Might GTR abolish their "Gatwick Express" brand?

[Brent Goose]

There’s been a real mix of rolling stock lately on the East Coastway line. Gatwick Express (GX) units continue to be the main traction on the Brighton–Ore service, as they have been for the past few years.


More recently, I’ve noticed GX units—alongside former Great Northern (GN) units—running on services between London Victoria and Eastbourne/Ore. These formations include mixed sets (GX + GN) or two GX units together. I’ve also seen Brighton–Ore services operated entirely by GN units.

I have never understood why the GX trains appeared on the coastway services following the timetable change, where they sat idle somewher?

With the seats lost to the luggage racks and what feels to be a larger first class area (not that a significant minority of people seem to care) there are less standard class seats meaning more standing at peak times.

 

[465fan]

I think the thing is that the market for GX is not the likes of us, it's not really even for British people. Gatwick station is a busy place that could be quite intimidating for foreign visitors who might not be familiar with railways, or maybe even public transport, never mind the British railway system.
Having a nice clear service without any ambiguity as to where it goes for such people is really what it's function is now.

In the olden days there might have been that argument. But Gatwick Express came into being when the likes of Continental Airlines, Delta, and even British Airways had a lot of the 'business heavy' routes from Gatwick, so it had a reason to exist. Now, the Thameslink service is a frequent, 12 car service that takes you to Farringdon and then your taxi to Tottenham Court Road or Bond Street awaits. One might even argue accordingly now that with the Jubilee line and the like, London Bridge is the bigger station for foreign tourists, and Blackfriars also offers Circle and District connectivity.

The key thing now is a capacity-intensive set of services to both Victoria and the Thameslink Core, all of which fundamentally serve the additional but arguably more important purpose of ensuring folk travelling from commuter towns like Lewes, Portslade and Horsham can all get to London, same as the leisure market.

 

[LCRTrainfan979]

Even in countries where I don't speak a word of the language, it's easy enough to see which trains are going to the city centre or the airport on the way home.

Absolutely correct. And to be honest, based on that logic, there will be some tourists who don't speak english who will have no idea what "Gatwick Express" means for them, so will just got on the first train, and they'll just get on a train to "London", a term they are more likely to recognise, even if they end up on a train via Redhill (which are never worth getting given they get overtaken en route)

It's essentially a "Brighton Express" that also stops at Gatwick. Scrap the GX brand and the stupid, deliberately confusing ticketing.

Well it also stops at Haywards Heath as well now, but perfect point nontheless.

For those who say that Gatwick Express isn't for British people, correct. Its meant to be a trap for tourists or maybe some northerners to fall into, where they are misled into thinking they will get a fast and frequent premium service to London, but all that ends up happening is they get ripped off £24.10 instead of £15.30, so with tourists, that is foreigners set back by what will end up being almost £25 when it is considered they'll also probably end up with a transaction fee for not using their own currency. And those who do their research will realise just how much time they really save.

Honestly, Gatwick Express compared to countless other "express" services is just not worth it. The biggest problem I think is in part the Southern Network, which is nowhere near as fast as other networks.

Luton for example by comparison is further away from London than Gatwick is, but its express service takes 22 minutes to reach the Luton Airport Parkway, and checking on trainline, you don't seem to have to pay a £9 premium compared to taking Thameslink in that case scenario. It is in general a problem with the whole Southern Network, which probably deserves a whole discussion of its own based on just how slow it is compared to other comparable Networks. Running the Gatwick Express on such a slow network is just one factor that has lead it to being such a gigantic rip-off.