• Government announces £150 million investment to upgrade Gatwick Airport train station
• Holidaymakers and commuters to benefit from a larger concourse, five new lifts and eight new escalators
• Improvements set to reduce train delays and provide easier connections across the South East

Tens of millions of rail passengers travelling to and from Gatwick Airport will benefit from improved accessibility and swifter journeys, after the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a £150 million scheme to upgrade the station.

The renovation will reduce train delays caused by platform overcrowding and congestion, while also improving passenger experience by providing easier connections to other destinations.

Planned upgrades will include doubling the size of the station concourse, adding five new lifts and eight escalators to improve passenger flow, and widening two platforms to reduce overcrowding.

The number of people using Gatwick Airport station each year has grown by six million since 2010. Currently the station is not designed for the high volume of daily passengers, often carrying bulky luggage.

The renovation will be managed by Network Rail, in partnership with DfT. Gatwick Airport Ltd and Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership are co-funding the project with £37m and £10m respectively.

Commenting on the upgrade announcement, Cllr Keith Glazier, chair of Transport for the South East, said: “The South East is the UK’s gateway to Europe and the rest of the world, so it’s vital for the economy that we continue to invest in better and more reliable public transport links to major hubs like Gatwick Airport.

“Today’s announcement is great news, not just for the growing number of people who are choosing to travel to and from Gatwick Airport by train, but for the hundreds of thousands who travel on the busy Brighton Main Line each day.

“A bigger, better station will reduce delays caused by congestion while encouraging more people to leave their cars at home when travelling to and from Gatwick.”