V-Flyer

The UK governemnt has confirmed that the Gatwick Express is to be axed to make room for more trains on the London - Brighton line.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/4676388.stm

Is good news for me as I live on that line so may benefit from the increased trains but will be odd to not have it rush past every morning as I wait for my train. [:I]

Means people had better use their upgrade vouchers soon.... or will it not be missed at all?

Simon

Hmm... I wonder what the upgrade vouchers might be replaced with? (or IF...!)

Having said that, I've not had cause to use either the Heathrow or Gatwick Express, personally...[:I]

Anybody have any idea when it is going to happen. I've booked tickets for it for my Vegas flight later this month, will I have to change my plans, or is it still some way off?

Cheers

Richard.

papadoc

Anybody have any idea when it is going to happen. I've booked tickets for it for my Vegas flight later this month, will I have to change my plans, or is it still some way off?

I suspect it will be some way off - the next timetable change is not scheduled until May and I suspect there will be some bargaining along the way to retain a limited direct airport service.

I too use the line and the prospect of passengers travelling to the airport with lots of luggage amongst masses of commuters concerns me.

Phew, I thaught it meant completely axed[n], but it is just additional stops so hopefully will not affect the time it takes to get to LGW too much[B)].

Originally posted by buns4vs
I suspect it will be some way off - the next timetable change is not scheduled until May and I suspect there will be some bargaining along the way to retain a limited direct airport service.

I guess it could be even longer than that, as NEG have a 15 year franchise to operate the GEx. They would probably be looking for some sort of compensation if the franchise is terminated early, yet (unlike Connex for example) they haven't done anything wrong.

I too use the line and the prospect of passengers travelling to the airport with lots of luggage amongst masses of commuters concerns me.

Have you ever used the train from Schiphol into Amsterdam CS?

It's basically the regular NS railway service, which is actually pretty good, with 6 trains per hour into Amsterdam CS, and there's about 4 trains an hour go via the South side of the city (Amsterdam Zuid and RAI). There's also great links to the rest of the Netherlands - and though I've never tried it, apparently it's possible to get from Schiphol to almost everywhere in the Netherlands with only one change, at least once per hour during the day.

However, the trains used are definitely not suited to air travellers, or anyone with significant amounts of luggage. They are double-decked suburban-style (so you have to go up or down stairs to reach the passenger saloons), and have little or no space for baggage.

You frequently end up standing in a doorway/lobby area by the doors, especially if the train is full.

While I can understand the motivation to make better use of the paths currently used by the GEx during the peaks, it needs to be done properly.

One of the issues is that with GEx running a non-stop service while everything is stopping, the GEx train will actually consume more train paths on the network. By inserting a couple of stops, it will actually consume fewer paths!

I wonder if GEx could oppease the DfT by inserting stops at East Croydon and Clapham Junction in the peaks, and appropriate redjustment of ticketing rules?

If the DfT are hell-bent on replacing the GEx with a regular train service, the trains used need to be air traveller friendly (so plenty of luggage space, etc.), and present a good image of the country to arriving pax - clean, well maintained, on time, no graffiti.

Cheers,
Mike

Found this

{mcuth: edited to tidy up url}