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How was the west Croydon to Guildford service withdrawn

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Mike bello

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Shame the government decided to kill the beloved service

I heard it was due to railway capacity
 

Ianno87

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Shame the government decided to kill the beloved service

I heard it was due to railway capacity

2003 says quite a bit of pruning back of services that created performance problems - Operation Princess for one, plus things like Southern's through running to Bournemouth.
 

Dr Hoo

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Shame the government decided to kill the beloved service

I heard it was due to railway capacity
Was it even a 'specified' service?

I vaguely had in mind that it was a South West Trains experiment to try and get some of South Central's 'cake' between Epsom and Croydon with spare resources. The economics must always have been a bit marginal. I think that I only used it a couple of times.

I had always assumed that SWT had just given up on the idea rather than it being a government/SRA 'cut/execution'.
 

JonathanH

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Was it even a 'specified' service?

I vaguely had in mind that it was a South West Trains experiment to try and get some of South Central's 'cake' between Epsom and Croydon with spare resources. The economics must always have been a bit marginal. I think that I only used it a couple of times.

I had always assumed that SWT had just given up on the idea rather than it being a government/SRA 'cut/execution'.
It was a SRA-led change.

It wasn't the first time there had been an off-peak connection from Guildford to West Croydon as there were Thameslink services over that route to Guildford prior to consolidation on the Sutton loop but there was a gap between that finishing and SWT introducing a Guildford to Croydon service.

https://www.londontravelwatch.org.uk/news/view?id=450&x[0]=news/list

These changes in May are quite separate from changes in SWT London area off-peak services next September, which were recently announced by the Strategic Rail Authority. These are being imposed by the SRA without consultation and will result in significant loss of service for stations between Surbiton and Guildford and between Croydon and Guildford. They have been planned in haste and treat high frequency services to villages and towns in Hampshire and Wiltshire as being more important than services in London and Surrey.

See also here https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/old-swt-routes.46526/#post-701843

SRA press release 24 February 2003 said:
Timetable Changes to Boost Reliability on South West Trains Services [from September 2003]

Over the past few years, the rail network has seen 20% more trains services and 30% more passenger kilometres travelled. The result is a busier, more congested network that doesn't always perform as it should for its customers. In order to secure improvements in reliability and performance, the SRA today announces the following changes:

Faster off-peak services on London to Portsmouth via Fareham route provided, by diverting one of four current London to Southampton trains.

West Croydon to Guildford off-peak service replaced in part by an extended Waterloo to Epsom service running on to Guildford, giving Bookham an all-day
through service to London as a result.

Woking junction congestion eased by removal of two off-peak London to Guildford via Woking stopping services per hour. Guildford keeps four London fast trains an hour and Woking twelve fast trains per hour; most local stations will have at least two services per hour.

Current congestion at Staines to be eased and new off-peak London through services for Chertsey and Addlestone provided, resulting from plan to divert two off-peak Reading to Waterloo services to run from Weybridge instead.
 
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