Why I Like The Heathrow Southern Railway Proposal
Rail Projects
For nearly twenty years I spent a lot of time talking to project managers and reading about the implementation of large projects and systems.
It has led me to various conclusions about large projects and what makes some succeed and others fail.
If you look at rail projects over the last few years, you get some very good examples of projects and some very bad ones too!
Look at how the following factors affect the outcome.
Size
In my view, size can be discounted, as it doesn’t seem to affect the outcome. There’s been good and bad projects of all sizes.
I think it’s just as likely to get a severe problem on a small project as a large one.
Stations
There has been the occasional station project delivered late, but in general stations have been on time and mostly on budget.
Some like Canary Wharf, Kings Cross, Manchester Victoria, Reading and St. Pancras aren’t small and a few existing ones have been rebuilt around a working station.
The project management has been good, but could it also be that building a station, with the exception of the tracks, is not much different to constructing any other complicated hi-tech modern building, like an office block, university building or a hospital?
Tunnels
In all the tunnels built in London over the last fifty years, there has only been a couple of problems with the actual tunnels during construction and since.
None were serious!
I think until proven otherwise, we seem to have tunneling under control.
Tracks, Chords, Bridges and Dive-Unders
Over the last few years, several major bottlenecks have been removed at places like Acton, Hitchin, Ipswich, Jane Croft, Norton Bridge and other places by creating lengths of new railway. Sometimes, they have even been electrified.
Network Rail and their contractors seem to have improved dramatically, since the dark days of Hatfield.
I’ve Started So I’ll Finish
I believe that the best way to give a project problems, is to get everybody all geared up to start work, only for management or politicians to have second thoughts.
Give The Public Bread And Circuses
We can’t rate Crossrail yet, but Thameslink has not been a very happy project.
A lot of Thameslink’s problems have been magnified by the way they have treated the public.
Crossrail on the other hand has been open, as to what is happening and hasn’t been slow to use things like archaeology to their advantage.
Large Projects Should Be A String Of Smaller Ones
In my view large projects should be a string of smaller projects, that can be done independently.
If you look at Crossrail, the largest project is the creation of the tunnels through London, which can be built without affecting the existing railway. When they are virtually complete, then the tracks are changed to connect the new and old railway.
In some ways it’s a bit like building a housing estate on a greenfield site, where you put in the roads and services first and then build all the houses.
With Crossrail, very few Londoners or travellers will have had their daily lives disrupted.
The smaller, but still large projects are now being built along the tunnels.
Crossrail has been well-designed around a project plan that allowed it to be built.
Thameslink on the other hand, is several big projects, all of which have the ability to cause major disruption.
- The creation of two new tracks from London Bridge to Charing Cross.
- The total rebuilding of London Bridge station.
- The Bermondsey dive-under to untangle the tracks.
- The project is also complicated by the introduction of the new Class 700 trains.
As these projects are all being done at the same time, it is a recipe for chaos and disruption.
Thameslink is very delayed from its original planned finish date and it has been started and stopped more times than a 73 bus on Oxford Street.
Electrification
Electrification is the fox in the chicken coop, especially when it is being added to existing lines.
Look at these schemes.
- Great Western Electrification
- North Western Electrification
- Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Program
You could even include the Gospel Oak to Barking Line Electrification, where things don’t seem to be going very fast on a smaller scheme.
Is it we’re just not any good at it, or is it that electrifying old infrastructure, with all the problems that brings, a very difficult job.
The Heathrow Southern Railway
It is outlined on this web site, which I suspect will become more informative. If you want to know more, buy the December 2016 Edition of Modern Railways.
This Google Map shows Heathrow Airport and the area to the South and South-West.
South And South-West Of Heathrow Airport
Note the A30 road going diagonally across the map South of the Airport.
South of this road is a row of three stations; Staines, Ashford and Feltham, which are all on the Waterloo to Reading Line. To the West of Stains, the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line branches away to the North via Wraysbury.
