Is GatEx right for Gatwick?

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Today Gatwick, London’s second airport, is the busiest single runway airport in Europe with 41m passengers last year (2024). There has been a major change in usage and low-cost airlines are now the major carriers. Gatwick use is still expanding and there is a proposal to create a second runway which would increase the usage to 75m by 2030.

Gatwick need to increase to 54% the number of passengers using public transport.

Gatwick Airport station has direct services to 120 stations and to another 700 with one change of which over 200 can be reached by changing at Clapham Junction.

Train service: Since its inception the Gatwick Express was a dedicated Airport service provided by 4 trains per hour non-stop between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria. In 2021 post covid, this was reduced to 2 train per hour which were extended to Brighton. In 2018 the all-night service was transferred from Victoria to a Thameslink service to Luton Airport via Blackfriars and St Pancras except Sunday mornings.

Usage of Gatwick Express services has now dropped to 25% of journeys to Victoria and since the increase in Thameslink services only 12% of journeys to London Zone 1. While Southern trains account for 75% journeys to Victoria, stopping at Clapham Junction, yet only taking 2 minutes longer and at a much lower cost.

Gatwick Airport station was deregulated in 1996 and now has a multitude of separate fares to each London station and by each operator. The GEX premium is no longer small.

The Railfuture View and Proposals

Gatwick Express should continue as a brand, but not in its present form. It should be integrated into the Southern services, all stopping at Clapham Junction. An additional all-night service should run to Victoria all week calling at East Croydon and Clapham Junction. Victoria has better onward connections than at Blackfriars.

The fares should be simplified: the premium should be withdrawn and the same fares should be applied to Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink services. These would be London Terminals to all Southern terminals, Blackfriars and City Thameslink; London Zone 1 for all other stations in Zone 1 (this would also apply to Oyster fares). Travelcard should be peak and off-peak fares. The loss of premium revenue would be regained by a small rise in the Thameslink fare.

Written information on ticketing should be available in the booking hall on all fares including Family Travelcards and Group tickets. TVMs should also have Italian and Spanish.

Rolling Stock: GEX stock is often used on Southern services and this should be regularised and all Southern trains should have a branded GEX stock portion. So, all services to Gatwick can be easily identified by passengers. We are of the view that these changes will increase the usage of rail enabling the target of 54% use of Public transport to be reached.

Future expansion: The existing southern services should be strengthened to 12 coaches.

Future Service increases: 2 additional services from London Victoria to Gatwick calling at Clapham Junction, additional local services for employees. A through service to Kent and a third train to Reading.

IS GATWICK EXPRESS THE RIGHT SOLUTION FOR AN EXPANDED GATWICK AIRPORT?

Background: Today Gatwick Airport London’s second airport is the busiest single runway airport in Europe with 41m passengers last year 2024. Gatwick is well served public transport with many local bus routes serving both the north and south terminal and adjacent to Gatwick Airport south terminal is Gatwick Airport national rail station. This station is served by direct trains from 120 stations from several parts of London, Bedford, Cambridge, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, the South Coast and Reading and another 700 with one change of which over 200 can be reached by changing at Clapham Junction. According to the ORR 2024 usage stats 19,489,656 passengers entered and exited Gatwick Airport Station and 987,254 interchanged between trains there.

Train service: Since its inception the Gatwick Express was a dedicated Airport service provided by 4 trains per hour non-stop between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria with dedicated rolling stock. In 2021 post covid, this was reduced to 2 train per hour which were extended to Brighton calling at Haywards Heath.

As a result, the direct trains between Clapham Junction with 22,858,198 passenger entries and exits and 20,383,396 interchanges, and Brighton with 14,547,650 entries and exits the busiest station on the south coast, were withdrawn.

The all-night service: Was a Southern service to Victoria calling at Horley, Purley, East Croydon and Clapham Junction. In 2018 this was transferred from Victoria to Thameslink routed via Tulse Hill except Saturday night/Sunday mornings where it remains at Victoria service. The advantages are that it provides a direct service to north London at St Pancras and the same trains can serve both Gatwick and Luton airport.

Fares and ticketing: On privatisation of the Railways Gatwick Airport station was the only station in the Britain to be deregulated and to introduce competitive ticket pricing to individual London stations and by individual operators. This resulted in a multitude of fares with four different fares types to London by operator : Gatwick Express (the most expensive). Connex (now Southern), Thameslink (the minority operator) being the cheapest. The tickets were specific to each operator. In addition, there was a higher priced universal ticket valid on either Connex or Thameslink, but not Gatwick Express. The only change since has been the GTR Southern (Connex) ticket no longer exists and has been replaced by the Universal ticket for Southern services, but the cheaper Thameslink ticket can still be used, but only on Thameslink although it is now the major operator.

Oyster and contactless: For some local stations and all stations in the London Zones Oyster and Contactless was extended to Gatwick in 2016. Project Oval will add another 100 stations that can be accessed by bankcard.

In 2024 The ticket Office was been removed and replaced with a bank of 21 ATMs and one ticket counter. All written information about ticketing was also removed. Today There is no written information on ticketing at the station only verbal announcements about Oyster and bankcard which can be used for Journeys to any station in London. Although the ticket ATMs have French and German they don’t have Italian and Spanish.


 

Rolling Stock: Gatwick Express services, although similar to other GTR Southern rolling stock, are operated by dedicated and branded rolling stock. However, today this branded rolling stock is used on many other Southern services, both between Victoria and the South coast and also along the south coast. It is quite common that many Southern services are made up of mixed Southern and GEX stock and it is not uncommon for a Southern service to be completely made up of GEX units., while the occasional Gatwick Express train consists of Southern units. This does create some confusion for passengers.




