Island Line, Isle of Wight

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Island Line, Isle of Wight

Legend Ryde Pier Head for ferries to Portsmouth Ryde Esplanade for hovercraft to Southsea Tunnel under Ryde (396 yards) St. John's Road Ryde St John's Road Ryde depot Smallbrook Junction Isle of Wight Steam Railway A3055 Closed branch to Bembridge Brading Yarbridge A3055 Closed line to Newport and Cowes Sandown A3055 Lake A3055 Shanklin Wroxall (closed 1966) Tunnel under St Boniface Down Ventnor (closed 1966)

Island Line is a railway line on the Isle of Wight, running some 8½ miles from Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin down the eastern side of the island. The line was electrified (630 V DC third rail) in 1967.^[1][2] Trains connect with passenger ferries to Portsmouth Harbour at Ryde Pier Head, and these ferries in turn connect with the rest of the National Rail network. The line also connects to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, a steam-operated heritage railway at Smallbrook Junction.

The line was designated by the Department for Transport as a community railway in March 2006 under recent reforms to help boost use of rural and branch lines in the UK rail network.^[3]

In the mid-1990s, it was planned to reopen the line south of Shanklin, to the original terminus at Ventnor. However, this now seems unlikely to happen, due in part to the high costs involved.

Contents 1 History 1.1 British Rail (1948-1996) 1.2 Island Line franchise (1996-2007) 1.3 South Western franchise (2007-present) 2 Stations 3 Rolling stock 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

The line from Ryde St John's Road to Shanklin was originally built as part of the Isle of Wight Railway, which opened on 23 August 1864.In 1866 it was extended through to Ventnor. In 1880 the LSWR/LBSCR joint line was built from Ryde St John's Road through Ryde tunnel and onto a new pier to the pier head. Following the Railways Act 1921, the Island Line and the other railways on the Isle of Wight became part of the Southern Railway.

[edit] British Rail (1948-1996)

In 1948, the Southern Railway was nationalised, as part of British Railways, later British Rail.The line from Shanklin to Ventnor closed in April 1966. Steam trains were withdrawn from the line on 31st December 1966, the line reopening in March 1967 following its electrification. In the 1980s, British Rail was sectorised and the line became part of the Network SouthEast sector. Services on the line were branded as Ryde Rail.

[edit] Island Line franchise (1996-2007)

Following the Privatisation of British Rail, the rights to run services on the line were put out to tender as a franchise. Stagecoach Group were announced as the winner of the franchise and from October 1996 they operated the line under the name Island Line. The rolling stock at this time still retained the Network SouthEast livery. It was not until a few years later (2000) that the stock was painted into a new livery with large pictures of dinosaurs. Two units were then later painted back into London Transport colours that the units would have had when operating on the London Underground with one difference, the front ends of the units had yellow warning panels for the benefit of track workers.

The entire is fleet is now due to repainted into this livery, with 4 currently completed, and all 6 are expected to be completed by April 2008.

[edit] South Western franchise (2007-present)

From February 2007, the Island Line franchise was merged with the South Western franchise on the mainland. Stagecoach were announced as the winner of the new franchise, and they now operate the line through their South West Trains subsidiary.^[4] However, the branding from the previous operator has been retained.

[edit] Stations

In order from north to south.

• Ryde Pier Head, opened July 12, 1880.
• Ryde Esplanade, opened April 5, 1880.
• Ryde St John's Road, opened August 23, 1864.
• Smallbrook Junction, opened July 20, 1991; served on steam operating days only.
• Brading, opened August 23, 1864.
• Sandown, opened August 23, 1864.
• Lake, opened May 11, 1987.
• Shanklin, opened August 23, 1864.
• Wroxall, opened September 15, 1866, closed April 17, 1966.
• Ventnor, opened September 15, 1866, closed April 17, 1966.

[edit] Rolling stock

Standard National Rail vehicle types cannot operate on the Island Line, due to a tunnel at Ryde Esplande being 10 inches too low for the vehicles to clear.^[5] Instead, services are operated using Class 483 units, which are refurbished ex-London Underground tube trains originally built in 1938. These replaced the older Class 485 and Class 486 units, which dated from 1923.

Following its successful bid for the new integrated franchise, South West Trains announced that there were no plans to replace the current rolling stock, instead they would invest "to ensure the continued viability of the existing Island Line rolling stock and infrastructure".^[6] By 2016, when the current franchise is due to end, the rolling stock will be almost 80 years old.

The rolling stock has recently been bought outright by South West Trains from the leasing company HSBC Rail.^[7] This means the leasing costs, which were reimbursed by the government, will be eliminated, thereby lowering taxes paid to the government. The units will now be repainted into the current red LT colours. The stations will also be painted in the heritage cream and green, as part of a general station improvement package.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Island Line (train operating company)
• Isle of Wight Railway

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC Travel News - Island Line

v • d • e Transport serving the Isle of Wight Land Transport Southern Vectis · Wightbus · Newport bus station · Yarmouth bus station  · Ryde Transport Interchange · Island Line · Island Line Trains · Isle of Wight Steam Railway Southern Vectis is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group Sea & Air Transport Wightlink · Red Funnel · Hovertravel · Solent & Wightline Cruises · Cowes Floating Bridge · Isle of Wight Airport (Sandown) · Bembridge Airport

Articles and Categories about the Isle of Wight, England

Category:Isle of Wight | Category:Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight | Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight | Education on the Isle of Wight | History of the Isle of Wight | List of Isle of Wight people | List of civil parishes in the Isle of Wight | List of places on the Isle of Wight | Politics of the Isle of Wight | Category:Visitor attractions on the Isle of Wight | Category:Geography of the Isle of Wight | Category:Railway stations on the Isle of Wight| Category:Heritage railway stations on the Isle of Wight

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