The proposal for the Heathrow Southern Railway envisages.
- A short tunnel into the existing Heathrow Terminal 5 station, which was designed to accept a line from the West
- A rail link alongside the M25 to a junction on the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line just West of the M25.
- A chord at the junction of the Staines to Windsor and Eton Line and the Reading to Waterloo Line to allow trains to go between the Airport and Reading.
- The rail link alongside the M25 would continue South and connect the Airport to Chertsey station on the Chertsey Branch Line. This would allow trains to run between the Airport and Woking.
This Google Map shows where the rail link would go between Terminal 5 and Staines.
Terminal 5 To Staines
Staines is the station at the South of the map with Wraysbury at the West. \they are joined by the Staines and Windsor and Eton Line, will will have a connection to the Airport.
This Google Map shows Stainesstation and the rail lines in detail.
The line to the North West goes to Windsor, whilst the one to the West goes to Reading. The line to the East goes to Waterloo via Feltham, Twickenham and Clapham Junction.
It might be tight to create a chord between the Windsor and Reading Lines, but Heathrow Southern Railway believe there is room for a bay platform at Staines station. They also propose, that Staines could be another Crossrail destination.
This Google Map shows the route to connect the rail link to Chertsey station.
Chertsey Station And The M25
Chertsey station is in the South-East corner of the map, with Thorpe Park Resort in the North East corner.
The junction between the rail link from Terminal 5 and the Chertsey Branch, would probably be close to the motorway.
So why do I like this proposal?
The main work needed for the core of the railway is as follows.
- Create a rail tunnel into the existing station at Heathrow Terminal 5.
- Build a railway alongside the M25 to connect to existing rail lines to Waterloo, Stains and Woking.
- Update the railways and stations under Heathrow to allow trains to go from Old Oak Common through the Airport and out the other side.
Once the core is complete, a succession of smaller projects would connect the railway to longer distance services at Basingstoke, Clapham Junction, Old Oak Common, Reading and Waterloo stations.
There is a lot to like about the concept.
Construction
These points apply to the construction of the rail link.
- Much of the difficult construction work is probably inside the fence at Heathrow, creating the connection to Terminal 5 station.
- The problems of constructing on this route alongside the motorways, are probably well-known.
- The M25 could even be put in a tunnel, with the railway on top.
- The map in Modern Railways shows no tunnels except for the one to Terminal 5 and just three rail bridges.
- I doubt there would be much demolition of properties.
- Land take inside built-up areas would be minimal, with junctions outside of the towns and villages.
I feel that with good project management the railway could be built without disrupting existing rail services or road traffic.
Electrification
The route would be electrified with the following points applying.
- Heathrow Terminal 5 station is electrified at 25 KVAC overhead.
- Most of the lines South-West of Heathrow are electrified using 750 VDC third-rail.
- Modern trains like Crossrail’s Class 345 trains and Thameslink’s Class 700 trains can handle both systems.
- There is no electrification of existing railways.
- Electrification of any new railway could use third-rail, to be less visually intrusive.
I doubt there will be any problems with electrification.
Connectivity
The new link provides excellent connectivity to places like Basingstoke, Clapham Junction, Guildford, Paddington, Reading, Richmond, Waterloo, Windsor and Woking.
It also has excellent links to these services.
- Crossrail at Heathrow, Old Oak Common and Paddington.
- South Western Railway at Guildford, Waterloo and Woking.
- Chiltern and HS2 at Old Oak Common.
- Great Western Railway at Paddington and Reading.
The Heathrow Southern Railway is so much more than a link into Heathrow from the South and West.
South Western Railway
The new franchise for London and the South-West would appear to be ambitious and it has already decided to change its rather assorted suburban trains for a new fleet of Class 701 trains.
These new trains are from the same Aventra family as Crossrail’s Class 345 trains.
South Western Railway also has a common part-owner with Great Western Railway, which must mean that co-operation between the two operators is more likely, than a turf war about who runs services into Heathrow.
