Gatwick passengers again delayed by rail upgrade work
Replacement bus services to Gatwick have once again caused chaos for passengers – for the third time in less than three months.
Rail replacement buses were brought in at the weekend while a section of track was closed for repairs.
On Monday – the hottest day of the year so far – there were no direct trains ran between London, Gatwick and the south coast as upgrade works continued. People heading to Brighton were advised not to travel by Southern rail.
Rail bosses did not properly ‘assess the volume’ of passengers, according to a local MP, and there were large queues and overcrowding at London Victoria and Gatwick airport.
One woman posted on social media that her mother had to step in to carry out ‘crowd control’.
Southern posted a warning on its website about the delays.
It said: "There are currently large queues for the replacement bus services at Gatwick Airport and overcrowding at the station.
"As a result, customers should anticipate extended journey times and cancellations between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport to prevent further overcrowding.
"Services from Brighton towards London Victoria after 5pm are expected to be extremely busy and journey times to be extended as a result."
This is the third time since February that replacement bus services have been unable to handle the amount of passengers heading to Gatwick when a section of the railway has been closed for improvements.
In a previous incident, hundreds of people were stranded in ‘dangerous’ queues waiting for replacement buses at Redhill train station in February.
Crawley MP Henry Smith has said the problems must not happen again.
He told Get Surrey: "I am very concerned at the delays that passengers suffered at Gatwick over this bank holiday weekend due to not enough bus replacement services being put on."
He said Govia Thamelink Railway must ‘assess the volume of traffic better’.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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