Guildford railway station

map of lines around Guildford railway station The station was opened by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) on 5 May 1845, but was substantially enlarged and rebuilt in 1880. The Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway opened its services on 4 July 1849, and was operated by the South Eastern Railway. This line ran to by way of , and . Accidents and incidents • On 8 November 1952, an electric multiple unit suffered a brake malfunction approaching the station. It overran signals and collided with a stationary steam locomotive. Two people were killed and 37 were injured. • On 28 July 1971, a parcels train was derailed at the station. • On 7 July 2017, an explosion occurred in an underframe equipment case of unit 455901 at Guildford station. Debris was thrown up to away with fragments, described as "quite sizeable" by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch, scattered across platforms and an adjacent car park. No injuries occurred. The cause of the explosion was a faulty capacitor which had been fitted when the unit's electrical equipment was upgraded. Motive Power Depot Guildford station was the site of an important motive power depot opened by the LSWR in 1845. The original building was demolished in 1887 to make room for the enlargement of the station, and was replaced by a semi-roundhouse which was substantially enlarged in 1897. This was closed and demolished in 1967. The Farnham Road multi-storey car park was built on the site in 1988. Airtrack Guildford station was to have been the southern terminus for the proposed Heathrow Airtrack rail service. The project, promoted by BAA, envisaged the construction of a spur from the Waterloo to Reading Line to Heathrow Airport, creating direct rail links from the airport to Guildford, Waterloo, Woking and Reading. Airtrack was planned to open in 2015, subject to government approval. In April 2011, BAA announced that it was abandoning the project, citing the unavailability of government subsidy and other priorities for Heathrow, such as linking to Crossrail and High Speed 2. == Platform layout ==

The main station buildings are on the down side. At the end of the down side platform is a bay for the New Guildford Line. There are now three islands with seven platform faces plus the bay linked by both a long footbridge and a subway. Platforms 6 and 7 are opposite sides of the same line; these were used for unloading mail and parcels until the mid-1990s. The station was completely rebuilt (except for the platforms) by British Rail in the late 1980s. • Platform 1 – Bay platform for stopping services to London Waterloo via Epsom or Cobham • Platform 2 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Cobham, with a small number of services to Portsmouth & Southsea • Platform 3 – Stopping services to London Waterloo via Epsom or Woking, with a small number of weekday services; otherwise Sundays only. • Platform 4 – Fast and stopping services towards Portsmouth; semi-fast services to Gatwick Airport • Platform 5 – Fast services to London Waterloo • Platform 6 – Stopping services to Redhill and services to or Farnham via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 8 • Platform 7 – Platform not in use • Platform 8 – Services to Reading and Gatwick Airport. Services to Ascot via Aldershot depart from either this platform or platform 6. Platforms 6 and 7 are on opposite sides of the same single line. Automatic train doors only open on the platform 6 side. Today, doors are not opened on platform 7 due to the live rail being on that side, hence rendering that platform disused. Platforms 2 to 8 are signalled for bi-directional working – trains may approach from either direction. == Services ==

Guildford is served regularly by trains operated by South Western Railway and Great Western Railway. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: • 3 tph to via (fast) • 2 tph to London Waterloo via Cobham (stopping) • 1 tph to London Waterloo via (stopping) • 1 tph to (stopping) • 2 tph to (1 fast, 1 stopping) • 2 tph to • 2 tph to • 2 tph to Services at Guildford are operated using a mixture of rolling stock including Classes 444, 450, 455, and 701 electric multiple units, and Class 165 and 166 diesel multiple units. == References ==