The Surrey Hills are not only blessed with a fantastic network of bridleways and singletrack, but is also well served by public transport.

Mountain bikers travelling to the Surrey Hills are fortunate; Dorking is served by three train lines, two from London, with services to and from London Victoria and Waterloo.

Both services are quiet on a Sunday and this scribe has never experienced problems with taking a mountain bike onto the train when journeying down from the ‘big smoke’. Southern, which operates services between Victoria and Dorking runs the old fashioned slam door trains which have a Guards Van for carrying bikes.

Southern’s Mole Valley Line leaves Victoria at 06 and 19 minutes past the hour on Sunday mornings. Its trains call at Clapham Junction, Balham, West Croydon, Mitcham Junction, Hackbridge, Carshalton, Sutton, Cheam, Ewell East, Epson, Ashtead, Leatherhead and Boxhill & Westhumble.

Southern Trains returning to Victoria leave Dorking at 03 and 33 minutes past the hour.

South West Trains (SWT) operates the service between Dorking and London Waterloo. No direct service to and from Dorking is available on Sundays; travellers will have to change at Epsom.

SWT trains leave Waterloo at 06 and 36 minutes past the hour. Trains call at Vauxhall, Clapham Junction, Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Motspur Park, Worcester Park, Stoneliegh, Ewell West, Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead and Boxhill & Westhumble.

Return trains leave Dorking at 03 and 33 minutes past the hour and also require travellers to change at Epsom to connect with Waterloo bound trains.

Connections

The two Dorking bound services stop at a number of stations that allow mountain bikers to change trains and travel elsewhere in the Greater London and south east region. These include Clapham Junction (the busiest station in the UK and which seems to have trains to everywhere running through it), Balham for services in south London. Mitcham Junction connects to the new Tramlink service, Sutton is also served by the Thameslink Bedford and London to Brighton services, whilst Epsom and Leatherhead stations connect to trains to Guildford.

Dorking Deepdene and Dorking West stations are on the Gatwick Airport and Reading line, which connect Dorking to Reading, Guildford, Reigate and Redhill. Trains leave Reading at 12 and 35 minutes past the hour, whilst services from Redhill leave at 19 and 50 minutes past the hour on Sundays.

Services from Reading call at Farnborough North, North Camp, Ash, Warnborough, Guildford, Shalford, Chilworth and Gomshall. Trains from Redhill call at Reigate and Betchworth.

Costs
Trains from Waterloo and Victoria cost £7.60 for a return and £7.30 for a single. Fares from Reading cost £11.40 for a return. A return from Redhill is £3.20 and £3.10 for a single. (at time of writing 11.04)
Usage

On average punctuality to Dorking is very good, and this scribe knows as he spends an unhealthy amount of time travelling by train. That said, delays can occur and Redlands Trails recommends that you check train times and engineering works before travelling.

Contacts

* www.thetrainline.com - Time table and ticket purchases
* www.southwesttrains.co.uk - Time table and ticket purchases
* www.nationalrail.co.uk - Time table
* www.southernrailway.com - Time table and ticket purchases
* www.railcard.co.uk - Discount details
* www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk - Timetable and ticket purchase
* National Rail Enquiries Tel: 08457 48 49 50

>>Top of Page