Heathrow and Gatwick Will Cost More
Surprise! Surprise! The BBC is reporting that the proposals for a new runway at either Heathrow or Gatwick will cost more!
The Airports Commission says a second runway at Gatwick would cost £2bn more than the bid suggests.
Two separate plans to expand Heathrow are predicted to cost £3-4bn more.
T’was, ever thus! The first real estimate of the cost of a large project is inevitably more than the back-of-a-fag-packet estimate.
Only when the designers and project engineers work out how the project is to be realised do we get a figure for the actual cost. Usually, in construction projects, this figure can generally be relied upon.
But as I’ve believed for some time, I don’t think we’ll ever build a new runway in the South East.
An Aerial Look At West Drayton Station
In my visit to West Drayton station, I also noted a railway line going away from the main line towards the North West.
West Drayton Station
In this aerial view you can clearly see it branching away at the station, which is marked by the red arrow. It then curves round to go under the Great Western Main Line in a Southerly direction, at the far left of the picture.
This is the Staines and West Drayton Railway and the northern section from West Drayton to Colnbrook is still used by freight trains. Some take fuel to a depot near Heathrow.
It seems to me over the last few years, there have been several proposals to improve the links from places like Reading and the West and Waterloo and South London, some of which pass through this area. But none seem to build on and improve this line.
We know that trains will be able to get from Reading and the West to Heathrow, but all projects to Waterloo and South London like Airtrack, seem to have foundered until now.
On the other hand, when Crossrail and Thameslink are fully operational in 2019, it looks like the journey time between East Croydon and Heathrow, changing at Farringdon will be around an hour. Currently, it looks like it’s a couple of minutes over an hour and a half, with two changes. Fast times need a trip on the expensive Heathrow Express.
I think that the only certainty is that in the next ten years or so, Heathrow and Crossrail/Thameslink will have a tremendous influence on railways in the vicinity of West London.
Roll On Crossrail
I’ve recently been to Iceland for a few days holiday, which meant a trip to and from Heathrow.
For people like me in East London just to the North of the City, it is a boring and tedious journey.
Going out, I took the easy route for me, which is to take a 141 bus from virtually outside my house to Manor House station and then got the Piccadilly Line all the way to Heathrow. It gets you there but around thirty stops on the Underground isn’t quick at around an hour and a half.
Coming back, the flight was in a bit late and I decided to use Heathrow Express. My ticket cost me £13.80 with a Senior Railcard and is timed at 21:09, which as the Heathrow Express I got left Heathrow at 22:18 and arrived at Paddington at 22:36, says a lot for the speed of the Border Agency and the baggage handlers at the airport. From Paddington, I decided that as I was hungry and there is no good gluten-free restaurant at Paddington, that I would get a taxi. I got home just after 23:00, as although there were lots of taxis, the self loading cargo couldn’t get itself organised. As the taxi cost me £26, and although it might have been slightly quicker by about twenty minutes or so, each minute saved cost me a couple of pounds.
Next time, I’ll take the Underground.
In a few years time, I’ll probably use Crossrail. Heathrow to Whitechapel will take about 37 minutes according to their web site and from there to home is probably about 15 minutes now. So Crossrail should deliver a time of under an hour for a lot less money. Hopefully, it will be free as reports say that Freedom Passes will be able to be used to the Airport.
So on a brief look, it would appear that everybody in the City and East London will probably use Crossrail to get to Heathrow. Who in their right mind, would struggle to get to Paddington to get the Heathrow Express?
Incidentally, my taxi driver last night thought that Crossrail would be good for black cabs, as more people would use the train to get into London.
The one problem is that Terminal 5 at Heathrow is not on Crossrail. But looking at the various trains that are either are or will be connected to Heathrow and their routes, I would suspect that this will be rectified a few years after Crossrail opens.
There are various proposals that help to link Heathrow to the rail network.
The one that probably stands the highest chance of being built, is to link Terminal 5 to Reading to give rail access to the airport from the West of England and Wales. The BBC talks about it here.
