Fratton  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Fratton, 2022. Two trains for Portsmouth can be seen calling. | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Fratton, Portsmouth England | ||||
| Coordinates | 50°47′47″N 1°04′26″W / 50.7964°N 1.0740°W | ||||
| Grid reference | SU653000 | ||||
| Managed by | South Western Railway | ||||
| Platforms | 3 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | FTN | ||||
| Classification | DfT category C2 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 1 July 1885 | ||||
| Original company | Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Portsmouth and Ryde Joint Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | Southern Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 1 July 1885 | Opened (Fratton) | ||||
| 4 July 1905 | Renamed (Fratton and Southsea) | ||||
| 1 December 1921 | Renamed (Fratton)[1] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  1.778 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.106 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  0.631 million | ||||
| Interchange | 24,815 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 1.519 million | ||||
| Interchange | 72,962 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 1.776 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.154 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 1.955 million | ||||
| Interchange | 0.149 million | ||||
| |||||
Fratton railway station is a railway station in the city of Portsmouth, on Portsea Island in England. It was opened in the Fratton area of Portsmouth on 1 July 1885 as an interchange station between the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and the short-lived Southsea Railway branchline.
Fratton railway station and the Southsea Railway were jointly opened on 1 July 1885 by Lady Ada Mary Willis,[2] wife of General Sir George Willis, the Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth.[3]
On 4 July 1905, Fratton railway station's name was changed to Fratton & Southsea to promote its Southsea Railway branchline link to the seaside resort of Southsea.[4] After the Southsea Railway branchline was closed on 6 August 1914, the name of the station was eventually changed back to Fratton on 1 December 1921.[4] The Southsea name was later reused in 1925 to rename Portsmouth's main Portsmouth Town station to Portsmouth & Southsea, as Portsmouth would be elevated from a town to city status in 1926.
One mile to the east of Fratton railway station is Fratton Park, built in 1899 as the home football ground of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park's naming was purposely influenced by its proximity to the convenient Fratton railway station, although the stadium is actually located in the Milton district of Portsmouth.
Today, Fratton station is located on the Portsmouth Direct Line which runs between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour.
Fratton is one of the four railway stations on Portsea Island. Due to its location as the last south-bound stop before the main Portsmouth & Southsea railway station, Fratton has been adopted in naval slang as a euphemism for the withdrawal method of contraception, "to get off at Fratton".[5] However, despite Portsmouth & Southsea often being considered the principal station, Fratton is, as of the 2022-23 data collection period, the busiest station in Portsmouth, with Portsmouth & Southsea placing at third place in usage within Portsmouth.[6]
- ^ Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
- ^ "Southsea Railway, Fratton". portsmouth-guide.co.uk.
- ^ "History in Portsmouth". historyinportsmouth.co.uk.
- ^ a b "Portsmouth railway lines in 1894 (German version)".
- ^ "QI : Quite Interesting". qi.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016.
- ^ "Office of Rail & Road Statistics 2022-23". Retrieved 7 May 2024.