Heathrow Express

Heathrow Express

Franchise(s):	Not subject to franchising; service began 23 June 1998
Main route(s):	London Paddington – Heathrow Airport
Other route(s):	None
Fleet size:	14 Class 332 sets; 1 Class 360 set
Stations called at:	4 (3 operated)
National Rail abbreviation:	HX
Parent company:	BAA Limited, part of FGP TopCo
Web site:	www.heathrowexpress.com

Siemens Class 332 No. 332005 at London Paddington.

Heathrow Express is an airport rail link from London Heathrow Airport to London Paddington station operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Authority, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAA. It opened in 1998. It is not legally part of the National Rail system, even though it shares track with National Rail trains for much of its journey and terminates at a London mainline station.

Service

The interior of First Class aboard the Heathrow Express Class 332.

The Standard Class interior aboard the Heathrow Express Class 332.

Trains leave Paddington every 15 minutes from 05.10 until 23.25, and there is a similar quarter-hourly service in the return direction. At Paddington, Heathrow Express trains use two dedicated platforms (6 and 7). There are two stops at Heathrow: Heathrow Central, serving Terminals 1, 2, 3 (journey time from Paddington 15 minutes), and Heathrow Terminal 5 (journey time 21 minutes). Until the opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow on 27 March 2008, Heathrow Express also served Terminal 4, but this has now been discontinued and Terminal 4 is now the terminus for the Heathrow Express Terminal 4 'shuttle' (Mondays to Saturdays) and the Heathrow Connect instead.

The service uses Class 332 electric multiple unit trains built by CAF/Siemens. These incorporate video monitors and the ability to use mobile phones throughout the journey — even in tunnels. The monitors are mostly used for advertising purposes and for the broadcast of news and weather updates produced for Heathrow Express by Sky News. Prior to April 2010 news content was provided by BBC World News.

Since its opening, Heathrow Express has been generally well received, not least because steps were taken to reduce the environmental impact of the train line. Measures included disguising ventilation shafts as barns. The service has received some criticism, however, particularly of its high fares.

A single Express class fare is £18.00 online, £19.00 at ticket offices and machines, and £24.00 if purchased onboard. A single First class journey is £28.00 and a return £52.00. Tickets can be purchased at either of the two Heathrow Airport stations, Paddington Station, onboard the train, online at www.heathrowexpress.com, or using mobile applications for BlackBerry, Android, iPhone and iPad devices.

Standard class travel between Terminal 5 and Terminals 1,2 and 3 is free.

There is also a stopping service (Heathrow Connect) which takes the same route from Paddington to Heathrow, using the slower relief lines, on which significantly lower fares are charged. This takes approximately 15 minutes longer than Heathrow Express, but offers connections to the London Underground (Central Line and District Line) at Ealing Broadway. The introduction of Heathrow Connect may have somewhat deflected criticism of the high fares on Heathrow Express.^{[citation needed]}

A Heathrow Express single ticket with a 16-25 Railcard Discount.

In 2010, Heathrow Express announced that, to improve connections between the terminals at the airport, it would introduce a dedicated shuttle between Heathrow Central and Terminal 4 that would be timed to connect with the main Heathrow Express service to Terminal 5.

Airport workers can get a discount through the Airport Commuter scheme operated by BAA. A monthly pass costs £130 as of January 2007.

Performance

The latest performance figure for Heathrow Express for the second quarter of the 2010-11 financial year was 96.0% PPM - meaning that 96.0 per cent of trains arrived at their destination within 5 minutes of the scheduled time.

Construction

Heathrow area rail services
Crossrail London Paddington station Heathrow Connect Heathrow Express Central and District lines Ealing Broadway West Ealing Hanwell Southall Hayes and Harlington Airport Junction Great Western Main Line ▼Slough and Reading Heathrow Junction Piccadilly Line Hatton Cross Heathrow Airport Central & Terminals 1,2,3 Terminal 4Shuttle Terminal 4 Terminal 5Heathrow Express

Construction began in 1993. The principal works were the construction of a 5-mile tunnel and underground stations at Heathrow, and electrification of the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Airport Junction. A flying junction known as Stockley Flyover was constructed to connect the tunnel to the GWML fast lines.

On 21 October 1994 one of the partially constructed tunnels carrying the line into the Terminal 1,2,3 complex collapsed with only minutes warning. An office building and a car park were consumed by the huge crater which opened up between Heathrow's two parallel runways. The principal contractor, Balfour Beatty, was found guilty of negligence in February 1999 and fined £1.2 million. The collapse had far-reaching consequences, since it also held up construction of the extended Jubilee Line of the London Underground, where contractors were using similar tunnelling methods.

Beginning in January 1998, an interim service called Heathrow FastTrain ran to a temporary station called Heathrow Junction, where a coach took passengers the rest of the way. The full service opened on 23 June 1998.

Route

The service runs along the Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Airport Junction (Network Rail owned infrastructure). The line from Airport Junction to the airport terminals is owned by BAA but maintained on their behalf by Network Rail. The line is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead and uses Automatic Train Protection (ATP). The controlling signalbox for the entire route is Slough (New) IECC.

Stations

Station	Image	Time
Paddington		0 mins
Heathrow Central		15 mins
Heathrow Terminal 5		21 mins

Rolling stock

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 332		electric multiple unit	100	160	14	London Paddington - Heathrow Airport	1998
Class 360/2		electric multiple unit	100	161	1	Heathrow Central - Heathrow Terminal 4	2002–2003

See also

• Heathrow Connect
• Gatwick Express
• Stansted Express
• First Great Western
• Airport rail link

External links

• Heathrow Express homepage