If this one gets built would some Crossrail trains just go underneath Heathrow stopping at Heathrow Central, Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 in order before carrying on to Reading on the other side of the airport. At Reading, it could be a cross-platform interchange to fast trains to the west. Reading to Cardiff now takes just under a hundred minutes. When electrified and with new Class 801 trains, this could be reduced by about fifteen minutes or so. So if you add the short hop from Reading to Heathrow, the journey to Heathrow from Cardiff could be well under two hours. If the Class 801 could get to Heathrow, obviously the journey would be quicker too!
Is Heathrow Connect Worth Keeping?
Today, I’ve gone to Heathrow using Heathrow Connect, ostensibly to take the pictures of the new Stockley Viaduct on the way in and the way out.
There seemed to be very few people going the whole way in either direction and at a price of £13.05 for the round trip with a Senior Railcard, it’s not cheap. But then if you went from Paddington to Heathrow by Underground, it’s only probably about twenty minutes slower.
Quite a few people were using the intermediate stations like Ealing Broadway and Hayes, but as these would not be on special expensive Heathrow prices, I suspect that they are not very profitable for the company.
When Crossrail is completed in 2019, Heathrow Connect is going to be dropped anyway as the new railway will call at all Heathrow Connect stations.
One thing I didn’t like about it was the lengthy underground walks to the station from Terminal 1.
I hope Crossrail will be improving the interchange to the terminals, when it opens. But then Crossrail will not be serving Terminal 5 and a change of train will be required.
How customer-friendly is that?
As Terminal 5 is exclusively British Airways, they must be splitting blood.
The Viaduct At Stockley Coming From Heathrow
I took these pictures coming back.
Such an impressive structure, is one of those that can’t be photographed too many times.
Note that coming back around midday the Heathrow Connect train was almost empty until it pickedup passengers in the Ealing area.
The Viaduct At Stockley Going To Heathrow
I mentioned in this post, that one of my reasons for using Heathrow Connect was to get pictures of the new viaduct at Stockley that carries the Heathrow branch of Crossrail over the Great Western Main Line.
The pictures were taken going to Heathrow.
It looks to be a very substantial viaduct. But then news reports are saving it is one of the largest bridges in the area since Brunel built the Great Western.
Restrictive Rules On Heathrow Connect And Express
I might go to look at Stockley Junction today and the best way would be to get Heathrow Connect to the airport and back.
So I checked up whether I can use my Senior Railcard on the train services. This section on the Heathrow Express gives the details about how you can. There is also this statement.
Yes, you can use a number of railcards on Heathrow Express to obtain discounted travel. To qualify you must purchase at the ticket office, not online or on board.
Obviously, they don’t agree with TfL’s policy of closing ticket offices.
They also don’t agree with the policy of the Gatwick Express as stated here.
Gatwick Express now accepts railcards online allowing you to make great savings on the already discounted online price if you have one of the following cards:
So Heathrow and Gatwick are out of step. Or you can always use the Piccadilly line, where the main problem is overcrowding.
It does appear though that according to Boris, as reported here, Crossrail will have a similar ticketing regime to the Underground.
So perhaps time will be up for the rip-off Heathrow rail services?
A Misunderstanding With Heathrow Connect
I was talking to an e-friend last night in California, who shares my interests of trains and large projects. He is getting on a bit and asked me to find an easy route from Heathrow to Barking, from where he can get a mini-cab to his sister’s. He’s coming in to Heathrow and asked me, if I knew of a step-free route.
Last time he took the Piccadilly line to Kings Cross from where he took the lifts up to the Metropolitan line for Barking. He managed it with ease, but wondered if Heathrow Express or Connect would be easier.
As I wanted to go to see the new Crossrail flyover at Stockley and I thought that Heathrow Connect would be a good camera platform to get a photo, as the train turned towards Heathrow, I told my e-friend, that I’d find out.
I checked last night and a web site told me, that my Freedom Pass could be used after 09:30 this morning.
Before I boarded the train, I asked the First Great Western man on the gate and said I’d be alright after 09:30. As it was 11:00, I boarded the train.
But I had to get off at Hayes and Harlington, as the rules seem to have changed.
I was not pleased, to say the least.
There’ll be an unholy row, if when Crossrail opens in a few years time, Freedom Passes can’t be used to the airport.
Update – I spoke to my friend late last night and he’ll be using the Piccadilly line with the Oyster card, he uses when he’s in London. He was also pleased to know, that probably from the end of this year, he’ll be able to use a contactless card as a ticket.
