Letter: We Need to Stop the Decline Of North Downs Rail ‘Service’

Published on: 17 Dec, 2025
Updated on: 17 Dec, 2025

From Ian Docwra

Many may be aware of the appalling train service of late on the North Downs line, which is the route from Reading to Gatwick Airport, via Guildford, Dorking and Reigate.

The route has been suffering from a huge number of cancellations, because GWR, the franchisee, has not got enough trains that are fit to run. There are also crew shortages.

On top of all that, the four level crossings between Gomshall and Shalford that were recently replaced, at huge cost and time, have been failing since they were commissioned.

The trains issue is the main cause of cancellations and this is made all the more annoying because the Department for Transport (DfT), under the previous Government, forced GWR to abandon its project to introduce rebuilt “bi-mode” trains that can run on the third rail where it exists (on a large proportion of the route) and diesel elsewhere, rather than having diesel trains running over long sections of electrified route.

These trains had been ready to introduce (after a long period of rebuilding and development) but GWR were forced to get rid of them to achieve short-term cost savings, meaning all the money spent on them was wasted.

They would also have been four coaches instead of the present three (or even two!) coach trains, thus increasing capacity. Now those expensively-rebuilt trains are set to be scrapped – a complete farce.

So my purpose here is to urge those who are fed up with constant cancellations on an already sparse service to write to GWR and to their MP. I have written to mine (Jeremy Hunt), but have received no reply (some would say that isn’t surprising).

The more complaints that are received, the more likely it is that something will be done to stop the spiralling decline of this important link.

Responses to Letter: We Need to Stop the Decline Of North Downs Rail ‘Service’

Frank Phillipson Reply

December 17, 2025 at 8:50 pm

These “new” Class 769/9 units were conversions of Class 319 units built in two batches in 1987–88 and 1990. Their 35-year age and the more limited range on diesel power, than the Class 165s they would have replaced, plus poor reliability during testing, were factors in the decision not to introduce them into service.

Some railway industry insiders report that the tri-mode sets have been particularly troublesome when switching between diesel and DC modes; this is understood to be linked to the design of the modifications, where the diesel power packs feed into the 750V supply directly and switching is needed to protect the sets as they run onto third rail sections whilst running in diesel mode. It is also reported that earth faults, again more of an issue when in diesel mode, have proved difficult to track down and resolve.