Track Improvements Mean No Trains Through Guildford Over Easter

Published on: 10 Feb, 2020
Updated on: 10 Feb, 2020

No trains will run through Guildford railway station between Good Friday and Easter Monday, April 10 to 13, as Network Rail undertakes replacement track and points work.

Buses will replace all services.

The lines between Worplesdon to Haslemere, Guildford to Ash and to Shalford will be completely closed.

Guildford railway station will be closed over the Easter weekend and will have a limited service to London Waterloo the following week.

And then, from Tuesday, April 14 to the following Sunday, a limited number of South Western Railway services to London Waterloo via Cobham will operate from platform one.

Guildford railway station received a performance rating of 67% in 2019 from its passengers.

The station, which is one of the 20 stations directly managed by Network Rail, had the second lowest performance rating from the public at 67% in 2019. The rating dropped by 2% over the year.

Passengers speaking to The Guildford Dragon NEWS were frustrated with what they considered to be a poor service and a lack of investment in the trains.

Guildford railway station is reported to have annual passenger usage of 7.955 million in 2017 / 2018, down from 8.201 million in 2015 / 2016.

Commuter Adam Minchin said: “Oh my god, I’m not surprised. It is a shocking service, they are really struggling, constant delays.”

Another commuter, Mark, said: “They should have invested in the local network before instead of spending all that money on HS2. But if it makes it a reliable service, it will be worth it.”

Commuters spoke about ‘working around’ the closures by working at home and using the car more.

Network Rail will be improving the track and the points to: “provide a more reliable railway for trains between London and Guildford, Woking and Portsmouth, Reading and Redhill, and Guildford and Alton.”

As well as the Easter closures, there will also be three weekends of preparatory work before Easter and two weekends after where there will be a limited service through the station.

Passengers are advised to check the trains before they travel. For more information, you can go to the Network Rail website or call its 24-hour national helpline on 03457 114141.