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.
Heathrow Bid To Duck ‘£40m’ Crossrail Bill
This is the title of a small article in the Business section of today’s Sunday Times
Heathrow is annoyed that the Office of Rail and Road rejected their plan to charge every train that uses the line to the Airport, £597, with a maintenance charge of £138,
So they are going for a judicial review.
This is the last sentence of the article.
It (Heathrow) argues that it is unfair to make air passengers – who may never use Crossrail – subsidise the new line.
Consider.
- If passengers use Crossrail, this will mean they won’t have to pay the high prices on the expensive Heathrow Express, which only takes you to the inaccessible-for-many Paddington.
- Crossrail will be the route of choice of many passengers to and from Heathrow. As an example, three out of four of my closest stations will be a single change via Crossrail to Heathrow.
- When Crossrail opens, I suspect only unknowing and the rich will use Heathrow Express.
- Did Crossrail pay for the new Stockley Viaduct, which will increase capacity on the route to Heathrow?
- Many passengers, who have Freedom Passes (As I do!), won’t put Heathrow on their list of London Airports, unless they get free travel to the Airport on Crossrail. Boris promised it!
- Will passengers be able to use contactless ticketing to Heathrow Airport, as they can to Gatwick?
With the decision on the next South East runway to be made this week, Heathrow seems to be reinforcing the view that many hold of the Airport – It operates in a selfish culture, that is more about profits, than passengers, the Airport’s many neighbours and the environment.
Piccadilly Line Drivers Give Heathrow Express A Helping Hand
Yesterday, as the BBC reports, the drivers on the Piccadilly Line went on strike.
My view on the tube drivers and their constant strikes, is that it is not about safety, Night Tube or whatever, but a power struggle between the drivers union and Transport for London.
At least it’ll all stop if Sadiq Khan becomes Mayor as the unions will calm things down in the hope, that they’ve got a more union-friendly Mayor.
The only winners yesterday were Heathrow and their overpriced Heathrow Express, which as most Londoner’s wouldn’t use it, except as a last resort, probably got some strong language going in the pubs and on social media.
Heathrow Express Class 332 Trains Are Back
On my trip to Cardiff today, I took this picture of a Class 332 train back running the Heathrow Express.
Heathrow Express Class 332 Trains Are Back
When I got home, I found this recent article on Rail News.
I still won’t be using them, as to get to Paddington is not easy from Dalston withiout using a taxi, as I did when going out.
On return, I needed to get some supper and as Marks and Spencer is closed at Paddington, I had to get the tube to Kings Cross to get the food I needed.
From there I got a taxi home.
It won’t be easy to get to Paddington until Crossrail opens and if it opens as planned, there will be no need for those of us in the East to use Heathrow Express.
How Will Crossrail Fit Into Heathrow?
With all the unnecessary arguments going on about Crossrail and access to Heathrow Airport, that I wrote about in Heathrow Express And Crossrail, I thought it would be an idea to look at the layout of the rail lines at the airport. This rail map from carto.metro.free.fr, shows the lines as they are now.
Heathrow Rail Lines
Look at the Crossrail web site page for Heathrow and this is said.
Crossrail will provide four trains per hour in each direction between central London and Heathrow Airport (Terminals 2 & 3 and Terminal 4), replacing the two trains per hour Heathrow Connect. Crossrail services to and from the airport will call at local stations into central London.
To match the train service with passenger demand at particular stations, and to achieve shorter journey times for longer distance passengers, trains will not usually call at all stations.
The Heathrow Express will continue to operate as prior to the construction of Crossrail but we will replace the Heathrow Connect overground service with a more frequent service that stops at other stations on the way to Paddington.
So it would appear that Crossrail will use the two platforms at the Terminal Four station, as a terminus. Is that enough platforms?
Passengers for Terminal Five will have to change trains at Heathrow Central station.
It’s certainly not the best way to design a railway.
In a real world where passengers come first, Heathrow Express would be confined to history and two Crossrail trains per hour would go to each of Terminal Four and Terminal Five.
As I write this post, this article on Global Rail News has just been published. It has a title of Heathrow Express fleet out of service for “foreseeable future”.
So perhaps the trains are imposing a solution to the problem and leaving the paths open for a sensible Crossrail-only solution.
Many would pay serious money to be a fly on the wall at the meeting between Heathrow Airport, Transport for London, the Mayor of London, the Office of Rail Regulation and perhaps a couple of heavyweight government ministers, when the solution to Crossrail’s access to Heathrow is sorted.
