South Western Main Line
| South Western Main Line |
| Principal stations (from north to south)
London Waterloo |
The South Western Main Line is the railway line from London Waterloo to Weymouth on the Dorset coast.
The main towns served by the route, starting from London, are:
- London Waterloo
- Clapham Junction
- Woking
- Brookwood
- Connections with Alton Line to Aldershot, Farnham and Alton
- Farnborough
- Fleet
- Basingstoke
- Micheldever
- Winchester
- Eastleigh
- Southampton Airport
- Southampton
- Connections with West Coastway Line to Portsmouth, Chichester and Brighton
- Connections with Wessex Main Line to Salisbury, Westbury, Bath and Bristol
- Beaulieu
- Brockenhurst
- Connections with branch line to Lymington for ferry to the Isle of Wight
- Christchurch
- Bournemouth
- Poole
- Wareham
- Wool
- Dorchester
- Weymouth
Many sections of the line are relatively high-speed, with large stretches cleared for 100mph. The line was electrified to Bournemouth in 1967, using the 750V DC third-rail system. Electrification as far as Weymouth was completed in 1988, to coincide with the introduction of the new Class 442 'Wessex Electric' trains.
The majority of passenger services are currently operated by South West Trains. Virgin Trains also operate services between Basingstoke and Poole.
See also
London and South Western Railway for the history of the line