Talk:Gatwick Express

Ticketing
''London-Gatwick is the only journey on the UK National Rail network for which passengers are required to choose between different operators when buying tickets — on all other flows shared by different National Rail operators the tickets are inter-available, although some restrictions may apply (such as "NOT THAMESLINK" or "WAGN ONLY"). Through tickets for which the London-Gatwick line is part of a permitted route are valid on the Gatwick Express, provided they are not endorsed "NOT GATWICK EXPRESS". Tickets from London to stations south of Gatwick generally bear this restriction.''

I moved this down the article from the introduction. But its a load of mumbo jumbo really and needs to be edited or deleted. MRSC 20:17, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I think the statement "London-Gatwick is the only journey on the UK National Rail network for which passengers are required to choose between different operators when buying tickets" is wrong. There are many other routes where chosing an operator is required. Some examples:

--82.39.43.61 11:50, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

But usually the expensive fare is inter-available, although the services of the company that sets the fare are usually the ones you're likely to use because they're the most convenient or there are more of them. For example, the "Virgin Trains" fare from Birmingham to London is actually inter-available. It can be used on the Chiltern, Silverlink and Central services as well as the Virgin ones. It's just that you're very unlikely to want to do so because the Virgin services are faster.

Also when I wrote that I was considering walk-on fares, rather than bookahead. For London to Scotland, the walk-on fares are inter-available except for cheap tickets valid only on the ScotRail sleeper services. However, Virgin and GNER compete for customers who book ahead: the cheap tickets booked weeks in advance are specific to one operator or the other.

The London-Gatwick ticketing is an anomaly because the more expensive fare is actually only valid on the more expensive train (i.e. Gatwick Express). I feel it's important to point this out because otherwise one would get the impression that rail passengers in the UK normally have to worry about which operator to travel with when they buy tickets for travel straight away --- when for the great majority of journeys they need neither know nor care. Flagboy 10:24, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Use of the S-Bahn logo
I cannot see the advantage of using the s-bahn logo on the route map. Surely using just the standard KBF symbol is better than usi8ng a confusing one that will have no meaning whatsoever for the average English language Wikipedean??? There's just no logic to it! DrFrench 12:21, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * OTOH it's standardised and has an appropriate (en) alias in "subway" (an Americanism, but still). If there is a demonstrable risk of confusion (which has not been supported so far) we can add it to the Railway line template/Legend page and/or supply an (en) description on the image page. –EdC 22:15, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * We've created a UK specific (ie blue rather than yellow) motorway icon, so IMHO a tube icon should be "doable" but I'm sticking with s-bhan until someone who understands this svg cobblers can do one! Pickle 20:34, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Gatwick express logo.gif
Image:Gatwick express logo.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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Slow 0030 service from Victoria
Any idea why the last southbound Gatwick Express departure of the day, at 0030, takes 54 minutes? The normal journey time is 30 minutes, and it doesn't make any stops en route. In fact this train is slower than any of the overnight stopping trains operated by Southern, which make four intermediate stops. Mtford 04:13, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

My guess would be that it allows for every conceivable line closure. That would imply running from Victoria all the way to Purley along the slow lines (maybe even via Crystal Palace), getting stuck behind all the last stopping trains, then running through Redhill at a snail's pace. That said, it is only a guess.--Peeky44 (talk) 18:27, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

NPOV?
Can someone explain why there's an NPOV template at the top of this page? There doesn't seem to be any discussion of it on the talk page. I'm going to remove it if nobody can explain what the debate is. --Jfruh (talk) 06:49, 18 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I've removed it, as no-one seems to have spoken up. --Jfruh (talk) 20:31, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Handover of franchise to Southern
Since this article about the National Express Company that operated the GX franchise. Isn't it better to keep this page as is and include information about GX operations after 22 June in the Southern article. In my understanding this is a simple handover of franchise operations from one company to another. 91.65.36.246 (talk) 10:31, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

A new section could be added to Southern specially for Gat Exp, or perhaps a new article could be started for the Gatwick Express brand that is part of Southern, a la the Caledonian Sleeper. The Island Line page was retained however after its integration into the South Western Franchise. Spiritofsussex (talk) 10:47, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree a new article should be created for GX the sub brand of Southern, just like Stansted Express. This article is about the National Express company and not the souther sub brand. A similar thing as spliting the articles of ScotRail (National Expess) and ScotRail (First Group). 91.65.36.246 (talk) 12:37, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Ticketing II
Does the section "Tickets & fares" need all that information? Per WP:NOTTRAVEL (and also WP:NOTTIMETABLE) I really think that this information is outside the scope of Wikipedia. -- Red rose64 (talk) 16:26, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

Dubious claims
Under "Express service", the article currently states "The first unit was taken on a promotional tour of the UK introducing it to travel agents in various centres, thought to be the first time a Southern Region train had travelled north." I find this hard to understand, and even more difficult to believe. It is so loosely phrased that various interpretations seem valid, and I am not sure if any of them are correct. Any ideas? I don't want to just delete it - if there is a reliable source which verifies and clarifies the claim, it would definitely be notable. --Peeky44 What's on your mind? 12:36, 30 January 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) "Southern Region train"
 * 2) does this mean a complete train manufactured for the Southern Region? It cannot be that, as the article then states that the coaches came from the Midland Main Line...
 * 3) If it means a Southern locomotive, that happened 36 years earlier in the 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials
 * 4) If it means a complete Southern Region train, surely they went off the Southern Region on long-distance specials (football trains, holiday trains etc).
 * 5) What is meant by "travelled north"?
 * 6) It cannot possibly mean moving towards the north (the most obvious definition) - all Southern trains would have eventually ended up stranded on the coast!
 * 7) Other options mean having to define what exactly is meant by "north".
 * 8) North of London?
 * 9) North of the Southern Region's most northerly line junction with another region?
 * 10) The North of England?

Copyright problem removed
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A new edit
I just put a train hired from GN -- RiceKrispiesfan123 (talk) 16:41, 23 March 2020 (UTC)