1859 PROPOSED BILL TO PARLIAMENT AND 1860 ACT OF PARLIAMENT
A notice was published in the the November 25th 1859 London Gazette advising of the intention to bring a Bill before parliament to form a Company, working with the L&SWR, the LB&SCR and The Portsmouth Railway to create merchant docks, connected by railway, as described in the 1855 proposal in the Nautical Magazine.
Direct connections with the L&SWR and LB&SCR were to be made but not the link to Havant. This was to be a mainly goods railway.
Note: Joint running between Havant and Hilsea junction was agreed between the LB&SCR And L&SWR in 1859
The railway alignment on the embankments fulfils William Padwick’s plan to re-claim the mud lands.
The fears about France were at a height at the time, with fortification building taking place.
The Hayling Railway Company was formed and authorised by an 1860 Act of Parliament to build a railway connecting Havant with Hayling Island.
The 1859 Bill was modified whilst passing through Parliament. The eastwards connection with the LB&SCR was replaced with a westwards connection to Havant and the creation of the docks at the Hayling ferry was dropped and expected to form the basis of a new Parliamentary Bill. Without the docks scheme being in place it is hard to understand the commercial case for building the section from Langstone Wharf to Hayling.