Gatwick Express

Gatwick Express

Basic information
Concession and duration	Part of Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern July 26, 2015 - September 2021
Parent company	Govia ( Go-Ahead Group / Keolis )
statistics
fleet	27 British Class 387 1 British Class 73 Electric Diesel Locomotive
Train stations	8th
Main line	London Victoria Station - Gatwick Airport
Branch line	Brighton
website
gatwickexpress.com

Gatwick Express is a brand of the British railway company Govia Thameslink Railway for non-stop shuttle services between Victoria Station in London and Gatwick Airport . Govia Thameslink Railway is a subsidiary of Govia , a joint venture between Go-Ahead and Keolis . Gatwick Express was an independent company until 2008 and was integrated into the Southern franchise in 2008 , which in turn was integrated into the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise in 2015.

history

With the privatization of British Rail , the passenger transport service was organized into subnetworks, the operation of which is awarded by the Strategic Rail Authority according to the franchise principle (state transport contract). Gatwick Express was one of the smallest subnetworks by far, with just a single 40 km route.

The Gatwick Express franchise was operated by Gatwick Express Railway Ltd , a subsidiary of the National Express Group , from April 28, 1996 to 2008 . National Express was awarded the sub-network over a period of 15 years and during that time made annual payments to the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). In fiscal 2004/2005, Gatwick Express paid SRA 18.3 million pounds sterling, equivalent to 8.1 pence per passenger kilometer. In the 2004/2005 financial year, the Gatwick Express trains covered 227.2 million passenger kilometers.

At the end of 2004, the Gatwick Express timetable service was criticized by some rail user associations. It is worrying that on one of the most heavily used railway lines in the country (London - Brighton ) trains are sometimes not fully used for a special group every quarter of an hour, while other trains on the same route suffered from capacity problems. The Strategic Rail Authority then examined the possible integration of the Gatwick Express trains into existing connections between London and Brighton in order to be able to use the timetable routes that would become free for additional commuter trains in the London catchment area. This proposal was again heavily criticized by the Gatwick Express Railway Ltd and the British Airports Authority - the operator of Gatwick Airport.

In 2008 the Gatwick Express was integrated into the Southern franchise , so that it only survives as a brand without organizational independence.

Route network

The Gatwick Express currently runs exclusively without intermediate stops between London Victoria station and Gatwick Airport station around 40 km south of the city center. With the exception of a break in operation, the trains run around the clock from around 1:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., every 15 minutes during the day. The journey time is around 30 minutes.

Rolling stock

Southern currently operates 24 sets of the British Class 442 electric multiple unit and a British Class 73 locomotive for the Gatwick Express to tow damaged trains.

With the takeover of the Gatwick Express franchise by the National Express Group in 1996, the use of the existing vehicles was initially retained. Two locomotives force of the class 73-drawn wagon sets consisting of four to seven air conditioned railroad cars of the type S2 and a respective combined luggage and control car were formed. The latter were created by converting older class 414 railcars. To replace the older vehicles, the company ordered in the late 1990s eight new electric railcars of the British class 460 at Alstom . These have meanwhile been replaced by the 442s mentioned under the new operator Southern.