THE GUILDFORD SOCIETY
GUILDFORD RAIL SHUTTLE
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Five railway lines radiate from Guildford Main Station to the NW, N, SE, S and eastwards. (See map below)
The current services on these lines do not provide adequately for short distance commuting into Guildford while traffic on the trunk roads from these directions becomes seriously congested during rush hours. It is suggested that the potential for providing such commuter facilities by increased usage of the existing railway infrastructure should be fully investigated. The aim would be to encourage car commuters to accept the railway as a viable alternative.
In 1996 a paper containing Preliminary Proposals for a Guildford Metro was prepared by the Transport Working Group of the Guildford Environmental Forum. It envisaged two separate rail routes: One with services between Salt Box Road in the north to Merrow in the east with 6 new halts at Stoughton Road, Woodbridge Road, Stoke Road, Boxgrove Road and Merrow, as well as Salt Box Road. The second would be from Artington to the University Research Park with additional halts at the University campus and Park Barn. Trains would be scheduled to run in the timetable gaps between the existing services. Part of the difficulty with this proposal was the handling capacity of the junctions to the north and south of Guildford station for these through movements.
The fact remains, however, that the existing railways divide the space between the main roads, and this should be utilised for the benefit of pedestrians in the adjacent areas.
Quite independently, in 2005, a group of university students, tutored by Prof. Chris Blow,
developed a scheme similar to the Metro. The halt locations in this case were determined by residential density, educational establishments and businesses being within reasonable walking distance and they coincided almost exactly with those of the 1996 paper. As a result of this work, GBC has included a number of “mini railway stations” in its Site Allocations DPD. The Guildford Society considers that the feasibility of running a railcar shuttle service and the concept of establishing a number of such stations should be fully evaluated. We pointed out in our response to the DPD, however, that in most cases the footprint shown was far greater than is likely to be necessary, and that there should be no need to interfere with adjacent property.
The scheme currently envisages providing independent shuttle services in four directions to and from Guildford main Station, i.e. towards Shalford, Merrow, Worplesdon and Wanborough. Single carriage railcars, powered electrically or diesel engined, would operate in the intervals between the longer-haul services. Intervening halts should need little more than a short covered platform, similar to a bus stop, built mainly within existing railway boundaries, with pedestrian access from adjacent footways. There would be no car parking facilities but cycles might be accommodated. Five such potential locations have been identified at Artington, Boxgrove Road, Merrow, Lime Grove, and Egerton Road, however additional halts at the University main campus, the Research Park, George Abbot School, Salt Box Road and any new major housing development adjacent to the railway could be considered in the future. Appropriate facilities would be required at Guildford Main Station and at the reversing points at the outer limits of the system.
An initial stage of the evaluation would be to assess the feasibility of fitting the proposed shuttle services into the existing timetable structure.
June 2009