The Piccadilly Line And Heathrow
I’ve just looked at the map again and it prompted me to look at the Piccadilly Line At Heathrow.
Note how the Piccadilly Line starts from Hatton Cross station calls at the single platform Terminal Four station and then curves in a single-track loop before it arrives at the station for Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
This must be the simplest way to create a the end of an Underground line, if you can just keep digging.
A few years earlier, a similar tunnel was dug in Liverpool to link the Wirral Line to the city centre, when Merseyrail was created.
Both tunnels are single unidirectional lines running clockwise.
A similar layout could be used to take the Victoria Line to Herne Hill, as I wrote about in Will The Victoria Line Go To Herne Hill?
The Piccadilly Line And Heathrow After Crossrail
Some might question if it is still necessary to have the Piccadilly Line run to Heathrow after Crossrail has been built.
But consider the following.
- The upgrade of the Piccadilly Line with new signalling and new trains, will bring an increase in capacity and faster times from Central London to the Airport.
- For large numbers of people living along the route of the Piccadilly Line or just one change away from it, it will still be the easiest way to get to Heathrow.
- The Piccadilly Line will be the only line other than Heathrow Express, that serves all five terminals.
- There will certainly be contactless ticketing to Heathrow, if you use the Piccadilly Line.
- If politics stop the use of Freedom Passes to Heathrow on Crossrail, it will probably be available on the Piccadilly Line.
I also think, that there is scope for sorting out the western ends of the Piccadilly Line to improve connectivity in the area.
Slough Borough Council have already proposed extending the Piccadilly Line from Terminal 5 to Slough.
If you look at the route of the Piccadilly Line westward from South Kensington station, the line seems to cross several important rail lines without any interchange.
As an example this is the area centred on the old Earls Court Exhibition Centre, which is now being developed as housing.
Around Earl’s Court
I think there’s scope for a better station at Earl’s Court on the Piccadilly Line, that connects with the West London Line.
Unless of course, the development is so upmarket, the residents wouldn’t be seen dead in trains. But developers have told me that in London, good stations improve marketability.
An improved station here would give good connections between Heathrow and South London and especially to Clapham Junction and East Croydon stations.
Other possibilities would be to connect the Piccadilly Line to the North London Line and a reinstated Brentford Branch.
I can’t believe that if Transport for London spend millions on new signalling and trains on the line, that they won’t do some other improvements.
Another Reason To Hate Heathrow Express
I just received this advert for Heathrow Express, whilst looking at an article in the Belfast Telegraph.
Annoying Heathrow Express Advert
What use is this offer to me, as no-one ever wants to travel with me?
So I will now never use the incredibly overpriced Heathrow Express!
In fact, I doubt, I’ll use Heathrow much until Crossrail opens.
Heathrow Express In Trouble
I have used it occasionally, but I don’t use Heathrow Express much, as it is very overpriced and terminates in London at the difficult-to-access Paddington station.
So to go to and from Heathrow, I usually use the Piccadilly Line. Cramped and slow it might be, but when going, I can take a bus to the convenient Manor House station, get a seat and read all the way to the airport for free.
Coming back from the airport, depending on the time, I use a variety of routes. The last time, I swapped to the District and then used the East London Line to get to my nearest station at Dalston Junction and two stops on a frequent bus home.
This report on the BBC web site is entitled ‘Crack’ in train forces Heathrow Express to replace stock and tells how the Cl;ass 332 trains have been withdrawn for checks.
They’ve probably developed the crack due to the overweight passengers with their overweight luggage, who are on expenses, so they can afford Heathrow Express.
So what have Heathrow Express done to get round the problem of no trains?
They’ve taken the Class 360 trains used on Heathrow Connect, thus removing the only affordable way for a lot of passengers and airport workers to get to Heathrow, unless they use the 140 bus.
I’ve just looked at how you get from Hayes and Harlington station to Heathrow this morning and the National Rail Journey Planner, is telling everybody to get a train into Paddington and then get Heathrow Express.
Taxi and mini-cab drivers must be laughing all the way to the bank.
It all goes to show how the Heathrow Express/Connect service is good and expensive when it’s working, but totally useless when there is a problem.
It could be thought that Crossrail will solve the problem.
