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These trains date from 1938, making them the oldest trains in regular passenger service anywhere in the UK. The island also has a steam-operated heritage railway, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. This connects with the Island Line at Smallbrook Junction, and was part of the former Ryde to Newport line.
Eventually, Hovertravel took over running of the route on behalf of Seaspeed; however, in 1980, the decision was taken to discontinue the Cowes-Southampton service due to rising costs and increased competition from Red Funnel's hydrofoils, instead concentrating its resources on the Ryde-Southsea service, which was viewed as being more viable. [8]
By mid-1967, Seaspeed's Solent services had carried 67,600 passengers, the Southampton-Cowes route proved to be the most trafficked of the three services. [23] The Southampton terminal was on the west side of the river Itchen just upstream of the floating bridge terminal. A bus link connected the service to Southampton Central station.
The first successful steam-powered regular service on the route began on 5 April 1825 with the paddle steamer PS Union. Meanwhile, in 1820 the paddle steamer PS Prince of Coburg had begun a service between Cowes and Southampton. [4] The success of the paddle steamers prompted a period of company formation.
Through rail tickets for travel via Pier Head station are available to and from other stations on the Isle of Wight. These include travel on the catamaran service to or from Portsmouth as appropriate. Trains run down the eastern coast of the Isle of Wight to Shanklin (the Island Line), the last remnant of a network of railways on the island.
The line and passenger services were branded as Island Line (replacing the former RydeRail brand), and in 1996 the passenger service was privatised as the Island Line franchise, [14] which was absorbed into the South Western franchise in 2007. Since then, electric services on the line have continued to run under the name Island Line Trains.
Red Funnel's main competitor is Wightlink whose services operate from Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Ryde, and from Lymington to Yarmouth. The other major Solent ferry company, Hovertravel, operates between Southsea and Ryde. Both provide a frequent service to the Isle of Wight, but neither normally serve Southampton, Cowes or East Cowes.
There are five trains an hour to London Waterloo, taking the South West Main Line or the Portsmouth Direct Line. Between Southampton and Portsmouth, two trains run per hour, with one being a stopping service. Along Southampton-Fareham line the four trains per hour run. [21] [22] [23] [24]