Big – negative – changes coming to Gatwick Express trains from May
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The railway station at Gatwick Airport is about to undergo a massive improvement programme.
Between May 2020 and 2023, £150 million will be spent to bring it up to an acceptable standard.
It is a huge job which will see five new lifts, eight new escalators and new staircases installed. Platforms 5 and 6 will be widened and a new glass-roofed concourse will be built, spanning all of the platforms.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that you can’t spend £150m without causing quite a bit of chaos to the existing schedules.
This is a summary of what will happen:
Gatwick Express services will be halved from May 2020 to May 2022, with only one train every 30 minutes. The only exceptions are one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening to allow peak capacity to remain.
The Gatwick Express service cuts will begin earlier, on 26th April, at off peak times. This allows preparatory work to be done on Platform 6.
All trains passing through the station will be restricted to 30 mph
Southern services will no longer run directly from Victoria to Brighton – you will need to use Thameslink or Gatwick Express instead if you want a non-stop trip.
You can find out more about the Gatwick Express changes on the Southern website here.