In some ways though, one of the biggest strengths of the Heathrow Southern Railway, is that it could take the pressure of the South West Main Line and allow some services to use Paddington instead of Waterloo as a terminus.
Heathrow’s Plans
Heathrow may get a third runway, but their plans do envisage a complete rebuilding of the airport into two main terminals; East and West, which would be served by all trains.
Whatever they do, one of Heathrow’s biggest problems is the pollution caused by the road traffic servicing the airport.
A comprehensive rail network stretching East and West of the airport, must surely help in reducing this pollution, by bringing more passengers, works and freight into the airport on electric trains.
Funding
Because of the possible returns on capital, I suspect that it would be very easy to finance privately.
Conclusion
It is definitely one of those projects, where by creating something a bit out of the ordinary, leads to lots of other worthwhile things.
Out Of The Mouths Of Brummies
The December 2016 Edition of Modern Railways has a special report on railways and trams in the West Midlands.
There are some choice quotes from those involved in planning the future of the rail network in the area.
On HS2
“It’ll be half an hour from Birmingham Interchange station to the Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common. That means Birmingham Airport will be in London Zone 4, timewise.”
On Stations
“Nobody looks at their strategic value to the community”
On New Street Station
“The Birmingham New Street Gateway rebuilding has quadrupled the passenger circulation area in the station, but it hasn’t addressed the key issue of lack of track capacity”`
On Battery Power For Trams
“Since then there has been lots of work and we’re now comfortable that battery technology has advanced sufficiently for it to be viable.”
“Under test conditions with plain straight track a tram could travel 20 km catenary-free. In practice, this would be rather less for a fully laden tram ascending the 9% gradient on Penfold Street. The longest catenary-free run we’ve envisaged is around 2 km, and we’re comfortable we can achieve that”
On More Trams
“They will have to be bespoke to a degree in order to operate catenary-free, but the rail sector is embracing alternative technology and on-board energy store so we may be looking at something more advanced afain.”
Conclusion
It’s all upbeat and it looks like Birmingham is looking forward to the battery trams.
No-one mentioned the B-word!
The Natives Are Getting Restless In Crofton Park
One of my Google Alerts picked up this article on Brockley Central, which is entitled You Shall Go To Blackfriars – Join The Campaign For Crofton Park Trains Every Fifteen Minutes.
This is said.
Local action groups aren’t supposed to be this successful. The Cinderella Line is a campaign to improve the frequency and quality of services that run through Crofton Park Station.
The group has had a recent success, in that there are now four more trains stopping at the station in the peak.
So I thought I’d go and have a look, getting my paper and some bits of shopping I need on the way.
I had started out, just before 0900, with the aim of getting the 0930 Thameslink train to Crofton Park station. Hopefully, it would have been running a bit late, so I could use my Freedom Pass.
But it was worse than that, as the train had been cancelled, so in the end, I had to take a train to Catford station and then come back a station to get to Crofton Park. As I couldn’t afford to wait, I had to pay for the ticket myself.
Not that I’m bothered!
But did Thameslink cancel the first train after 0930, to force people to catch an earlier train at full price, if they wanted to get to work on time?
Am I being cynical?
These pictures tell the story of my journey to Crofton Park and back via Peckham Rye station to Haggerston station, from where I walked home.
A few points.
Overcrowding
I took three Thameslink trains and one London Overground train this morning.
- St. Pancras to Catford – 8-cars and overcrowded until Farringdon.
- Catford to Crofton Park – 4-cars and crowded.
- Crofton Park to Peckham Rye – 4-cars and overcrowded
- Peckham Rye to Haggerston – 5-cars and plenty of space, with seats for those who wanted them.
Considering, that all these journeys were in the Off Peak, except for the last Overground train, it is just not good enough.
Crofton Park Station
Crofton Park station, is typical of many stations, that are South of the Thames.
- It is certainly scruffy.
- The main entrance is not step-free and the stairs are steep.
