Network
Contributing Writer rail@bauermedia.co.uk
A £250 million, three-year project to transform Gatwick Airport station is almost complete, with a new concourse above the tracks due to open to passengers on November 21.
For decades, the cramped station has struggled to cope with 20 million passengers a year, and has failed to meet passenger expectations. It has been a notorious bottleneck on the Brighton Main Line, frequently leading to delays as dwell times extended for travellers with heavy luggage.
The new concourse doubles the space for passengers. Eight new escalators, five new lifts, four new stairways and wider platforms will enable more passengers to move more quickly between train and plane.
More than 40% of airline passengers now arrive by train, and the airport has ambitions to increase that percentage.
“We are seeing train journey times reduced by typically five minutes already,” Anne Clark, Gatwick programme lead for Govia Thameslink Railway, told RAIL.
“The line speed has increased, signalling has been improved, and track layout straightened on both the north and south sides of the station. With wider platforms and more lifts, dwell times become more predictable, with less congestion.
“There are four platforms for fast services. Before, there was only one northbound, and three southbound. Now there are two in each direction. That simplifies the train paths.
The station serves trains from a wide area: Southampton, Portsmouth and Brighton on Southern Railway; Thameslink services between the South Coast and Bedford; the Gatwick Express from Brighton to Victoria; and Great Western Railway services on the North Downs Line to Guildford and Reading.
“The biggest challenge was to build a new concourse above an operational railway as busy as this,” said Network Rail Project Director Mark Somers.
“There was very little opportunity to take track possession, and we needed two cranes
