Heathrow Junction was a short-lived railway station built to serve London

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

in the United Kingdom.

History

Between January and June 1998, the

Heathrow Express Heathrow Express is a high-frequency airport rail link operating between London Heathrow Airport and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by Great Western Railway and Heathrow ...

shuttle service was built to connect

Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great We ...

to Heathrow Airport. A new spur was built from the existing

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the o ...

to the airport, running mostly in tunnel. To save costs, the tunnel was built using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM). Unfortunately, the construction was not a success, and in 1994 parts of the not-yet-opened tunnels near the airport collapsed. The collapse not only delayed the finishing of the railway tunnel beneath the airport but also caused the temporary suspension of

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...

services to the airport whilst the ground was stabilised. With the project delayed, a decision was made to open a temporary surface-level station at the edge of the airport whilst construction continued. The line to the new station followed the route of a long-disused

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface fl ...

known as "Broad's Dock". Heathrow Junction station was situated in

Stockley Park Stockley Park is a business estate and public country park located between Hayes, Yiewsley and West Drayton in the London Borough of Hillingdon. In August 2020 it was listed in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic I ...

, slightly to the north of the airport. Class 332 trains (branded as "Heathrow Fast Train") carried passengers from Paddington to Heathrow Junction (a journey of 12 minutes), and a fleet of

shuttle bus A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travellin ...

es carried the passengers the remaining distance to the airport. On 23 June 1998, after only 126 days,

services commenced to

Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 railway station Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 railway station (also known as Heathrow Central) serves Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 (and formerly Terminal 1 before its closure and replacement by Terminal 2 in 2015) at London Heathrow Airport. It is served by Heat ...

and Heathrow Terminal 4 railway station. Trains no longer called at Heathrow Junction, and within ten days the track leading to the station had been dismantled.

References

Disused railway stations in the London Borough of Hillingdon Junction Railway Station Heathrow Junction railway station Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1998 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1998 {{london-railstation-stub