- The platforms are ready for twelve-car trains.
- There was a bad gap to mind, between train and platform.
- Staff were only noticeable by their absence.
- A fellow passenger said that announcements were unreliable.
- The information displays were not of the best.
- Typical Off peak services are 2 trains per hour (tph)
But it was certainly a station, that with the spending of some money to add lifts, could be a station of high quality and a modicum of quality.
The New Class 700 Trains
Hopefully, the new eight-car Class 700 trains will improve matters at Crofton Park, as they are better designed than the overcrowded four-car Class 319 trains, that I had to endure this morning.
This report on Brockley Central, says this about the new trains.
“We have also been pushing Thameslink to introduce new Class 700 trains, with 30% more capacity than the trains we currently have. The first of these will appear from the end of November and then replace our current trains at the rate of one per week.
So that is good news.
Extra Services To Victoria And Blackfriars
The report on Brockley Central, says this about the new services.
“From December 12th, four new trains will stop at Crofton Park between 7-9am . Three will go on to Denmark Hill and Victoria and one to Elephant & Castle and Blackfriars.
“The Victoria services currently pass through Crofton Park but don’t stop there, so they will now make the additional stop at Crofton Park.
So that is good news as well.
The interesting thing about these new train services, is that no new services are actually being introduced, but the extra service at Crofton Park is being created by getting a train that normally goes straight through to stop at Crofton Park.
The latest generation of trains, are designed to execute a stop and start in a minimum time, so I think we’ll see extra stops added on more than a few services.
This quick stop feature is achieved by several things.
- Powerful braking and acceleration.
- Wide doors.
- Level step between train and platform.
- Good information, so passengers getting on can find space.
- Good coordination between the driver and staff on the platform.
Increasingly, for some operators, a fast dwell time will be an important factor in choosing the trains to procure and providing a better service.
Here at Crofton Park station, it is being used to get extra trains to stop at the station.
Increasing Thsmeslink Frequency From 2 tph To 4 tph At Crofton Park Station
This is an aspiration for Crofton Park, but I suspect that this cannot be done at present, as there are not enough paths through the core Thameslink tunnel.
So until Thameslink is fully open in 2018, Crofton Park will probably get 2 tph.
Thameslink is consulting on the service when the full service opens.
This document on the Thameslink web site, shows two different services calling at Crofton Park.
- TL8 from Blackfriars (Welwyn Garden City in the Peaks) to Sevenoaks
- TL9 from Kentish Town (Luton in the Peaks) to Orpington.
Both have a frequency of 2 tph at all times,so this gives 4 tph through Crofton Park.
Thameslink put it like this in their proposal.
Thameslink Metro Routes TL8 and TL9 combine to provide four trains per hour (daily) between Central London, Catford, Bromley South and Bickley. During peak times these services may be supplemented by Southeastern Metro services providing six trains per hour.
That’s a well-thought out service, by any standards.
The Catford Metro
I always like calling lines like this a Metro.
As Govia Thameslink Railway have just given the name of the Great Northern Metro to the services out of Moorgate, why not call this line the Catford Metro?
It would call at the following stations.
- London Blackfriars
- Elephant & Castle
- Camberwell (if added)
- Denmark Hill
- Peckham Rye
- Nunhead
- Crofton Park
- Catford
- Bellingham
- Beckenham Hill
- Ravensbourne
- Shortlands
- Bromley South
So it looks like Crofton Park could be in the middle of a Catford Metro.
- It would have a frequency of at least 4 tph.
- It would be running new eight-car Class 700 trains.
- 2 tph would go North to each of Welwyn Garden City and Luton in the Peak
- 2 tph would go North to each of Blackfriars and Kentish Town in the Off Peak
- 2 tph would go South to each of Orpington and Sevenoaks.
- It would have a good connection to the 4 tph South London Line at Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye.
It’s a lot better than Crofton Park has at the present time!
Conclusion
Crofton Park has a big future.
