Travelling between London and Gatwick over the Christmas/New Year Period?

One of the curses of the UK Rail network is commence engineering works at what the network calls “a quiet time”, when actually a lot of non regular travellers need to get from A to B in the easiest possible way.

For those who use the Gatwick Express service that connects London Victoria and Gatwick Airport, there will be pain as the Service service will NOT Run over the period.

This is due to:

• Replacing a major rail junction near Purley (north of Gatwick)
• Upgrading signalling at Victoria
• Work on a new platform at Gatwick Airport station.

Some services will operate (operated by Southern), however, there is limited coverage, with extensive delays:

• 25 December: No Service at all on Southern.
• 26 December: No direct service to or from London Victoria. Trains will operate every 30 minutes between London Bridge and East Grinstead, with a connecting bus between East Grinstead and Gatwick Airport. Allow LOTS of extra time as this journey is estimated to take 90 minutes on the replacement route (plus any time getting to London Bridge station)
• 27 December to 1st January: Southerm trains will operate a service every 30 minutes between London Victoria and Gatwick. However, as the train is diverted it will take 95 minutes to reach your destination as it has call additionally at Clapham Junction, Sutton, Dorking, Horsham and Three Bridges.

Delays are never good – if you’re heading to and from a holiday or into a city. Allow extra time for your trips if you are Gatwick bound….

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