New action in battle to reopen defunct Horsham to Guildford rail line

Rail buffs have been campaigning for years for the reopening of a defunct rail line between Horsham and Guildford that has been shut since the 1960s

The English Regional Transport Association, which also wants to reopen the Horsham to Shoreham line, has been waging a years-long campaign.

Both lines have been closed for more than 50 years but much of the original track beds survive.

Now transport association chief executive Richard Pill says: “I am convinced there's an overwhelming need, case and demand for this missing rail link.”

He wants to pull together a working group to collate local knowledge and stats to strengthen the group’s bid to reopen the lines for regular passenger and freight use.

In a letter to members of the association, he urges them to encourage more local people ‘with a wealth of local knowledge’ to join the association and get involved in the campaign and ‘voluntarily assist with tasks which need doing.’

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Last year, the campaigners thought they had lost their battle to reopen the defunct Horsham train track when Waverley Borough Council granted planning permission for members of the Wey and Arun Canal Trust – established to reinstate London’s ‘Lost Route to the Sea’ – to build a new link near Guildford which would include part of the old railway.

But the rail buffs were later given new hope when they were told there would be a ‘re-run’ of the planning application giving them another opportunity to call for support for the rail option.