Ascot to Guildford Line

The Ascot to Guildford Line is a railway service operated by South West Trains.

The name refers to a service between Ascot and Guildford which shares lines with other services except between Ascot and Ash Vale.

Services on this line have to travel over London Waterloo to Alton line to Aldershot and then reverse to travel along North Downs Line at Ash South Junction to reach Guildford.

The line serves the following stations:

The service makes use of the following distinct lines:

Infrastructure

Ascot station is located on the line from London Waterloo to Reading, just to the south of the famous racecourse. From here, the service travels a short distance west along the Waterloo to Reading Line to Ascot Junction. Here it turns south and travels to Ash Vale junction, joining a section of the Alton Line as far as Aldershot. The service then retraces its route back along the Alton Line towards Ash Vale before joining the North Downs Line via a chord at Ash South Junction for the remainder of the journey to Guildford.

Guildford

Coordinates: 51°14′11″N 0°34′13″W / 51.2365°N 0.5703°W / 51.2365; -0.5703

Guildford ⁱ/ˈɡɪlfərd/ is the historic county town of Surrey, England and the seat of the borough of Guildford. The town is 27 miles (43 km) southwest of central London on the A3 trunk road mid-way between the capital and Portsmouth.

Guildford has Saxon roots and historians attribute its location to the existence of a gap in the North Downs where the River Wey was forded by the Harrow Way By AD 978 it was home to an early English Royal Mint. On the building of the Wey Navigation and Basingstoke Canal Guildford was connected to a network of waterways that aided its prosperity. In the 20th century, the University of Surrey and Guildford Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral, were added.

Due to recent development running north from Guildford, and linking to the Woking area, Guildford now officially forms the southwestern tip of the Greater London Built-up Area, as defined by the Office for National Statistics.

History

Borough of Guildford

Coordinates: 51°14′46″N 0°33′07″W / 51.246°N 0.552°W / 51.246; -0.552

The Borough of Guildford is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Guildford is its largest settlement, only town and is the location of the council.

The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972 by an amalgamation of the municipal borough of Guildford and Guildford Rural District.

Functions

Borough councillors and officers work on devolved issues such as parks, leisure, older residents' services, youth services, streetscene, refuse collection, planning and aspects of business and tourism;Surrey County Council deal with transport, publicly owned infrastructure planning and maintenance, education, social services and overall waste management. The Borough owns significant heritage assets that include monuments such as Guildford Castle, as well museums, art collections and civic regalia.

Population

Guildford has the second largest population of Surrey's eleven districts (based on census statistics, only 600 residents behind Reigate and Banstead). Approximately half of the Borough’s population live in the town of Guildford.

Guildford (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°14′46″N 0°33′07″W / 51.246°N 0.552°W / 51.246; -0.552

Guildford is a constituency in Surrey represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Anne Milton, a Conservative.

History

From the first Commons in the Model Parliament of 1295 Guildford was a parliamentary borough sending two members to Parliament until 1868 and one until 1885. In the latter years of sending two members a bloc vote system of elections was used.

Before 1885 the constituency covered the town of Guildford only. The parliamentary borough was abolished under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 however replaced by a new type of seat, named, Guildford (a county division of Surrey) which covered a much wider geographical area.

Boundaries

The constituency covers Guildford and the surrounding area in the county of Surrey. After the decision of the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which reported for the 2010 general election, the electoral wards had electoral wards: