Fratton railway station

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 / 50.7964; -1.0740
Grid reference	SU653000
Managed by	South Western Railway
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	FTN
Classification	DfT category C2
History
Opened	1 July 1885; 139 years ago (1885-07-01)
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
2018/19	1.735 million
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
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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]