Is Wi-Fi Becoming A Curse?
I usually only switch wi-fi on when I need it, on my Samsung phone. And when I don’t, I switch it off immediately.
Yesterday, I forgot to switch it off and this morning as the bus went through the Angel, the phone had switched itself to an O2 advert and it was trying to get me to install fourteen copies of updated apps.
I immediately, switched wi-fi off and didn’t install any updated apps, as in fact, I only use one app and that never seems to update itself.
How many people just update all the apps, they’re asked to do and inadvertently load a piece of malware, that empties their bank account?
Remember, it is in your phone service provider’s interest that you keep updating, as this generally increases your bill.
I also have no financial details on my mobile phone. Anybody who does, deserves to lose all their money!
In Pursuit Of The Perfect Train Design
This is the title of an article in Rail Technology Magazine, in which Adrian Shooter, the chair of Vivarail discusses their Class 230 train, which is soon to go into trial service on the Coventry to Nuneaton Line.
The article is certainly worth reading.
How To Spend Five Million Pounds
Whtton station has recently been rebuilt. I was alerted to the completion by this article in Rail Technology Magazine, which is entitled £5m upgrades completed at Whitton station.
I took these pictures this morning.
It is a no-frills design, which uses a lot of painted steel beams and classic brickwork.
I think it is true to say, that they’ve spent the money on what a station like this needs.
- Full length platforms
- Lifts
- Adequate platform cover.
- New cafe and booking office.
- More than one ticket machine.
- Bicycle parking.
- Seats
The one thing it needs, is a bit of colour!
But then, the station is in the London Borough of Richmond and flowers could be the solution. Before Overground – Highams Park, shows a station with a group of community gardeners.
Certainly, the grass needs to grow!
It’ll be interesting to see this station in a couple of years.
For more on how the station was designed and built, this page on the Innovare Systems web site.
This is said.
The station will rebuilt by Innovaré Systems using the i-SIP building system. The system uses structural insulated panels (SIPs), high performance building components which will complete the thermal watertight structure within one week, compared to the 8 weeks which would normally be required using traditional construction.
This off-site construction method will both simplify the works and provide a highly energy-efficient building for the public to use. The construction will be carried out during daytime hours to avoid unnecessary night time disturbance.
Looking at the impressive quality, I’ll think we’ll see more use of this system.
Feltham Station
I hadn’t intended to go to Feltham station, but whilst talking to a South West Trains driver, he suggested I go to look at the improvements there and the level crossing.
Location
This Google Map shows the station’s location to the South-East of the Airport.
Heathrow Airport And Feltham Station
Feltham station is the station in the South East corner of the map.
A Modern Station
Feltham station is a modern station, as these pictures show.
If it has one problem it is the level crossing at the Western end of the station.
Services
The station is well-connected with six trains per hour (tph) to and from Waterloo on weekdays and 5 tph on Sundays.
But there are a long list of stations, who have in excess of 2 tph connections to the station on weekdays and good connections on Sundays. The list includes.
- Clapham Junction
- Putney
- Reading
- Richmond
- Staines
- Twickenham
- Weybridge
- Windsor and Eton Riverside
It is an impressive level of connectivity to the buses that serve Heathrow’s terminals.
I was at Feltham station for about twenty minutes and saw several newish buses drive off towards Heathrow.
A railway called Heathrow Airtrack was proposed, but abandoned to link Waterloo to Heathrow, via Feltham.
It doesn’t seem to be mentioned much these days.
I just think, that because the services through Feltham are at a level of one train every ten minutes and because the line has several level crossings, that trying to squeeze an airport service into the mix, although probably not impossible, was difficult and would give rise to too many objections to fight off.
An Alternative Link
But Heathrow may have the solution in their hands and that would be to use an enlarged version of the Heathrow Pod system, that I wrote about in A Visit To Heathrow Terminal 5.
Or they could use some other charismatic system, that flew people at helicoptor-height over the route to and from Heathrow.
