Gatwick Express

Gatwick Express is a high-frequency rail passenger service between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport in South East England, operated by Southern.

The service began in May 1984 with air-conditioned InterCity carriages operated by British Rail. When it was privatised in April 1996, National Express took over the franchise. In June 2008 Gatwick Express ceased to exist as a separate franchise, being merged into the Southern franchise, although it continues to maintain its own identity. Some peak-hour Gatwick Express services now continue beyond Gatwick Airport to Brighton.

History
Gatwick Airport railway station opened in June 1958. Initially the service thither was provided entirely by London to Brighton stopping services, but more trains began to call with the introduction of the summer timetable in June 1958. One of the key elements of this was the extension of Three Bridges to Bognor Regis stopping services to start and terminate at London Victoria. These trains would run through a reversible platform at Gatwick where a portion would detach and wait in the platform for passengers until the next up train from Bognor Regis was attached and the train would depart for Victoria. For this service British Rail used a small batch of seven Class 402 2HALs in order to work with the trains used on the Bognor Regis services, suitable for airport link use because of their larger luggage space.

This situation lasted until the early 1970s, when increased passsenger and luggage travel to the station was rendering the old system obsolete. British Rail therefore decided to adapt a number of Class 423 4VEPs with increased luggage capacity (at the expense of fewer second class seats) and were redesignated as Class 427 4VEGs. The service however remained much the same, with the units attaching and detaching from Bognor Regis bound services running via Redhill. This led to somewhat extended journey times which meant the service lacked any real purpose, as the faster services began calling at Gatwick Airport from the early 1970s, and made the option of travelling to Gatwick from London on the service lack appeal to those who knew better.

In 1975 British Airports Authority airport director John Mulkern, British Caledonian Airways chairman Adam Thomson and British Rail's Southern Region regional manager Bob Reid, formed the Gatwick Liaison Group to discuss matters of mutual interest.

As a subsidiary of this, the Gatwick Promotion Group, under the chairmanship of the airport public relations manager David Hurst, was formed to market the airport. One of the first successes of the group was to persuade the British Rail board to redevelop Gatwick station by building a raft over the platforms, and this was opened by British Rail chairman Peter Parker in 1980. It was a long-term aim of the group to have a non-stop service between the airport and central London in order to counter the perceived distance from the capital both to the UK market and to potential passengers at the overseas destinations. At first the service from Bognor Regis, which by this stage only stopped at East Croydon, was branded Rapid City Link.

Express service
In May 1984 the non-stop Gatwick Express service began, using Mark 2 stock. A 30-minute journey time was advertised, although some journeys would take nearer 35 minutes, especially in rush hours.

The first unit was taken on a promotional tour of the UK introducing it to travel agents in various centres, thought to be the first time a Southern Region train had travelled north.

Privatisation
Gatwick Express was the first portion of British Rail's InterCity sector to be converted into a separate train operating unit, ready for franchising as a private business with the assets transferred to Gatwick Express Limited in March 1994. The Gatwick Express franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to National Express with the franchise starting on 28 April 1996.

In April 2007 the Department for Transport announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the South Central franchise and the services transferred to Southern on 22 June 2008.

On 20 August 2008 the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, Govia, National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the new South Central franchise. On 9 June 2009 the Department for Transport announced that Govia had retained the franchise beginning on 20 September 2009.

Services
The main service operates every 15 minutes, taking 30 minutes to cover the 27-mile journey from London Victoria to Gatwick.

In April 2007 the Department for Transport announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the South Central franchise. This was part of a plan to increase capacity on the Brighton Main Line by extending peak-hour services from Gatwick to Brighton and Eastbourne from December 2008. This doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods.

Tickets & fares
An Express Class (standard class) adult single ticket costs £19.90, and a return £33.20 (child ticket costs £9.45 and £16.60, respectively). Although when bought in advance online (at http://www.gatwickexpress.com/), prices are discounted (adult: £16.85 single, £27.90 return; child: £8.40 single, £13.95 return).

These prices are higher than those of the Southern stopping services on the same route (between £13.20 and £13.70 for a standard class, adult single fare, depending on whether the time of travel is peak/off-peak and whether the route is restricted to Southern trains only, or any non-Gatwick Express train). Also, many other cheaper tickets are valid on Gatwick Express trains provided they are not endorsed with the words "Not Gatwick Express". In peak hours the Gatwick Express trains continue to Brighton and can be used by London to Brighton commuters.

