Gatwick Express or Southern to London?
 

I go to the wisdom of the forums again. For our trip in two weeks to London, we have a choice of either taking the Gatwick Express to Victoria and then the tube to Vauxhall, or Southern train to Vauxhall with one change.

Any suggestions as to which is better?

Racer042

I can only say that I found the GE to be convenient, easy to use, fast, and probably more expensive than S. I had heard of it and wanted to try it. Not lot of research behind that decision.

Conveniently, when you get off at Victoria, you can purchase an Oyster Card at the Travel Info office right there.

The difference is 5 quid and the time difference is only about 5 minutes if even that much...I think there is one stop on the regular train. The only difference, and you have to decide if it's worth the 5 quid is that the regular train already has passengers on it and does not really have much special provision for baggage and you only have a minute or two to board as it ocmes into the station....leaving Victoria is almost no problem as the train originates there but coming into Victoria especially during morning rush hours might be a bit of a problem. But it's your money and you have to decide.

The oyster website says that it can be purchased at Gatwick Express at the airport.

xyz123: you refer to the regular train as already having passengers on it, which are you referring to: Gatwick Express or Southern?

Thanks,

Racer042

Racer, the GEX only runs between Victoria and LGW so it's the Southern Train that will already have passengers.

I took Southern Trains and it was fine. I was very happy to save the money and spend a few extra minutes on the train. It's not a very long ride even with an extra stop or two.

Our dear departed Robespierre would have been all over this question. He's the one who convinced me to give up the GEX and to try Southern Trains. I miss him. ((f))

Southern Train would be my vote. It will be >£5 cheaper per person. Plus, going to Vauxhall, you change at Clapham Junction, which involves going from one platform to another.

If you take GEX, you end up in Victoria station. Then you need to get from the Rail station section of Victoria to the Underground station of Victoria. You'll end up lugging your suitcases much farther. And your GEX ticket is only good for Victoria. You will need to then pay for the underground ticket to get to Vauxhall.

BTW, how many people? If there is 3 or 4 of you, you can travel for even less on Southern, taking advantage of their GroupSave deal: http://www.southernrailway.com/offers/groupsave/

There are three of us, so Southern Train it is.

Thanks for the help. I am looking forward to my first visit to London. Then we are on to Paris via the Chunnel.

Racer 042

If you intend travelling before 10:00am on a weekday then the GEX will be a better option as the Southern Trains will be full of commuters.

On this occasion, convenience certainly argues for getting the train to Victoria and on to Vauxhall by tube

Clapham Junction is Britain's most user-unfriendly railway station (as well as, by some measures, its busiest. Not that many people get on or off trains here, but because more trains go through it and stop than at almost any other railway station in the world), and absolutely not designed for changing trains. Especially not with luggage.

You'll 99.999% certainly have to use (quite long) staircases to change platforms. And platform announcements are on a small number of monitors, which aren't on every platform: typically you have to get a staircase down to an underpass, walk to its end to find a monitor, find out your platform, walk back to your staircase then hoik your bags up.

By comparison the dozen steps you have to take your bags down to get to the tube escalators at Victoria are positively luxurious - and the distances walked comparable.

I'd buy my Oyster at Gatwick, get a train to Victoria (being a cheapskate I'd certainly get Southern) then get the tube. You'll certainly be using your Oystercard later in the day, so there's no additional cost involved.

On weekdays, Southern Groupsave doesn't kick in till about 0930.

If you take a train from Gatwick to London Victoria, then the tube to Vauxhall, you'll have to go up and down similar flights of stairs, and walk much further than you would by changing at Clapham Junction.
At Clapham Junction, the train from Gatwick will arrive on platform 12. There are trains to Vauxhall every few minutes from platform 10 which is obviously very close. There is a footbridge or an underpass between platforms.

Well, we ended up taking the Gatwick Express to Victoria and then the tube to Vauxhall. The Gatwick encourages you to buy a ticket while on the train and that saved us time from standing in line at Gatwick. We prepuchased oyster cards so we were ready for the tube to Vauxhall.

The trains are about half converted to the Oyster card. It will be nice when one can use the oyster card everywhere.

Racer042

"<i>The trains are about half converted to the Oyster card. It will be nice when one can use the oyster card everywhere.</i>"

if by 'everywhere' you mean outside of London (like to Windsor on your other thread), Oyster is a TFL (Transport for London) product usable in London - not anywhere else.

About half of the Southwest Trains are converted to use the Oyster Card and half are not. I saw a map somewhere, but I can't find it right now.

Racer042

Real cheap skates can take the non Gatwick Ex trains to East Croydon, inside the confines of the TfL/Oyster Card scheme then go onto anywhere in London on their Oyster Card, buying a ticket from Gatwick to East Croydon

otherwise the Southern vs Gatwick Ex to Victoria Q is an evergreen one and, being a rail buff, i have sat at Gatwick train station platforms and watched Southern and Capital First (or whatever they call these former Thames Link trains) and crowding on the non Gatwick Ex trains can at times be SRO - not so good for folks with luggage who have to squeeze both themselves and luggage into the mobbed train car. But the majority of times Southern, etc trains were not that crowded - but you never really know - say one of the Southern trains was cancelled - not unusual in the London area then the next train picks up twice the number of passengers, etc.

Now there has been a change with Gatwick Express trains this year i understand - one plus with them were that one would dependably be waiting on a dedicated platform at the airport and thus you could always board the train and sit comfortably until it went off - but not it also comes from points south of Gatwick and thus is not empty when it starts from the airport and i'm not sure how long the dwell time is at Gatwick - i always find the short few-minute stop hectic but now as both Gatwick Ex and other trains are stopping trains until Gatwick at least i'm not sure if there is a difference.

Gatwick Express trains though IME are significantly more plush than other trains, esp in first class, which basically don't exist on other trains.

If coming from Victoria to the airport the Gatwick Express still has a dedicated siding i believe but for Southern trains i would expect you have to wait and peruse the zillions of departure boards and then scurry along with many others when the track number appears.

there is a different in service and price as well

Clapham Junction is Britain's most user-unfriendly railway station (as well as, by some measures, its busiest. Not that many people get on or off trains here, but because more trains go through it and stop than at almost any other railway station in the world), >>

Flanner - you're talking about the station I love. I can't begin to count the number of times I travelled through Clapham Junction when I lived in Kent and worked in london.
but one occasion sticks in my memory - as we approached CJ, the guard started his customary annoucement, but then went off on a frolic of his own "change at Clapham Junction for trains to Brighton, Horsham, Waterloo, the Eurostar, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Istanbul (!). he went on for ages in like vein, until we were all laughing.

I smiled all the way to work.

"<i>About half of the Southwest Trains are converted to use the Oyster Card and half are not</i>"

Yes - for travel IN London. Not for travel to other places (Windsor, Brighton, etc. etc)

Good discussion with lots of information. Personally, I found changing at CJ quite difficult with my luggage, as it was about 8:30 a.m. and very crowded. However, cute school boys came up behind me and grabbed my suitcase and carried it to the top of the steps. If they had not run off to catch their own train, I would tipped them.
Thanks, Racer, for your follow-up.

Clapham Junction is the U.K.'s busiest rail station - at least that's what a huge sign there announces. And to change trains - wow - a zillion tracks - no lifts that i remember. But a great place for rail spotters, who can often be glimpsed at the end of the platforms, notebooks and thermoses in hand, duly recording every head code of every train that rolls thru here - lamenting probably that Eurostar train sets no longer grind to a halt in the vicinity.