Guildford Station, is the busiest station in Surrey and is a vital asset for the town and the greater south east. The station is at the junction for five different lines, where services from Gatwick to Reading, Portsmouth to London, and local services e.g. Farnham, intersect.
A Freedom of Information request, by GVG, to Network Rail confirms our concerns that proposed property development may compromise the future capacity of Guildford Station.
New platforms are required at Guildford to meet service expansion (e.g. to cope with a link to Heathrow) and to improve the resilience of the rail network when issues arise. Recently trains queued outside Guildford due to a track issue elsewhere on the network.
The Solum redevelopment may unnecessarily restrict the east side of the Station, removing the opportunity to build a new platform (Platform 0) – information from Network Rail indicate it may only need a, yet to be built, car park to be moved 2 metres to provide room.
GVG have written- Click to See Letter -on this subject to Chris Grayling Secretary of State for Transport outlining our concerns on future developments at the station, we still await a reply.
You can Click to find background material on this issue.