GATWICK Express trains are returning to Preston Park station next year.

Govia Thameslink (GTR) told Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas in a formal statement they will be reintroducing Gatwick Express services to Preston Park in May 2019.

Gatwick Express is a service between London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, and Brighton.

It offers the fastest rail route to Gatwick airport and the capital.

Preston Park commuters have been campaigning with the Green Party MP to get the route restored after it were removed earlier this year.

As of May next year, there will be five morning peak trains and four in the evening at peak times.

The Brighton Pavilion MP, who trying to get GTR and Network Rail to trial the services before May, said: “This announcement represents the culmination of a huge amount of tireless work by the Preston Park Train Campaign. I would like to give particular credit to Liz Mattos and her core team.

“I am pleased that GTR and Network Rail have genuinely engaged and have accepted the case we have repeatedly made to them over the last six months.

“Despite the good news for next May, I am very aware that passengers continue to live with the terrible impacts of having services they rely on slashed, and many won’t be able to bear another six months of travel chaos.

“This year’s timetable changes have already forced people out of jobs and robbed them of precious time with their families. I will keep pushing as hard as I can for some of the promised services to be trialled before May so people can get back to their lives.”

Liz Mattos of the Preston Park Train Campaign said: “I’d like to thank Caroline, along with members of the Preston Park Train Campaign, for their support and assistance in getting the Department for Transport, GTR and Network Rail to recognise the awful consequences of their timetable changes and take steps to reinstate the services we need.

“We still have a way to go to get things back to the standard commuters are paying for - but I’m pleased there has finally been some progress.”

The formal GTR statement reads as follows: “We have listened to the Preston Park campaign and met with Caroline Lucas a number of times to present and discuss possible solutions which address the concerns raised in regards to services for Preston Park station.

“With this in mind, we have worked with Network Rail so that five morning peak and four evening peak Gatwick Express trains to and from London Victoria will stop at Preston Park. This has been agreed for introduction with our Summer timetable in May 2019.

“We know that this has been an extremely difficult time for some Preston Park commuters and we are sorry for this. We also know that you would prefer us to begin running the extra trains now but in order to do this we would need to make over a hundred extra changes relating to staff, changing platforms, changes to other train times, etc. and this is not possible immediately.”