Gatwick Airport railway station

Gatwick Airport
Southbound view from Platform 2 in September 1995
Location
Place	London Gatwick Airport
Local authority	Borough of Crawley
Coordinates
Grid reference	TQ287413
Operations
Station code	GTW
Managed by	Southern
Number of platforms	7 (3 island, 1 side)
DfT category	B
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	13.129 million
2011/12	14.759 million
2012/13	15.353 million
2013/14	16.186 million
2014/15	17.494 million
History
1891	Opened as Gatwick
1946	Renamed Gatwick Racecourse
27 May 1958	Rebuilt and renamed Gatwick Airport
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Gatwick Airport from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Gatwick Airport station is the railway station at London Gatwick Airport which provides a direct rail connection to London away. The station platforms are located about 70 metres to the east of the airport's South Terminal, with the ticket office above the platforms. The station was one of 18 in the United Kingdom to be managed by Network Rail, but on 29 January 2012 day-to-day management was transferred to Southern. Train services are provided by Gatwick Express, Southern, Thameslink and Great Western Railway. When viewed from the air (or in satellite imagery), the present station building's British Rail logo that is etched on the top of the roof is visible.

In terms of passenger entries and exits between April 2010 and March 2011, Gatwick Airport was the tenth-busiest station outside London.

London Oyster cards and contactless cards have been accepted for travel from 11 January 2016.

History

There have been two Gatwick stations sited approximately 0.85 miles (1.37 km) from each other.

Present station

The station, originally named Gatwick, was built on the present site in September 1891 to serve the Gatwick Racecourse, and originally operated only on race days. The facilities included passing loops and sidings to hold race trains without impeding the Brighton Main Line. The sidings were extended during World War I to be able to accommodate munitions trains heading for Newhaven.

From 1946 until 1958, Gatwick station was renamed Gatwick Racecourse, even though racing had been abandoned in 1940 and not reinstated after World War II. In fact the station had fallen out of use following the opening of the nearby Tinsley Green/Gatwick Airport Station (described below). However, during the early 1950s the airport was expanded and took over the land occupied by the racecourse, and the station was entirely rebuilt and integrated with the new airport terminal. The new buildings opened on 27 May 1958 with a regular train service, and the station took over the name Gatwick Airport.

The 1958 buildings included a parcels office below the main concourse, lifts and a corridor on the south side of the overbridge, divided from the passenger corridor by a glazed partition. To accommodate 12-car trains, the three old Racecourse island platforms were raised by 1 ft (0.30 m) and extended to the north by about 100 ft (30 m), except for the very long westernmost platform, which was reduced from the south. The ticket office was able to handle 670 separate issues of Edmondson tickets from its Bellmatic equipment. The signalbox was retained on the centre platform.

Tinsley Green/Gatwick Airport Station

This was opened on 30 September 1935 and was sited 0.85 miles (1.37 km) south of the present station. It was originally named Tinsley Green but within a year became Gatwick Airport following the completion of the Beehive airport terminal which had a direct connection to the station. The airport was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force in 1940. In 1952 the British government decided that it would form London's second airport. The station continued in operation until 27 May 1958 when the present Gatwick Airport station (above) opened. The station was later demolished and the only visible remains of the old station are sections of the former up slow line platform. Sections of the connecting subway between the station and the original terminal building (The Beehive) also survive.

Redevelopment

On 13 October 2010, a £53 million redevelopment was announced to provide a new platform, refurbish the concourse and upgrade track and signals. Works were completed by 3 February 2014, when Baroness Kramer formally opened the new platform. Constructed by Volker Fitzpatrick, the new 12-car platform 7 is served by a 975-metre (3,199 ft) loop from the Down Fast line and is used by the Down Fast services which formerly called at platform 5. This has allowed platforms 5 and 6 to be dedicated to Gatwick Express services, thereby eliminating conflicts with slower services when formerly they crossed to platforms 1 and 2. New escalators and lifts on platforms 5 and 6 were also provided.

Services

Northbound view from Platform 5 in March 2007

Southbound view from Platform 5 in February 2009

Gatwick station is served by:

• Gatwick Express services to London Victoria
• Southern services from London Victoria and London Bridge to Ore, Eastbourne, Brighton, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth and Southampton
• Thameslink services from Bedford to Brighton
• Great Western Railway services to Reading.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Horley		Southern Arun Valley Line		Three Bridges
Redhill or Horley		Southern Mainline West (via Horsham)		Three Bridges
East Croydon		Southern Mainline West (via Hove)		Haywards Heath
East Croydon		Southern Mainline East		Haywards Heath
East Croydon		Southern Brighton Main Line		Three Bridges or Burgess Hill
East Croydon or Redhill		Thameslink Thameslink		Three Bridges
Redhill		Great Western Railway North Downs Line		Terminus
London Victoria		Southern Gatwick Express		Terminus or Haywards Heath

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons