Ascot–Ash Vale line


The Ascot–Ash Vale line is a railway line in South East England running from Ascot to Ash Vale.

Infrastructure

There is a section of single track from just south of Frimley station and Ash Vale Junction. The rest of the route is double-tracked.
The line is electrified using 750 V DC third rail.

Services

Passenger services on the line used to run from Ascot to Guildford continuing via the Alton line and the North Downs Line. Ascot station is located on the line from London Waterloo to Reading, just to the south of the famous racecourse. From here, services travel a short distance west along the Waterloo to Reading Line to Ascot Junction. Here they turn south and travel to Ash Vale Jn, joining a section of the Alton Line as far as Aldershot. Services then retrace its route back along the Alton Line before joining the North Downs Line via a chord between Aldershot North Jn to Aldershot South Jn for the remainder of the journey to Guildford.
Until 2017, pairs of Class 456, transferred from Southern, used to operate the shuttles between Ascot and Guildford. The trains have since been replaced by Class 450s.
The Monday to Saturday service prior to May 2019 was:
On Sundays an hourly service ran.

Current service

Passenger services are operated by South Western Railway. The service is currently 2 trains per hour between Aldershot and Ascot through most of the day. There are several trains to And from London Waterloo railway station during peak times. After the direct Ascot–Guildford service has been split, services from Guildford continue to Farnham which was required under the franchise agreement. The current timetables due to be implemented in December 2018, however due to the May 2018 timetable problems the changes were delayed.