The under-threat Gatwick Express rail service has been saved, the Government announced today.

The London to Gatwick airport route - used by millions of holidaymakers travelling to and from the West Sussex airport - could have been axed under new rail plans.

But the Department for Transport said today that the service would be retained as a non-stop route and would keep its 15-minute frequency.

At the busiest times of day the service will also run beyond Gatwick to Brighton, doubling the number of express trains between Brighton and Victoria station in London in peak times.

Unused coaches will be taken from storage and reconditioned to provide the extra trains. At least two extra trains will also run between Redhill and London in the peak. These changes will provide more than 3,700 seats into and out of London at the busiest times.

It was also announced that an extra 48 carriages will be made available on the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect (FCC). The first 16 are due to begin operating on the line, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through Central London, by the end of 2007 with all 48 in place by December 2008.

This allows FCC to double the remaining four-carriage services to eight carriages during the peak. As a result, the company says it can add almost 8,300 seats during the busiest times.

The extra coaches will be transferred from the Southern rail company which will replace them with 48 new Electrostar coaches.

Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "This is good news for both rail and air passengers. Not only are we adding more seats and more trains on some of the country's busiest rail routes, we are also keeping the fast, frequent Gatwick Express. We have done this by making better use of track space, taking carriages out of storage and approving the building of new trains.

"The need to increase capacity is a real challenge facing the railway industry and it is a priority for my department. No single improvement will provide all the extra capacity we want to see but piece-by-piece and route-by-route, we are working to address the challenge. I have already said that there will be 1,000 new carriages on the rail network by 2014."

The current Gatwick Express franchise, which had been due to expire in May 2011, will be ended early in May 2008 to allow the creation of a new franchise that will include both the Gatwick Express and Southern services.