Gatwick Airport Shuttle Transit
The Gatwick Airport Shuttle Transit is a long elevated automated people mover that links the North and South Terminals at London's Gatwick Airport. The line is ground-side, and besides linking the two terminals also serves to link the North terminal to the airport railway station. Although sometimes colloquially, but erroneously, known as a "monorail", the transit vehicles are carried on rubber tyres running on a concrete track with twin running surfaces and are steered by separate guide rails.
History
Until 1987, Gatwick had a single main terminal, now known as the South Terminal. The first people mover was opened on 26 April 1983, running a short distance between the main South Terminal and a small circular satellite pier containing additional departure gates. This was the UK's first automated people-moving system. This system has since been replaced by a walkway-and-moving walkway link, although the remains of the elevated guideway are still visible; in the years since, they have been partially demolished to provide additional headroom to the airside service road below.In 1987, the new North Terminal was opened. A longer-distance people mover was constructed to connect the new terminal to the existing South Terminal and the adjacent railway station, still in service today. The line initially used Adtranz C-100 people-mover cars, which remained in operation until September 2009, by which time they had travelled a total of 2.5 million miles. Gatwick began upgrading its shuttle service in April 2008, with a bus replacement service in place from September 2009. A new operating system and shuttle cars was installed, and the guideway and transit stations were refurbished at a total cost of £45 million. The system re-opened on 1 July 2010, two months ahead of schedule; it featured live journey information and sensory technology to count the number of passengers at stations.