The Gatwick express is Britain's oldest airport express service, trains run between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport. Gatwick Airport is in fact significantly out of town, about half way between London and the South Coast of England. However unlike other Airports, Gatwick is close to a station now large. So no new rail lines were needed, just a new train for an express non-stop service from Gatwick To London
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Above: The Driving Cab on the Rear of a Gatwick Express train. |
The Class 73 hauls several Gatwick express coaches as seen above. Again like most Locomotive-Hauled trains in Britian, although while going Victoria-Gatwick the Engine pulls the coaches, for quick turn around times, when going from Gatwick to Victoria, the Engine Pushes the train. There is a driving cab in the rear coach of the train where the driver can sit and drive the train by a remote controlled system. The Class 73 is an electro-diesel engine. It gets its power from the 3rd rail as in all railways in the South of England. However it was equipped with a small diesel engine to extend services beyond sections of line that were unelectrified. However the diesel was so unpowerful it was never really used, and was to be removed. However drivers said they still used the diesel when going over the cross-overs into victoria, because cross-overs and points force a break in the 3rd rail and power loss has to be contended with, so an on-board diesel helps in that respect.
Some of the GX coaches have been given traction motors of their own and designated as class 489 EMU again with a top speed of 90mph. So if you don't see an engine on your Gatwick Express train that’s why.
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Above: The Gatwick Express Shares the line with these 1958 90mph 3rd rail EMUs |
The 1965 class 73 engine which pulls the Gatwick Express has a top speed of only 90mph (144km/h), indeed this reflects many of the linespeeds in the area because it shares the mainline with class 411 Connex-South-Central 90mph EMUs which date back to 1958. Hence at the moment no trackage has been cleared for more than 90mph running. In the London Area the line speeds are more modest only around 60mph (100km/h).
Despite not being a high speed train, it can still travel London to Victoria non stop in just 30 minutes. By comparison, by car or taxi the Journey takes over an hour, as although there is motorway for quite a stretch once in London traffic has to be competed with. Thus this train is simply the fastest way to get from Gatwick Airport to Central London
The Gatwick Express has been a huge success, which turns in quite a significant profit. This lead the way for other dedicated airport express links to be built in Britain, as Express trains offers unrivalled journey times.
The company that runs this service has ordered new EMUs for 1999 and these will travel up to 100mph (160km/h). This will reduce journey times to 25 minutes, and with further work on the track possibly even 20 minutes could be achieved. The old local EMUs are going to be replaced with 100mph trains too, so there will not be a problem with slow/fast sheduling. It is unlikely that the Gatwick Express will ever be a high speed train… there is not much consumer pressure when Journey time is in the order of under half an hour to reduce journey time.
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