I imagine they have all the time in the world going forward, as one can always say we'll do it in x years time. However there is probably no money as it's probably rather expensive and it's only a secondary route. So it will remain something they'd like to do at some point. How long is a piece of string.
The North Downs line route is a secondary route so that might be why. It's not important enough.
I had thought the level crossing issue was a problem and perhaps incorrectly assumed it would cost too much to deal with. I take back my previous comments to an extent.
It's also a very useful service..... I am (still) househunting and have a close eye on commute times (schools and work). Driving up the A31/A3 at peak time really isn't attractive. The Hogs back through Guildford desperately needs widening and it can easily be well over an hour to get through if you time it wrong. Direct Guildford to Farnham (slow as it is) is a huge improvement and has opened up a large area that was otherwise out of scope for somewhere to live.... - the NDL is also on our radar. Betchworth etc. But even with 3tph, it'll still be a limited service at some of the intermediate stations. Which is a shame, but I get why..... as for secondary, it's a busy route from GLD to RDG. Standing room only most peak hours. And the trains are rarely empty - in fact just about the only near empty train on the route is the 1821 RDG to GLD XC ..... which is why I like to get it (despite no mobile reception as it's an XC unit). It is a bit unreliable, but it crosses SWR and Southern main routes so it's often victim to other primary routes. I'd not use it at the moment for getting to Gatwick, put it that way..... battery trains would be great, if they can charge up on the move (use the 3rd rails where possible) (worms, can...)
But would this not mean it would have to cross over all the other lines which are quite busy?
I hadn't realised or remembered that was happening then.
It can be useful for going north but being XC it can be more expensive than going through Central London. Services out of Central London are more plentiful in number, which maybe why.
If the service wasn't so slow and infrequent on the rest of the route, that would be busy as well..... Guildford, Reigate, Redhill are all a pain for traffic.... but the service is so poor from intermediate stations and moderately poor on this route full stop that it's not used as much as it should be - plus it's historically been unreliable.
Maybe they only wanted it once an hour with the other starting at Reigate.
wow back to what it used to be tonbridge to reading with 5 tadpoles off peak as a fully stopping service
That's how it was in the 1980s, hourly Reading to Gatwick and hourly Reading to Tonbridge. Though the frequency of the stoppers varied from year to year. I think the stopper was always hourly from Reigate to Tonbridge and Reading to Guildford but in some years it was only two hourly between Guildford and Reigate. In the early 1980s the Gatwick trains didn't stop at Reigate. I think the stops were added in 1985 or 1986.
They were fast until May last year.
