Gatwick Airport station will be upgraded and remodelled under a £150 million scheme announced by the Department for Transport (DfT). This will reduce train delays caused by platform overcrowding and congestion and will also provide easier connections to other destinations.
Included in the plans are a doubling of the size of the station concourse, adding five new lifts and eight new escalators to improve passenger flow, and widening two platforms to reduce overcrowding.
The number of people using Gatwick Airport station each year has grown by 6 million since 2010. Currently the station is not designed for the high volume of daily passengers, often carrying bulky luggage.
The renovation will be managed by Network Rail, in partnership with DfT. Gatwick Airport Ltd and Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership are co-funding the project, contributing £37 million and £10 million respectively.
Costain, which previously led the scheme through its planning and design stages, will now undertake the improvement works needed to create a safer, more convenient interchange between the station platforms and Gatwick International Airport.
Work is expected to begin in early 2020 and be completed during 2022. The works will be sequenced to ensure minimum disruption.
Announcing the investment, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said: “With 46 million people now using Gatwick Airport every year and 20 million coming by train, it is vital that we make the station more accessible and customer friendly for those travelling through it. The UK’s second largest airport has direct rail links to more than 120 destinations and is an important public transport hub.
“We want to see Gatwick Airport’s success continue to flourish and ensure that it is ready for even more passengers in the future.”
Stewart Wingate, chief executive officer of Gatwick Airport, commented: “Gatwick has been transformed in recent years and the redesigned train station will take the airport’s redevelopment to the next level by providing a seamless transition between the airport and the station, more lifts, escalators and a doubling in the size of the concourse.
“The new station will complement the huge improvements to rail services at the airport, which include new fleets of Gatwick Express and Thameslink trains and services that now leave the airport for London every 3 minutes – as frequently as services on the tube.”
Costain CEO Alex Vaughan added: “The development at Gatwick will transform the existing station and provide a greatly enhanced experience for airport and passengers.
“Costain’s extensive capability to deliver complex programmes, using leading edge smart technology, will ensure travellers are kept moving at every stage of the works, minimising disruption during this capacity-critical redevelopment.”
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