Gatwick station secures extra funding for redevelopment

Details of Gatwick’s new railway station have emerged as an additional £10 million of funding was announced to secure the redevelopment of the transport hub.

The £120.5 million redesign will transform the station, with work scheduled to start in 2017 for completion in 2020.

The £10 million announced by Department for Communities and Local Government minister Penny Mordaunt is funding that the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) will put toward the station’s redevelopment.

Gatwick will also contribute £30 million, Network Rail £30 million, with government contributing the rest.

Planned improvements include:

• A doubling in size of the concourse to reduce congestion and improve the passenger experience
• More escalators and lifts to improve access to all platforms
• Intuitive passenger flow and clear concise information

The improvements will see the station “comfortably manage” the expected growth in air passengers using the single runway airport, with demand at the station set to increase by 5 million to 20 million rail passengers a year by 2025.

The airport’s chief commercial officer, Guy Stephenson, said: “Gatwick has transformed itself in recent years and millions more passengers are benefiting from the world class service the airport now offers.

“The redeveloped station will complement Gatwick’s transformation and our passengers will experience a seamless transition between the airport and the new station.

“The whole project is a fantastic example of the public and private sector working together to deliver a world class transport hub.”

The station upgrade will be delivered alongside an increase in capacity on rail services through Gatwick, between Brighton and London.

These include:

• New Gatwick Express trains from 2016 and new Thameslink trains by 2018
• Connections to Crossrail at Farringdon in 2019
• New twice hourly direct connections to Peterborough and Cambridge
• A train to central London every 2.5 minutes by 2025
• Quicker journey times to the West End and City, than from Heathrow