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Rail and Coach Services

By Rail
Southampton has good access by train from London's Waterloo station with a journey time of around 75 minutes. Trains run hourly from:

  • Brighton (direct every hour) 
  • Oxford
  • Birmingham
  • Salisbury (2 trains per hour)
  • Bath
  • Bristol
  • Cardiff
  • Chichester (2 trains per hour)
  • Gatwick Airport
  • Weymouth  (2 trains per hour)
  • Bournemouth (3 trains per hour)
  • Winchester (4 trains per hour)
  • Fareham (4 trains per hour)
  • Portsmouth (2 trains per hour)

Southampton Airport has 5 trains an hour to Southampton Central, with a journey time of 7 minutes, and the Unilink bus service U1 leaves every 15 minutes to the city centre and ferry terminals direct from outside the airport door.

Passengers arriving at Southampton Central station can take the free City Link bus service from just outside the platform 4 exit of the station. This bus leaves every 15 minutes calling at the city centre for the shops and stops at Town Quay for both Isle of Wight ferries and the Hythe ferry. Visitors who prefer to walk can leave via the platform 1 exit to get to the Mayflower Theatre, City Art Gallery, Guildhall, Central Library and Bedford Place shops, all within 10 minutes' walk. To reach the Visitor Information Service in the Central Library and the shopping centres, leave from platform 4 and walk up the hill. The Visitor Information Service in the Central Library and Mall Marlands are about 10 minutes' walk, and West Quay and the Bargate Malls are 15 minute' walk from the station. East Street and Debenhams are about 20 minutes on foot from the Central Station.

Southampton will see a near 40% increase to its CrossCountry services from the start of the winter timetable in December. Eleven daily CrossCountry services between Reading and Newcastle will be extended to Southampton, providing over 2,000 additional seats along this busy rail corridor from the South Coast to the Thames Valley and beyond. All six southbound and five northbound services on alternate hours will call at Basingstoke, with most also calling at Winchester and Southampton Airport Parkway. Buy train tickets to Southampton with no booking fee at crosscountrytrains.co.uk.

The Megatrain offers low cost services to London and Birmingham. Eurostar services from:

  • Paris
  • Lille
  • Brussels
  • Avignon
  • Disneyland Paris

These services arrive and depart from Waterloo making travelling between Southampton and the near continent easy and convenient. Eurostar services are based at St Pancras International.

By Coach
National Express operates an extensive coach service. There are regular services from:

  • Central London
  • Heathrow
  • Birmingham
  • Bournemouth and the North

Greyhound UK  provides a fast and frequent service to London. These services are provided with convenient kerb-side pick ups at a number of locations in the city, with all services in London arriving and departing from Bulleid Way, Victoria Railway Station, London. Greyhound services also integrate with ferry services to and from the Isle of Wight. All services are non-stop between the two cities, taking under two hours and providing a journey time advantage up to 40% over other coach operators whose services typically stop a number of times at intermediate locations including Heathrow.

Greyhound has become the most famous bus brand in the world. Greyhound UK offers unrivalled product and service quality with a large range of cheap fares starting from £1, plus 50p booking fee, on line. Onboard features include spacious leather seating, free wi-fi, power sockets, air-conditioning and complimentary newspapers.