A new application has been submitted by Arriva Group that could see Grand Central run trains between Newcastle and Brighton via Gatwick Airport.
Arriva says that its application makes use or under-used capacity on the network and will see five trains a day in each direction.
The service could be introduced as early as December 2026 and would remove the need to change trains in London.
The proposed route for the service would see trains call at Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Warwick Parkway, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Wokingham, Guildford, Redhill, London Gatwick, Haywards Heath and Brighton
Paul Hutchings, Managing Director of Arriva UK Trains’ Rail Services, said: “We’re committed to connecting communities and enabling more people to travel in ways that are convenient and sustainable, so we’re very pleased to be submitting this application for the first direct service between Newcastle and Brighton, opening up new travel opportunities and making better use of available network capacity – all while building on Grand Central’s proud history of connecting traditionally underserved communities.
“This is an exciting time for Grand Central’s growth story and follows the extension of our existing access rights to 2038 as well as the recent announcement of an investment of around £300 million in a new battery hybrid train fleet for our existing routes, further underlining our commitment and ambition for rail in the UK.”
Jonathan Pollard, Chief Commercial Officer of London Gatwick said, “We welcome Arriva’s exploration of a regular service between London Gatwick, the Midlands and North East, and are excited about the opportunities this proposed service could bring. London Gatwick is keen to encourage passengers to use public transport and this enhanced connectivity would support underserved areas, while strengthening and growing our catchment.
“London Gatwick already boasts an extensive network supported by strong relationships with transport providers, making the airport the best connected in the UK by public transport – this proposed addition would further enhance the seamless travel options for passengers and staff.”
Responses
I think that the Newcastle-Brighton open access service could happen. Did Virgin Trains Crosscountry once run a long distance service from Scotland and North of England to the South of England via using the West Coast Main Line and the West London Line. Would be optional to run a new open access service from Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester Piccadilly to Brighton and Gatwick Airport.
Another shameless attempt at an Orcats raid 🙄
Like the old XC services from Brighton to Manchester, this would be dramatically slower than just going via London. Realistically, given how busy the lines they are using are, it’s unlikely they will get a path that’s much less than 6½ hours, which is well over an hour and a half slower than TL+LNER even with a generous connection time at STP/KGX.
The old Manchester to Gatwick service (before it was cut back to Reading) used to use the route Reading >Slough>Acton>Kensington Olympia, Clapham Junction>Gatwick.. no need for a reverse at Redhill
The lines through south/west London are a lot busier now than they were 25 years ago – with 5 stopping trains per hour each way through Olympia, pathing a fast train would be even more difficult now than it was then.
A fair point I hadn’t fully considered.
When Thameslink opened I lived in Brighton and thought it would be great to be able to get a train from Brighton to Newcastle or the north but all we got was Bedford, then Crosslink would we be able get trains from the West/Wales to Kent and East Anglia.
How much platform space would that release in London, and more problems for New St, they could reinstate a couple of platforms at Moor St but then are they looking at HS2
X country run daily Edinburgh to Plymouth. So why not. Long train journey.
“The service could be introduced as early as December 2026”
Since we’re still in the early months of 2025 I don’t think introducing this service by Dec 2026 counts as “early”.
Why do these initiatives take so long to bring to fruition?
Because the office for road and rail needs to approve the application first to see if its viable for the service to commence. Also they need to get new trains also they need to advertise and maybe have to do public research
Yes, of course, these steps are required. But that doesn’t explain why it takes more than 20 months to accomplish them
It takes months to write the timetable, and that’s only once you’ve decided what trains are running – the horse-trading to decide that is not a quick process either – and acquiring trains is not like going to Dawson Rentals and picking up any second-hand bus they have in stock. Timetables only change twice a year, so there only a very limited number of possible start dates. When introducing this service would have widespread impacts on both timetabling and revenue for a huge swathe of the network, a lead time of 18 months is if anything optimistic!