Guildford
The station building, seen in May 2021
General information
Location	Guildford,Borough of Guildford England
Grid reference	SU991496
Managed by	Network Rail
Platforms	8 (7 in use)
Other information
Station code	GLD
Classification	DfT category B
History
Opened	5 May 1845
Passengers
2019/20	6.937 million
Interchange	0.951 million
2020/21	1.489 million
Interchange	0.185 million
2021/22	4.284 million
Interchange	0.515 million
2022/23	5.285 million
Interchange	0.681 million
2023/24	5.884 million
Interchange	0.771 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Guildford railway station is at one of three main railway junctions on thePortsmouth Direct Line and serves the town ofGuildford, inSurrey, England. It is 30 miles 27 chains (30.34 mi; 48.8 km) down the line fromLondon Waterloo viaWoking.^[1]

It provides aninterchange station for two other railway lines: theNorth Downs Line northwards towardsReading, which has a connection toAldershot, and eastwards toRedhill; and theNew Guildford Line, the alternative route to London Waterloo, viaCobham orEpsom.

Guildford station is the larger, more frequently and more diversely served of the two stations in Guildford town centre, the other beingLondon Road (Guildford) on the New Guildford Line.

The station was opened by theLondon and South Western Railway (LSWR) on 5 May 1845,^[2] but was substantially enlarged and rebuilt in 1880.

TheReading, Guildford and Reigate Railway opened its services on 4 July 1849, and was operated by theSouth Eastern Railway.^[2] LSWR services toFarnham viaTongham began on 8 October 1849 and the New Guildford Line toLeatherhead andEpsom Downs on 2 February 1885.^[2] On the latter line is the other Guildford station, London Road. The line to it describes a curve around the town on an embankment, crossing theRiver Wey by a high bridge.

Guildford station was also the northern terminus of the formerCranleigh Line, which was opened 2 October 1865 by theLondon Brighton and South Coast Railway and closed almost one hundred years later on 12 June 1965.^[3] This line ran toHorsham by way ofCranleigh,Rudgwick andChrist's Hospital.

• On 8 November 1952, anelectric multiple unit suffered a brake malfunction approaching the station. It overran signals and collided with a stationarysteam locomotive. Two people were killed and 37 were injured.^[4]
• On 28 July 1971, a parcels train was derailed at the station.^[5]
• On 7 July 2017, an explosion occurred in an underframe equipment case of unit455901 at Guildford station. Debris was thrown up to 230 feet (70 m) away with fragments, described as "quite sizeable" by theRail Accident Investigation Branch, scattered across platforms and an adjacent car park.^[6] No injuries occurred. The cause of the explosion was a faultycapacitor which had been fitted when the unit's electrical equipment was upgraded.^[7]

Guildford station was the site of an importantmotive 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.^[8] The Farnham Roadmulti-storey car park was built on the site in 1988.^[9]

Guildford station was to have been the southern terminus for the proposedHeathrow Airtrack rail service. The project, promoted byBAA, envisaged the construction of a spur from theWaterloo to Reading Line toHeathrow 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.^[10] In April 2011, BAA announced that it was abandoning the project,^[11] citing the unavailability of government subsidy and other priorities forHeathrow,^[12] such as linking toCrossrail andHigh Speed 2.

The main station buildings are on thedown 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) byBritish 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 toAscot 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 forbi-directional working – trains may approach from either direction.

Guildford is served regularly by trains operated bySouth Western Railway andGreat Western Railway.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[13]

• 3 tph toLondon Waterloo viaWoking (fast)
• 2 tph to London Waterloo viaCobham (stopping)
• 1 tph to London Waterloo viaEpsom (stopping)
• 1 tph toHaslemere (stopping)
• 2 tph toPortsmouth Harbour (1 fast, 1 stopping)
• 2 tph toFarnham
• 2 tph toReading
• 2 tph toGatwick Airport

Services at Guildford are operated using a mixture of rolling stock including Classes444,450,455, and701electric multiple units, andClass 165 and166diesel multiple units.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Worplesdon orWoking		South Western Railway Portsmouth Direct Line		Farncombe orGodalming
London Road (Guildford)		South Western Railway New Guildford Line		Terminus
Terminus		South Western Railway Ascot to Guildford Line		Wanborough
Shalford		Great Western Railway North Downs Line		Ash
				Wanborough Limited Service
	Disused railways
Terminus		London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Horsham and Guildford Direct Railway		Bramley & Wonersh Line and station closed

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Guildford railway station.

• Photos of Guildford station

• Train times andstation information for Guildford railway station fromNational Rail

51°14′13″N0°34′48″W / 51.237°N 0.580°W /51.237; -0.580

• Network Rail managed stations
• Transport in Guildford
• Railway stations in Surrey
• DfT Category B stations
• Former London and South Western Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845
• Railway stations served by Great Western Railway
• Railway stations served by South Western Railway
• Buildings and structures in Guildford

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