Several systems come to mind; cable-car, tram, monorail, a modern Schwebebahn or MAGLev.
The Schwebebahn in Wuppertal, was built over the River Wupper in the early Twentieth Century and it still running today. I wrote about it in The Wuppertal Schwebebahn. You wouldn’t build anything like this, but the construction of the Schwebebahn shows that you can put a lightweight railway over a river.
This Google Map shows Feltham station in greater detail.
Feltham Station And The Longford River
Note the Longford River, which passes under the station.
This Google Map shows Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow Terminal 4 And The Longford River
Again note the Longford River.
So could some form of lightweight aerial railway be created to run at perhaps fifteen metres above the river and some of the roads in the area. This picture shows the Heathrow Pod that connects some car parks to Terminal 5.
The Heathrow Pod Crosses To Terminal 5
The Terminal 5 system is described here in Wikipedia and is 3.9 km long. I estimate that Feltham to Terminal 4 would be about 6 km.
As Heathrow are thinking of using the Heathrow Pod system to go all the way to Kingston, I would suspect that Feltham would be in range.
My big worry would be, that the number of pods required to transfer passengers to and from Feltham might be too large for the system.
So I think that even if the Heathrow Pod system couldn’t be used for the link, within a few years, someone will devise a system that would create the ultimate airport link between Feltham and Heathrow Airport.
Heathrow Services Post Crossrail
To take some of the pictures for A Look At Stockley Junction, I took Heathrow Connect to the Airport..
My return ticket from Hayes and Harlington station, cost me £8.20 with a Senior Railcard, which must be one of the most expensive journeys per mile in the UK. Especially, as there are only two trains per hour (tph). Considering that I could have done the journey quicker yesterday, using a 140 bus, as the train was ten minutes late.
But it would be difficult to take the pictures I wanted from the bus.
Arriving at Heathrow, I thought that a hot chocolate would be in order, so I set off for Terminal 2.
Passenger friendly the journey is not, so as I wanted to get back, I returned to the station to catch the next train.
I did not see a single sign to Heathrow Connect, with this one being typical.
Where’s Heathrow Connect
I knew where to go, as I’d walked it.
Incidentally, it is easy enough to find the overpriced Heathrow Express, but how many passengers with a brain want to go to the disconnected Paddington?
Some like me might actually want to go to Hayes and Harlington or perhaps Maidenhead.
I didn’t ask, but I wonbder if the advice to go to Maidenhead, is to take Heathrow Express to Paddington and then get a train to Maidenhead. The Oracle (Nation Rail’s Journey Planner) recommends taking Heathrow Connect to Hayes and Harlington, but will all the staff.
Current Services To The Airport
There are four ways to get to Heathrow by public transport.
Heathrow Express – 4 tph to and from Paddington. – Overpriced
Heathrow Connect – 2 tph to and from a series of stations along the route to Paddington – Infrequent and overpriced.
Piccadilly Line – Slow, frequent, usually reliable and the most affordable.
Bus – For a lot of those living near the Airport, this is the preferred route.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the layout of the rail and Underground lines.
Rail And Underground Lines At Heathrow
Simple it isn’t!
But that is what you get if you dither over the next runway in the South-East for forty years.
Heathrow’s rail links are so very Topsy, unlike those at Birmingham, Edinburgh, Gatwick, London City, Luton, Manchester, Southend and Stansted.
Not all the others are perfect, but they’re getting better.
Crossrail
Crossrail will be the new wayto get to Heathrow and in some ways it is a replacement for Heathrow Connect. This is said under Future in the Wikipedia entry for Heathrow Connect.
From May 2018, Crossrail trains will replace all Heathrow Connect trains between London Paddington and Heathrow terminals 2, 3 and 4. Furthermore, as of December 2019 all services will run through the new tunnels at Paddington to central London destinations including Bond Street, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf
So, it would appear that there will no substantial improvement until December 2019.