At present there are four Heathrow Express and two Heathrow Connect services an hour between Paddington and the Airport. I think that Crossrail will still provide four much larger trains an hour to Paddington and additionally another four trains through London to Shenfield or Abbey Wood.
That could be a tripling of capacity between Heathrow and Central London. And unless it is convenient for you, you don’t have to change to the Underground, a bus or a taxi at Paddington.
I shall take a direct train between Whitechapel and Heathrow, if I need to get to the airport.
But will I be able to?
This article in Rail Magazine is entitled ORR consults on Heathrow Spur access charges and reports on the ongoing row between Heathrow and everybody else, about letting Crossrail trains use the spur into Heathrow Airport.
Consider the following.
- Heathrow desperately wants to build a third runway, which is opposed by nearly all Londoners.
- UK taxpayers are paying for the upgrading of the link between the Heathrow Spur and the Great Western Main Line.
- Crossrail will bring a massive increase in capacity to the airport.
- Heathrow Express only serves Paddington, which ironically is on Crossrail.
- Londoners generally don’t like Heathrow and rarely use Heathrow Express.
- Gatwick is getting two affordable world-class links into London.
- Boris Johnson has said that Freedom Pass holders will be able to use Crossrail to the Airport for free.
On top of all that, the current disruption to rail services has occurred at just the right time, when the ORR are calling Heathrow to act in the best interest of travellers to the airport.
I’m sure another rail company will welcome the chance to use Heathrow Express’s Class 332 trains, even with a few cracks, when the service is closed in a few years time.
New Trains On Thameslink
I had breakfast at Kings Cross and then hopped across the city on Thameslink to Blackfriars to go for a walk through the Tate Modern. I came back to Farringdon, as because the East London Line is closed, a bus from Moorgate is the best way to get home.
These were pictures I took of new trains on Thameslink.
Note the following.
- The red trains with the grey doors are Class 387/2 trains destined for the Gatwick Express later this month.
- The interior shots were all taken in a Class 387/2 trains.
- The white train with the sloping front and the light blue doors, is a new Class 700 train, which will run on Thameslink.
The pictures were taken at St. Pancras International, Blackfriars and Farringdon.
The new Class 387/2 trains had a definite feel of the Class 387/1 trains about them, except they had sizeable luggage racks and possibly more tables.
There are better and more luxurious airport trains in the world, including probably the Class 332 trains of Heathrow Express. But as a train to speed you to the Airport in thirty minutes or so, with plenty of space for you and your luggage, they probably pass the first test by a good margin.
They would be very good on other Airport routes in the UK.
- Routes connecting Manchester Airport to Liverpool, Manchester, Crewe and Blackpool.
- A possible Gatwick Express route from Reading to Ashford International, which I think could happen, if an IPEMU variant were to be developed.
- To and from Airports like Cardiff, Stansted and Southend.
An IPEMU variant could be useful in developing spurs to airports like East Midlands, Luton and Glasgow, which would be built without wires from lines with full electrification. Bombardier has the technology, all they need is the orders.
Would this approach be an affordable way to create the much needed airport link at Glasgow Airport?
- A single-track spur leading from the Inverclyde Line to the Airport to a single platform station would probably have enough capacity for a two or three trains per hour service.
- No electrification would be needed, which would mean that there would be greater flexibility in the route of the line. It might even go in a single-track tunnel under taxiways.
- There would be some modification to the signalling.
- The trains would be bog standard Class 387/2 trains, except for the energy storage.
- Two trains would probably give a two trains per hour service to the airport, as Glasgow Central to Paisley \st. James takes around twenty minutes.
- The trains would just be more trains running between Glasgow and Paisley.
- It would be simpler than a tram-train and require no special rules or modified stations.
- I can’t think of any new regulatory issues, as it will be a train running on a railway.
- There would need to be some staff training.
The overall system would be no more complicated than running the demonstration Class 379 IPEMU on the Harwich branch, which seemed to work so well.
How much would it cost?
The creation of the new line to Ebbw Vale Town station and the single platform station is reported to have cost less than twelve million pounds.
According to this article in Railway Technology, Porterbrook have paid £100million for twenty Class 387 trains, so two trains would cost ten million.
I also think that provision of the track and trains in something like the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, is the sort of project that a company would provide and then lease to the train operator.
No wonder, that Bombardier have won an award for the technology and Porterbrook bought some Class 387 trains on spec.
The Anonymous Widower 