London Gatwick Airport to Brighton on the Gatwick Express Train

A train ride on the Gatwick Express. The guard on this train was more than a little unhappy with the number of people that try to get a cheap ride on this service with a Thameslink ticket!
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Gatwick Express is an express rail passenger service between London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, Haywards Heath and Brighton in South East England. It is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway train operating company on the Gatwick Express route of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise.

Trains have regularly served Gatwick Airport since the opening of its rebuilt railway station in May 1958. Prior to the 1980s, these services were relatively slow and without any particular priority; this led to the Gatwick Liaison Group advocating for a non-stop service to London during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Accordingly, during May 1984, the Gatwick Express service was launched using air-conditioned InterCity carriages. British Rail operated Gatwick Express through to its privatisation in April 1996, after which National Express took over operations under a franchising arrangement. One of the franchise commitments made by National Express was the replacement of the inherited rolling stock with new-build trains for Gatwick Express; this led to the introduction of the Class 460 Junipers during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In June 2008, Gatwick Express ceased to exist as a separate franchise; it was merged into the Southern train operating company, although it continues to be maintained as a separate identity. Additional rolling stock in the form of the 442 (5WES) Wessex Electrics were introduced. However, figures such as the Chairman of Gatwick Airport, Roy McNulty, publicly criticised Gatwick Express, claiming its services to be overcrowded and the rolling stock outdated. In July 2015, Southern including the Gatwick Express service was merged into Govia Thameslink Railway. Since January 2016, both Oyster cards and contactless payment cards have been accepted for travel between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. The introduction of Class 387/2s during the 2010s was objected to by the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) trade union, but the dispute was later resolved.

All Gatwick Express services were suspended on 30 March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Limited services resumed briefly during December 2021, but were suspended again only weeks later due to redevelopment works at Gatwick Airport station as well as COVID-related factors. A reduced service of two trains per hour resumed on 3 April 2022; full service cannot resume until work at the airport station is complete.

London Gatwick (/ˈɡætwɪk/), also known as Gatwick Airport (IATA: LGW, ICAO: EGKK), is the secondary international airport serving London, England. It is located near Crawley, West Sussex, England 29.5 miles (47.5 km) south of Central London. In 2022, Gatwick was the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Heathrow Airport, and was the 8th-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic. It covers a total area of 674 hectares (1,670 acres).

Gatwick opened as an aerodrome in the late 1920s; it has been in use for commercial flights since 1933. The airport has two terminals, the North Terminal and the South Terminal, which cover areas of 98,000 m2 (1,050,000 sq ft; 117,000 sq yd) and 160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft; 190,000 sq yd) respectively. It operates as a single-runway airport, using a main runway with a length of 3,316 metres (10,879 ft). A secondary runway is available but, due to its proximity to the main runway, can only be used if the main runway is not in use. In 2018, 46.1 million passengers passed through the airport, a 1.1% increase compared with 2017.

Gatwick is the secondary London hub for British Airways and the largest operating base for low-cost carrier easyJet.