West Coastway Line - Services

Services

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.

First Great Western operate two services a day to the west country. Southern now operate hourly services between Brighton and Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour with one of the Southern services to Southampton operating via Eastleigh. These are new service patterns that were introduced in the 10th December 2007 timetable because South West Trains were not required by their renewed franchise to operate their Brighton services which left free train paths which were quickly filled by Southern. However, this has resulted in a whole new West Coastway timetable to be introduced, and it has suffered many teething problems with numerous cancellations and delays. South West Trains also operate regular services from Portsmouth to Southampton and from Portsmouth to London Waterloo via Fareham.