This is a detailed timetable, with particular reference to going between Heathrow and the City of London and Canary Wharf.
- May 2018 – Heathrow Connect will be taken over by Crossrail. We’ll certainly see better signage and service under Transport for London’s management.
- May 2018 – The Crossrail start schedule on Wikipedia, also shows that the shuttle between Heathrow Central (Terminals 1,2 and 3) and Terminal 4, will be transferred to Crossrail. Terminal 5 will be reached by using Heathrow Express from Heathrow Central.
- May 2018 – Heathrow Connect in the guise of Crossrail will be serving erminals 1,2, 3 and 4, but not Terminal 5. Will we be seeing new Class 345 trains and a higher frequency to Heathrow? I woulden’t be surprised if Heathrow Airport, try every trick to keep Crossrail out of the Airport, to protect the revenue on Heathrow Express.
- December 2018 – Crossrail services between Paddington and Abbey Wood will start, thus linking Paddington to the City of London and Canary Wharf. There will probably be a longish walk between the two parts of Crossrail at Pasddington, but the tunnel across London, will give Paddington the much need-connectivity, it’s needed since the Second World.
- May 2019 – Crossrail services between Paddington and Shenfield via Whitechapel will begin, thus meaning that many travellers East of Paddington, will use a single change there to get to and from Heathrow.
- December 2019 – The full Crossrail should open, meaning that there will be direct trains between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 calling at Canary Wharf, Liverpool St-Moorgate, Farringdon, Tottenham Court Road, Bond Street, Paddington, Heathrow Central and all the stations in between.
Trains into the Airport will be.
- 4 tph – Heathrow Express for Paddington, where many passengers will change to and from Crossrail.
- 4 tph – Crossrail to Abbey Wood.
One will be expensive and the other will be affordable and much more convenient, as it reaches the places passengers want to start or finish their journey.
It looks good, but there are a some questions to answer.
Is eight tph enough trains to and from the Airport?
If you compare Heathrow with Gatwick, Luton and Stansted, eight tph seems good.
However, I found this article in TravelWeekly, which is entitled Gatwick outlines plans for a train departure to London every three minutes.
It gives a very good summary of the train services that will run to Gatwick after Thameslink is completed.
- Four tph dedicated Gatwick Express trains to Victoria
- Six tph to Victoria – originating from East and West Coastway, Horsham/Littlehampton, and Three Bridges/Haywards Heath
- Four tph to Bedford via London Bridge – originating from Gatwick and Brighton
- Two tph to Cambridge via London Bridge – originating from Brighton
- Two tph to Peterborough via London Bridge – originating from Horsham
- Two tph to London Bridge – originating from Littlehampton/West Coastway, and Haywards Heath/Three Bridges.
That is a total of twenty trains to and from London and beyond and most of the South Coast from Southampton to Hastings.
How many better rail-connected airports are there anywhere in the world?
Luton and Stansted are also have aspirations to improve their rail links.
I think that passengers will press for increase in the frequency of services to the Airport and they’ll want more destinations.
After all Shenfield and Abbey Wood are planned to have 8 tph all day to and from Central London, with at least twice as many in the Peak.
How do passengers get to and from Iver, Langley, Maidenhead, Reading and all staions to the West of Hayes and Harlington?
A rail link into Terminal 5 from the West is planned, but something needs to be done before that is completed probably in the mid-2020s.
After December 2019, their will be four routes.
- Go to Paddington and use Heathrow Express – Expensive
- Go to Hayes and Harlington and take Crossrail into Heathrow Central – Requires two step-free changes of train.
- Take a coach from Reading.
- Go to Hayes and Harlington or West Drayton stations and use a local bus.
I can see something innovative being done at Hayes and Harlington station.
There is probably capacity between Heathrow Terminal 5 and Hayes and Harlington stations for a 4 tph shuttle in both directions, that would also solve the Terminal 5 connectivity problem.
Southall could even be an interesting alternative, as there is lots of space.
