1.

Stood on the platform at Clapham Junction and watched two trains for Brighton arrive within 4 minutes of each other. Both were so crammed that the station must surely be thinking of hiring some of those people the Japanese metro has to push commuters into over-full carriages. These were immediately followed by a nearly-empty Gatwick Express train.

2.

Read in the local paper how BAA and the local business organisations in the Gatwick Diamond are still hoping the Gatwick Express can be saved as it is so important to the airport.

I’ve said it before, but if its so important then they can build their own tracks and platforms for it and not clog up the ones that normal train services could otherwise use. To add insult to injury, these trains use up huge chunks of the capacity on the London-Brighton route but will not accept the tickets of anyone on that route.

I suspect that one reason why the Gatwick Express is usually half-full rather than quarter-full is that the station staff and signage do not go out of their way to let arriving foreign visitors know that there are other trains going to exactly the same place which cost less.

Its about time the needs and comfort of all those commuters who live in Crawley (and beyond) and have to use the trains twice every day were given at least as much thought as the slight benefit to airport users who might take that train one a year, or once in a lifetime.