Join Simon Calder’s travel email list for expert tips and savings on your next trip.
Get Simon Calder’s Travel email
Can you rephrase this?
Can you reword this statement?
The UK’s second busiest airport, Gatwick, has benefitted greatly from its surface connections over the years. While some links, such as the Sussex Scot to Edinburgh and Glasgow, have been discontinued (with easyJet now operating those routes), there are still many impressive routes available. Unfortunately, there is no longer a direct train from Kent to the airport.
In the direction heading north, there are a total of 15 trains available per hour during non-peak times going to London. Some of these trains also have routes that extend to Cambridge, Peterborough, and Bedford. Additionally, there is a convenient connection to Reading for those traveling to the western part of England. If traveling in the southbound direction, there are direct trains from Gatwick to Brighton, as well as other destinations along the south coast and Southampton.
Gatwick is now much easier to use, after a £250m rejuvenation of its rail station. It has the biggest range of rail options among UK airports, with Manchester second. Birmingham, Luton (with the new Dart shuttle link), Southampton and Stansted are not far behind. Heathrow’s access by rail has been transformed by the Elizabeth line.
However, if those are considered good, then where is it considered bad?
Out of the remaining top 10 cities, Edinburgh has a tram system while Glasgow is a quick 20-minute walk from Paisley Gilmour Street station. Bristol and Belfast international airports have the weakest ground transportation options. Both can only be reached by bus, and Bristol’s connectivity is so poor that a major road accident near the airport last month caused delays in departures as employees and travelers struggled to get to the terminal.
Dublin airport is located 206 air miles northwest of Bristol. Currently, it is only accessible by bus. However, the upcoming MetroLink project, inspired by the driverless Copenhagen Metro, will offer quick and frequent transportation between the airport and the city.
The airport in Copenhagen offers both a Metro system and a main intercity line connecting to the capital city of Denmark and Malmo in Sweden. The major hubs in Western Europe, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Paris CDG, also have efficient connections for intercity and local rail travel.
Eastern Europe, on the other hand, is falling behind. While Budapest and Prague have Metro stations conveniently near their international airports, those who rely on public transportation must choose between taking a local bus to the Metro or a higher-priced direct bus to the city center. This is not ideal for those who simply want to use the Metro to reach their final destination. I was informed that the officials in charge of Prague wanted to expand the Metro to the airport, but the lobbying efforts of taxi drivers prevailed. This is evident.
Globally, the United States is known as The Land That Neglected Public Transportation – or, to be more precise, the nation that abandoned mass transit. The journey from New York’s JFK airport to Manhattan is still a challenging task, as is the route from LAX to downtown Los Angeles. Some cities like San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston (which offers a complimentary bus connection to the city’s MBTA system), and Chicago deserve recognition, but there are not many others.
Australia should be more aware, but unfortunately is not. Despite the incident of the New South Wales rail strike that disrupted airport services on the day Australia reopened for tourism last year, Sydney still has decently efficient trains to the city center. Brisbane also has a frequent four-trains-per-hour service. However, Melbourne, which is now considered the largest city in Australia by some standards, only has a bus service as its main gateway. The idea of a rail link to the airport has been in talks since the 1960s and is not expected until the early 2030s, which is quite disappointing. This means taxi drivers are getting lucky.
In other parts of the globe, airports in Africa and Latin America do not have rail connections. However, in the 1990s, I was able to take a scheduled steam train to Asuncion airport in Paraguay.
India, a leading country in railway transportation, also fares poorly in this aspect. China, on the other hand, has a faster railway system, but even its record-breaking magnetic levitation line that connects Shanghai’s Pudong international airport ends at the underwhelming Longyang Road station. To put it into perspective, it would be like trains from Gatwick airport in London only going as far as Balham in the southern part of the city. Any additional suggestions for airports with inadequate surface transportation are welcome in the hall of aviation-related disappointments.
This news was reported by the Independent UK.
