1864 ACT OF PARLIAMENT
Construction of the railway as defined in the 1860 Act was slow and had not started in 1862 leading to a notice being placed in the London Gazette, 26 November 1862, that an application to abandon the railway and dissolve the Company was to be made.
Work did start mid 1863 and a new Bill was presented to parliament, 6 February 1864, designed to make the project more attractive to investors.
The main points of this new Bill was to add a junction with the LB&SCR to the east of Havant, extend the railway on Hayling Island to South Hayling, create a small Docks at the ferry and extend the powers of the 1860 Act by two years. This was passed into Law by an Act of Parliament dated 14 July 1864. The Company had also sought to change its name but this was not authorised.
These changes were clearly designed to improve the prospects for goods traffic by reinstating the docks at the ferry and the link to the LB&SCR.. Passenger traffic would be encouraged with the building of a terminus near Seaview Terrace, closer to the population centres on the Island.
Note: Mr Robert Hume bought the mud lands in 1863 from the representatives of William Padwick and entered into an agreement to lease 300 acres to the South of England Oyster Company.
Construction Progress 1865
The railway was completed to Langstone Wharf in 1864 and this section of the line was open to goods traffic in January 1865. Substantial imports of coal, building materials, timber, gravel and ballast were handled at the wharf.
The bridge was completed about 1865. There was great difficulty experienced in building the railway embankments, unless properly consolidated they were washed away on the tides. Only 176 yards were satisfactorily completed by this time
Work on the construction of the embankment ceased in 1865.
No work was undertaken on building the link spurs with the London & South Western Railway (L&SWR) nor the London Brighton & South Coast Railway (LB&SCR).
Here the story might have ended, a branch to Langstone Wharf and a bridge to nowhere.