This is supposed to reflect the premium frequency and non-stop service that the Gatwick Express offers, despite the fact that the Southern and other local/stopping services are actually just as frequent and take only 1–8 minutes longer than the Gatwick Express.

Patient and savvy travelers can actually travel between London Victoria (or other central London National Rail stations) and Gatwick Airport cheapest by using an Oyster card to travel as far as East Croydon, at a cost of £2.80/£4.50 (off-peak/peak), and then to Gatwick Airport via First Capital Connect services at a cost of £4.50 or Southern services at a cost of £4.90 (i.e. total cost £7.80–£10.20). Whilst not non-stop, as one must change trains at East Croydon in order to touch in or out of the Oyster card system, the frequency of trains between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport is such that changeover times are minimal (as little as one minute). Trains are often non-stop between Victoria and East Croydon, and between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport, and with each leg taking as little as 15 minutes, a total journey time of under 40 minutes is entirely possible.

In addition, tickets for travel via First Capital Connect between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon can, like Gatwick Express tickets, often be purchased in-flight on carriers such as easyJet, thus avoiding queues at the ticket machines in Gatwick Airport South Terminal after landing and clearing security.

Historical fares:
 * January 2007 £14.90
 * July 2007 £15.90
 * January 2008 £16.90
 * July 2008 £17.90
 * March 2009 £16.90
 * January 2012 £18.90

London - Gatwick is one of the few journeys on the UK National Rail network for which passengers are required to choose between different operators when buying tickets &mdash; 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, unless part of a through ticket to/from beyond Victoria. Southern tickets to Redhill can be used in emergencies, as the train stops there during such times.

Historically, standard Gatwick Express services did not charge penalty fares and permitted tickets to be purchased on board at no extra charge. Journeys to or from stations south of Gatwick were subject to penalty fares as normal. This rule applied to the six weekday services each way that start or end at Brighton. However, in December 2011 electronic ticket gates were installed at Gatwick Airport and London Victoria platforms 13 and 14 (where the Gatwick Express arrives and departs), meaning that tickets can no longer be bought on the train and must be purchased either in advance or at the station before boarding.

Performance
In May 2013 the Chairman of Gatwick Airport, Roy McNulty, criticised Gatwick Express for its overcrowding and old rolling stock. He said that the train service sometimes "at times veers towards Third World conditions" and that it gives air passengers arriving in the United Kingdom a bad first impression of the UK, and called for major improvements. Southern Rail responded by stating that it had provided some 20,000 extra peak-hour seats every week on the London-Brighton line.

Rolling stock
Until 1984 the service was operated by Class 423 slam-door stock, coded 4-VEG (G for Gatwick).

From May 1984 Mark 2F stock released from Midland Main Line duties coupled to a Class 489 Goods Luggage Van took over the services, hauled by Class 73 locomotives.

A franchise commitment by National Express was the replacement of these with new stock, and eight Class 460 Junipers started to be delivered from January 1999. Because of reliability problems, some of the old stock remained in service until 2005.

To replace the last of the old stock, a pair of Class 458 Junipers were transferred from South West Trains for use as spares. They remained in their existing livery but with Gatwick Express branding. Their seating was modified from high density 3+2 seating configuration to 2+2 configuration, some seating being replaced with luggage racks. However, these units were never called into service and returned to South West Trains.

To provide extra capacity on the services extended to Brighton, from December 2008 seventeen refurbished Class 442 Wessex Electrics, last used by South West Trains, began to enter service. After retaining the franchise in 2009, Southern leased the remaining seven Class 442s.

The Class 460s were withdrawn from service in September 2012. The 460s are in the process of being merged with the mechanically similar units used by South West Trains.

Depot
Gatwick Express's fleet is maintained at Stewarts Lane depot.

Future
The Department for Transport has announced that, at the conclusion of the Southern franchise in July 2015, the South Central franchise will be merged into the proposed new Thameslink Southern Great Northern franchise.

In March 2012 the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, Govia, MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the new franchise. The Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012, and the successful bidder announced in Spring 2013. However, in the wake of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process collapsing, the Secretary of State for Transport announced in October 2012 that the process would be put on hold pending the results of a review.

It has been suggested that some peak-hour Gatwick Express services might call at Clapham Junction.