What Would Be My Solution?
I would use Hayes and Harlington station, as the interchange for Heathrow Airport.
In an ideal layout there would be three slow lines through Hayes and Harlington station, with two island platforms separating the lines. From the South, they would be.
- The Reading-bound (Up Slow) line.
- The Heathrow shuttle line, which would also be used by Crossrail trains going to and from Heathrow Terminal 4. This liine would be bi-directional.
- The London-bound (Down Slow) line.
Between the platforms would be two welcoming island platforms to give passengers a step-across interchange, between trains.
It would need a major rethink of the station.
But consider.
- Passengers from the West for Heathrow would just walk across the platform to get their train.
- Passengers for Heathrow Central could take any train.
- Passengers for Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 might need to wait a few minutes for an appropriate train.
- Crossrail passengers for Terminal 5, would change at Hayes and Harlington.
- Passengers from Heathrow for the West would just walk across the platform to get the train.
- No passenger would need to change platforms using the step-free bridge.
What is being provided at Hayes and Harlington station is very much a poor design.
Will the current Heathrow Connect service between Paddington and Heathrow Central and Terminal 4 be dropped?
I can’t see any point to it, after Crossrail has an all-stations service to the Airport from Paddington.
How do passengers get to and from Terminal 5?
I proposed the shuttle to do this, with passengers changing at either Hayes and Harlington or Heathrow Central stations, to a train going to either Terminal 4 or Terminal 5.
Will passengers be able to use contactless cards to the Airport?
I think if the decision was down to the Mayor, Transport for London or the people of London, Oyster and contactless bank cards would be a way of paying a fare to Heathrow, as it is to Gatwick.
Will passengers like me with Freedom Passes, be able to use Crossrail to Heathrow?
Boris said Yes and I suppose the current Mayor, Transport for London and card holders, will expect it to be possible, as it is on the Piccadilly Line.
Conclusion
The Heathrow spur of Crossrail has not been thought out too well!
A Look At Stockley Junction
Stockley Junction, is where trains leave and join the Great Western Main Line to go to and from Heathrow Airport.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines at the junction and to the nearby Hayes and Harlington station.
Stockley Junction And Hayes & Harlington Station
Note that in some places there are eight tracks across, with lots of crossings and points everywhere.
If you look at the lines through the station, starting from the South they are, with their platform numbers.
- Reading-bound Fast Line (Down Main) GWR – Heathrow Express
- London-bound Fast Line (Up Main) – GWR – Heathrow Express
- Reading-bound Slow Line (Down Relief) – Crossrail- GWR – Heathrow Connect
- London-bound Slow Line (Up Relief) – Crossrail – GWR – Heathrow Connect
- Bay Platform – Crossrail – GWR
Look at the map and note the following.
- The two Slow (Relief) lines go straight through the station and the junction.
- The two Fast (Main) lines go straight through the station and the junction.
- Trains on the Down Main like Heathrow Express to the Airport, take the Southernmost line and just turn left for the Airport.
- There are several new crossing and short lines, which in the map are shown dotted.
This set of pictures, were taken on a train going along the Down Slow line.
Note how as you get nearer to the junction, the number of tracks increases.
These pictures were taken from a Heathrow Connect train going through Stockley Junction towards the Airport.
From the path the train took, I suspect that the track layout shown in the map has been largely created.
Note the line shown in these pictures, is the one used by trains running from the Airport to Paddington.
The final set of pictures, were taken as I returned from Heathrow on another Heathrow Connect train.
The train crossed over all the lines and descended into Hayes and Harlington station on the Northernmost line.
A Newspaper So Hot, It Has To Be Kept In A Fridge With Lots Of Water
I took this picture, in W H Smith’s at Kings Cross station.
A Newspaper So Hot, It Has To Be ~Kept In A Fridge With Lots Of Water
I prefer my newspaper to have the latest hot stories. Especially with lots of accessible Vitamin D.
The Anonymous Widower 