South Western Main Line

The South Western Main Line is a main railway line in England. It connects the capital with the south-west London English Weymouth. Major cities on the route are Woking, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth or Poole.

Described by the infrastructure company Network Rail as South West Main Line, has the line over several for rail transport important branches like to Reading, Guildford or Portsmouth as well as the branching in Basingstoke West of England Main Line, which leads to Exeter and Plymouth.

Infrastructure

The route is expanded to double track along the entire length, between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction even achtgleisig, the section to Basingstoke four tracks.

Many sections are expanded for a speed of 160 km / hr.

The route is electrified along the entire length since 1988. When the track was electrified in 1967 from London to Bournemouth, the passengers were forced to Weymouth to switch.

However, it is because of the large use often delays.

History

The idea of a railway from London to the south coast near Southampton was first used in 1831. This idea was in addition to the main line currently a line to Bristol. The project was continued under the NamenSouthampton, London & Branch Railway and Docks Company.

The selected route to Southampton was important towns like Guildford are left, so they had to be connected by branch lines. The route to Bristol fell victim to cuts.

At the same time, the Great Western Railway was planning to build a route London - Southampton via Bristol. This had the advantage that they joined several major cities during 1831 surfaced variant of Southampton Railway frequented mainly by landscapes. The two companies operated a great rivalry, so had opened by the GWR railway Reading - Basingstoke in Basingstoke a different station than the one on the main line.

On May 21, 1838 Opened the successor company of Southampton Railway, the London and South Western Railway, the first section from London to Woking. The former London Nine Elms terminus was in town district Battersea.

On 24 September the same year Winchfield has been reached.

The Südangriff of Southampton ago was executed on June 10, 1839 with the completion of the way to Winchester, on the same day was reached from the north Basingstoke. The missing section Basingstoke - Winchester was opened on May 11, 1840, the delay was due to the construction of Litchfield tunnel.

From 1845 to 1847, the extension of Southampton was completed to Dorchester, but for the time being, the then small village of Bournemouth has been left on the left. Only after the development of the great seaside resort a line to Bournemouth was built, the original decommissioned.

1848, the extension of Nine Elms to the present terminus Waterloo in London was completed. 1865 could be connected with the Eastleigh to Fareham Line Portsmouth.

Operation

The trains are mainly performed by South West Trains (SWT ), a few also from the Cross Country (CC ), which operate not to London but to central and northern England, and to Scotland.

  • London Waterloo - Woking - Winchester - Southampton Airport Parkway - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - Bournemouth - Hamworthy - Wareham - South Dorchester - Weymouth (SWT )
  • London Waterloo - Clapham Junction - Basingstoke - Winchester Southampton Airport Parkway - Southampton Central - Brockenhurst - New Milton - Christchurch - Bournemouth - Poole - Weymouth (SWT )
  • London Waterloo - Clapham Junction - Basingstoke - Winchester - Southampton Airport Parkway - Southampton Central - Bournemouth - Poole
  • London Waterloo - Woking - Basingstoke - Winchester - Eastleigh - Fareham - Portsmouth & Southsea - Portsmouth Harbour ( SWT)
  • London Waterloo - Clapham Junction - Woking - Exeter - Plymouth ( SWT)
  • Bournemouth - Brockenhurst - Southampton Central - Southampton Airport Parkway - Winchester - Basingstoke - Reading - Birmingham New Street - Manchester Piccadilly / Nottingham / Glasgow Central / Edinburgh Haymarket - Edinburgh Waverley (CC )
  • London Waterloo - Basingstoke (SWT )
  • London Waterloo - Alton (SWT )
  • London Waterloo - London Vauxhall - Woking (SWT )
  • London Waterloo - Hampton Court (SWT )
  • Romsey - Eastleigh - Southampton Central - Salisbury ( SWT)

Route Utilisation Strategy

The track is often heavily crowded. This prompted the Network Rail in March 2006 to provide a route Utilisation Strategy ( track use strategy ) .. A solution would be the takeover of the orphaned Euro Star terminal in Waterloo.

Acquisition of Waterloo International

Since November 2007, and the opening of High Speed ​​One, the Euro Star trains no longer travel to Waterloo International, but London St. Pancras to. Since then, the Waterloo International Terminal is empty. In addition to a change of use to a shopping center is also the acquisition of fünfgleisigen station by South West Trains for the fast trains to Weymouth for debate. She reported on the interest and let announce that the often long delays on the SWML be greatly reduced by a takeover.

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