The new-look train station at London Gatwick opened to passengers in November, transforming the journey from train to plane, and giving passengers travelling between Brighton and London easier, faster, more reliable journeys

The revamped station provides a range of accessibility improvements. The new station concourse and widening of platforms will make the station easier to move around, particularly for those using wheelchairs, or with pushchairs or bulky luggage.

Further improvements include five big new lifts, with braille and embossed control buttons, alongside eight new escalators. The special assistance point has been moved to the station entrance – a more convenient, visible and accessible location for passengers arriving at London Gatwick by train.

From the special assistance point, passengers can get any help or support they need to travel through the airport. New hearing loops have also been introduced at the special assistance point, ticket retail desks and platform waiting shelters, providing increased access to information screens and announcements for D/deaf and hard of hearing passengers.

The existing station concourse is also bigger and better than ever before, with new customer information systems, more ticket gates, a dedicated passenger assistance point enhancing the passenger experience, and helping people move through the station more quickly.

The new concourse will now act as the new entrance for people accessing the airport terminal, while the existing concourse will be for people exiting. The existing station concourse, station footbridges and the South Terminal linkspan have been refurbished and reconfigured to provide a seamless one-way system to the airport from the train station.

Easier journeys from train to plane will benefit passengers across the wider network, helping keep trains running on time by removing the congestion and queuing on platforms that delay trains.

Passengers travelling on the Brighton Main Line are already seeing the benefits of the project thanks to track upgrades that have helped reduce journey times between Brighton and London to one hour on some services.

Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer, London Gatwick, said: “From today, airport passengers travelling by train will have a dramatically improved experience as they pass through the bigger, better and brighter new station concourse. This fantastic new, fully accessible station concourse will encourage even more passengers to come to the airport using sustainable public transport.”

Gatwick to Reading service doubled

From December 10th, the Great Western Railway route between London Gatwick and Reading doubled in frequency, increasing from one to two services per hour, Monday to Saturday, with an hourly service operating on Sundays. The line stops at various key staff catchments, including Redhill, Reigate and Guildford, as well as providing connectivity to key tourist destinations in the Surrey Hills, like Denbies Wine Estate and Silent Pool distillery.

Hannah Godfrey, Senior Surface Access Manager, London Gatwick said: “The increased train service between London Gatwick and Reading is fantastic news for passengers and staff, and something we felt important to invest in. More than 600 employees at the airport live directly along this route, making sustainable travel increasingly easy and convenient for them and many others across the region.

“Currently, more than 40% of passengers travel to and from London Gatwick by public transport, thanks to the fantastic connectivity to the airport. A train leaves Gatwick every four minutes – as frequent as the London Underground – and we continue to work closely with train operators to improve this even further, particularly with the increased capacity provided
by our new station concourse, which opened in November.”