Gatwick Express
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Gatwick Express is the brand name of a National Express Group-operated railway service offering a frequent shuttle service between Victoria station in London and Gatwick Airport in South East England.
Service
The service is non-stop and runs every 15 minutes with a journey time of approximately 30-40 minutes. The firm operates eight Class 460 trains on dedicated services to the airport. Gatwick Express, unlike Heathrow Express, is part of the National Rail network.
An Express Class (standard class) Single ticket costs £14 (as of February 2006). This price is higher than those of the Southern and First Capital Connect stopping services, reflecting the faster non-stop service that the Gatwick Express offers. Passengers cannot travel on Gatwick Express using the Network Railcard discount.
History
In the 1980s the British Airports Authority (now BAA plc) agreed with British Rail to run a fast frequent train service to Gatwick Airport from London Victoria railway station. The original services were formed with Class 73 rolling stock and Mk2 coaching stock with specially modified GLV (Goods Luggage Vans) to carry passenger luggage.In 2006, following the introduction of the modern fleet, the final Class 73 service ran an evening service from London Victoria and back to mark the end of the era for these trains. You can find an example of Mk2 coaching stock previously used on the service at the Great Central Railway North in Ruddington.
From the end of 2004 to 2006 there was controversy surrounding the service with some rail groups believing that Gatwick Express trains, which often run half-full, made poor use of the limited capacity on some of the busiest train lines in the country. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) made proposals for the Gatwick Express service to be incorporated into existing London to Brighton mainline services operated by Southern in an attempt to relieve commuter congestion. This idea was hotly disputed by the train operator as well as BAA, who feared that airport users would have to fight for space on the trains with commuters.
On February 3 2006, the Department for Transport [Rail Group] (which took over the responsibilities of the SRA in summer 2005) announced that the service will indeed be axed to free up space on the Brighton Main Line. Instead of nonstop trains, the service replacing the Express would make additional stops en-route to help commuter traffic along the line. It is still yet to be decided if the name Gatwick Express will remain part of the new service and if the Gatwick Express franchise will be ended and the trains transferred to Southern. BBC News (February 3 2006), [Gatwick Express train to be axed]. Retrieved February 3 2006.
In 2005 a pair of Class 458 units transferred from South West Trains for use as a spare train if a 460 unit is out of action.
Ticketing
London-Gatwick is the only journey on the UK National Rail network for which passengers are required to choose between different operators when buying tickets — on all other flows shared by different National Rail operators tickets for immediate travel are inter-available, although some restrictions may apply on cheaper tickets. Through tickets for which the London-Gatwick line is part of a permitted route are valid on the Gatwick Express, provided they are not endorsed "NOT GATWICK EXPRESS". Tickets from London to stations south of Gatwick generally bear this restriction. Passengers cannot travel on Gatwick Express using the Network Railcard discount for South East England.
See also
References
External links
| Current scheduled passenger train operators in Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - First TransPennine Express - Grand Central Railway1 Great North Eastern Railway>GNER - Heathrow Connect - Hull Trains - Island Line - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline Northern Rail - Northern Ireland Railways2 - one - Silverlink - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - Virgin Trains |
| International: | Enterprise 2 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express3 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper4 - Night Riviera5 |
| 1 Starts December 2006 – 2 Operated on the Irish railway network - 3 Operated by one 4 Operated by First ScotRail – 5 Operated by First Great Western | |
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