 

What effect have these changes had on rail passengers to Gatwick ?

There have been a number of changes at Gatwick which have affected both the types of passengers using the airport and where and how they travel to the airport. The main change at the airport is the huge increase in low cost airlines using the airport and serving nearer destinations while longer distance and charter flights have reduced.

Rail services have changed due to the increase in Thameslink services along with the opening of the Elizabeth line connections at Farringdon these have transformed travel from all parts of London. As a result, Thameslink is an equally important service as the Southern service to Victoria for journeys to central London.

However, Victoria with 2,702,746 journeys remains an important destination for Gatwick Airport passengers even though it is no longer the only destination. Victoria remains important with around 50% of journeys to central London, adding Clapham Junction this rises to 60% (this excludes those interchanging there to stations outside zone 1). However, only 25% use the Gatwick Express to Victoria and around only 12% of all journeys to Central London Zone 1 are on the Gatwick Express.

Railfuture observations confirm that many Gatwick Express trains arrive at Gatwick Airport half empty while Southern trains are often fully loaded. We are of the view that there are number reasons for this:




 

• If you arrive at Gatwick Airport 6 out of 8 trains per hour to Victoria are Southern services which stop at Clapham Junction and only take around 2 minutes longer to reach Victoria and are likely to be the first train to leave.
• There is no premium on Southern trains saving between £10 and £20.00 (A lot of guide books tell you avoid the Gatwick Express).
• The Gatwick Express doesn’t call at Clapham Junction.
• Single fares on Thameslink stations can save up to £25.00 at certain times of the day.

The Railfuture View and Proposals

The future 2030 and beyond: Gatwick Airport is seeking planning permission to move the reserve runway some 12 metres north which will allow it to use it a second runway rather than a reserve runway. The Airport estimate that the use would increase the number of passengers from 41m up to 75m by the mid-2030 and to 81m by 2047. The government have indicated that they are minded to allow the moving of the reserve runway to become a second runway. However, there is a pause while Gatwick Airport address some environmental issues and improves the numbers of passengers using public transport. The target is to achieve 54% of passengers arriving by public transport.

What should be done to improve the passenger experience now:

We are of the view that the Gatwick Express still has value as a brand, but not in its present form. We would suggest the following changes which we are of the view would increase the number of passengers using public transport to and from Gatwick Airport.

The present train service from Victoria to Gatwick should remain the same, but the Gatwick Express should be integrated with the 6 other Southern services and should call at Clapham Junction to promote the interchange possibilities with over 200 stations that have direct interchange at Clapham Junction (this would also to reinstate the all-day service to Brighton). This would relieve overcrowded Southern services to Gatwick Airport at both Victoria and Clapham Junction and assist with luggage provision.

Once passengers are aware that the Gatwick Express stops at Clapham Junction with good marketing, the use of both Gatwick Express and Southern services to Gatwick Airport from there should increase.

The all-night service operated by Thameslink should continue, however, it needs to be more reliable. In addition, the all-night service to Victoria should be reinstated all week as Victoria provides better onward connections in central London at night than Blackfriars due to its nearness Victoria Coach station and the extensive London night bus network. This could be by Southern services stopping at East Croydon and Clapham Junction with no supplement and Oyster with normal off-peak fares until 4.30am and all-day Saturdays and Sundays.


 


 
 
 






 


 


 


 


 

Rolling Stock: As the Gatwick units have better provision for luggage than the Southern stock. The addition Gatwick units not used on the dedicated Gatwick Express services should form the rear unit on all the Victoria South Coast services to Bognor, Eastbourne and Worthing.

This would provide improved luggage provision and be clear to passengers that the trains are serving Gatwick Airport.




 


 


 


 


 


 



 

Ticketing at Gatwick Airport should be restructured to bring it in line with other Southern stations and to that which existed prior to privatisation. This would consist of only the following tickets: London Terminals, London Zone 1 and Travelcard valid on all services.
The London Terminals ticket should be valid to any South London Terminal including Blackfriars and City Thameslink; only Farringdon and St Pancras would need to be identified separately. London Zone 1 would cover all other National Rail and TfL stations in Zone 1 which would include other London terminal stations such as Euston, Liverpool Street and Paddington. Travelcard as now would cover a return journey to Gatwick and all stations within the Zones. This would bring Gatwick in line with all other stations in the south of England. Oyster and bankcard would continue as now, but be the same fare on all services.

Although there would be a loss of revenue from Gatwick Express premium, there would be a gain of revenue from the small increase, but greater numbers using Thameslink services. This would also make using the TVMs simpler and quicker relieving the queues at the TVMs. Italian and Spanish should be added to the languages on the TVMs. There should be written information on the types of tickets available including Family Travel cards and Group save tickets.

Further Expansion and increase in passenger journeys: We are of the view that rail access to Gatwick Airport would achieve an increase by increasing the Victoria to Gatwick Express service by an additional 2 trains an hour making 10 trains per hour These would call at Clapham Junction and terminate at Gatwick Airport.

As passenger numbers increased all trains from Gatwick to central London should be increased to 12 coaches. It is also important that adequate local services are provided especially for airport staff who need to travel every day. In addition, services from Kent and a third train to Reading should also be considered.

References

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/estimates-of-station-usage/
https://www.railwaydata.co.uk/odm/gbr/