Hot Air Over London’s Airports
Sir Howard Davies and his Airports Commission has reported about what it feels are ideas to expand London’s airports.
What he is proposing ignores a few facts.
I don’t think that any extra runway at Heathrow is possible, as the people who live in West London, would not vote for any MP, who supports it and therefore in their view make their lives worse. This of course ignores the fact that most people in the area, moved there after Heathrow was opened and they have had plenty of time to move away.In fact, they’re probably some of the most opinionated and selfish Nimbys in the country.
The major airlines, such as British Airways and Virgin want Heathrow to be expanded as this is much more convenient and probably more profitable for them. After all, say if Gatwick were to be expanded, then they would have to have two operations in different places.
Everything, I’ve read about the report, makes little mention of technology that will become available in the next few years.
Aircraft will certainly get more efficient and hopefully quieter, which should ease disturbance.
But some of the bugger changes will occur in how the aircraft are controlled, so they will be able to fly paths, that are much more precise and therefore become less noticeable to those on the ground. Such things as stacks of aircraft over London waiting to land at Heathrow will disappear.
The Commission does state that patterns of air travel will change because of low cost airlines and more point-to-point flying.
And this brings me to the last fact that he ignored.
Generally, it’s passengers who choose which flights they use. And the methods they choose are sometimes bizarre to say the least.
I choose my flights very much on the departure time of the flight and the availability of gluten-free food at the terminal.
Others may only fly with an airline on their favourite loyalty program.
So one factor that will change our behaviour and ease pressure on busy airports, is convenient alternatives. We already get that. Scots who want to fly to say the States, often travel to Manchester Airport, as the flights are cheaper, than at Glasgow or Edinburgh. This loads the trains from Glasgow to Manchester Airport so much, that extra trains are being purchased for the route. Other Scots, who may need to fly to say London to get an onward flight, often take a quick hop to Schipol instead. The big airlines at Heathrow, want this stopped and hence they are in favour of an expansion there.
So one thing that will take the pressure of the airports in London is better facilities and more flights at other airports. We probably need to open up regional airports more to foreign carriers, but then the big boys like their monopolies.
I can never understand why there isn’t a regular service from Stansted to the New York area. Airlines have tried but all seem to fail. Is the marketing of the big airlines and Heathrow to blame?
Crossrail and Thameslink will be game changers in how passengers choose to use the London airports. Millions of people will now be better connected to either one or both of the airports, so if the flights are available at the convenient one, they’ll use them.
Personally, I used to hate Gatwick, as this post from 2011 indicates. But after a change of ownership and better train links from East London, I quite like the place. Gatwick will get better, as the South Terminal gets rebuilt and restaurants are improved. Stansted is now rather a dump and you would only fly from there for cheap flights or unusual destinations.
So even the most stubborn of individuals can be made to change their minds!
Of the options the Airports Commission lays out, only two are viable.
An airport in the Thames Estuary will never be built, as it is just too costly and new technology and the other airports in the South East will expand enough to take the increase of demand.
A new runway at Heathrow will never be built, as the Nimbys and politics will stop that happening.
So we are left with a new runway at Gatwick. I may not agree with how it is built, but the big factor is that the locals are not as opposed to the idea as they are at Heathrow.
But the idea I like is the extending of the northern runway at Heathrow. It was an innovative idea thought up by a pilot and put forward by Arup, who are not noted for bad ideas.
Although it would require a lot of thought over how it would be operated, It has the great advantage that it could probably be built with not too much disruption to either operations at the airport or the traffic on the M25. You could start by building a tunnel parallel to and west of the western section of the M25, which would be opened before you actually started work on the airport. Remember that with Crossrail and other tunnels, we’re the world’s best tunnel builders.
I’ve looked at a detailed map of the area and if the problems of air traffic and organisation of the aircraft can be solved, I think that much of the noise intrusion could probably be contained within the current airport boundary.
But I have this sneaking suspicion that no new runways will be built or extended and in twenty years time or so, we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.
Passengers will just choose their airports with more care and airports will be competing with us with better and better facilities and more point-to-point flights.
The Anonymous Widower 