and is managed by South Western Railway.

It currently has four platforms in use: numbered 1, 3, 4 and 5. Platform 2 is no longer in use, having been decommissioned in the early 1990s following major repair and refurbishment work to the pier that the platforms sit on.

The ticket office is located in the booking hall, at the entrance from the ferry terminal. It is open seven days a week, until 19:00. When closed, tickets must be bought prior to travel at the ticket machines or on-line. There are customer help points.

The station has 38 bicycle spaces, but no car park.

With the award of the South West Region franchise to South Western Railway in 2017, Portsmouth City Council announced the intention to "spruce up" the station as part of a £90 Million investment by the new operating company.

Potential improvements could include a direct walking route in to the Gunwharf Quays shopping complex.

Duration of the video: 11:46 - 13:23

We’ll be seeing services by South Western Railway, Southern & Great Western Railway as well in the duration of the video.

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I really enjoyed my time that was spent at Portsmouth Harbour especially with what I managed to see in the time I was there for plus I never considered filming at Portsmouth Harbour before but it was a great place to come back and revisit though.

My next station will be Gatwick Airport which is situated on the Brighton Mainline so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the video.