Portsmouth & Southsea railway station is a Grade II listed building and the main railway station in the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. It is in the Landport area close to the Commercial Road shopping area. British Transport Police maintain a presence at the station. There is a taxi rank at the front of the building and regular local buses within five minutes' walking distance.
Portsmouth & Southsea station entrance (2018)
View of the west end of high level platforms 2 (left) and 1 (right), located on an embankment
View of the 1980s British Rail era canopy over upper level platforms 1 & 2
Portsmouth & Southsea Low Level platforms 3 & 4, 2020
Southsea Railway
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The Southsea Railway was a short railway branch line. It was built to give easier access from the jointly operated main line railway approaching Portsmouth to the Clarence Pier from which Isle of Wight ferries sailed. In 1879 the extension of the main line railway to Portsmouth Harbour station, where direct transfer from train to steamer was possible, eliminated most of the steamer business at Clarence Pier. Undeterred, promoters interested in developing Southsea projected the Southsea Railway, connecting a new Fratton station on the main line, with Southsea. The line was opened on 1 July 1885. Its independent promoters believed that it could be a main line terminus for London trains, and they constructed the line lavishly in consequence.
The route crossed Goldsmith Avenue on a bridge before curving round Francis Avenue and behind Heidelberg Road.
Old Bridge Road in Southsea, which carried the Southsea Railway
until it approached the terminus just north of Granada Road.
The south side of St. Simon's Church in St. Ronan's Road, Southsea which is located to the immediate north of the site of the original railway terminus building.