Heathrow Express is a high-frequency

airport rail link An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport between an airport and a nearby city. Direct links operate straight from the airport terminal to the city, while other links require an intermediate use of a people mover or ...

operating between

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingd ...

and . Opened in 1998, trains run non-stop, with a journey time of 15 minutes. The service is operated jointly by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

and Heathrow Express Operating Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Heathrow Airport Holdings Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of governmen ...

. Around 16,000 passengers use the service each day.

History

Background

Heathrow Airport, the main

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

serving

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, was connected to the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

network in the late 1970s. However the journey to central London on the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a Deep level underground, deep-level London Underground line running between the west and the north of London. It has two western branches which split at Acton Town tube station, Acton Town and serves 53 stations. The li ...

takes around 40 to 50 minutes, the same time as a black taxi. In the early 1980s, the quality of public transport to the airport was criticised at public inquiries regarding expansion of the airport, with the inspector noting that "a direct and dedicated ... rail link should be provided". During 1986, the Heathrow Surface Access Study recommended a non-stop

between London and Heathrow Airport. In July 1988, Secretary of State for Transport

Paul Channon Henry Paul Guinness Channon, Baron Kelvedon, (9 October 1935 – 27 January 2007) was Conservative MP for Southend West for 38 years, from 1959 until 1997. He served in various ministerial offices, and was a Cabinet minister for 3½ years, as ...

approved a joint venture between the

British Airports Authority Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of governme ...

(BAA) and

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

to work on the project, with an opening date of 1993. In November 1988, a Parliamentary bill was introduced, seeking approval to build the project. The Heathrow Express Railway Act received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

in May 1991. In March 1993, government expenditure for the project was approved in the spring budget. BAA would fund 80% of the cost, with British Rail contributing 20%. In August 1993, British Rail and BAA signed the contract to build the line, with an opening date of December 1997. Following the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

from November 1993, the project was taken over by BAA in 1996.

Construction

Construction began in 1993, with an estimated cost of £350 million. The principal works were two single-bore tunnels (including eight escape shafts) and underground stations at and Terminal 4.

Electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

of the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

(GWML) between Paddington and Airport Junction, where the new line diverged from the GWML, was also required to achieve a 15-minute journey time. A

flying junction A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is "gr ...

known as the Stockley Flyover was constructed to connect the tunnel to the GWML fast lines. As part of the construction of the project, steps were taken to reduce the environmental and visual impact of the railway, including disguising ventilation shafts as barns. In October 1994, a tunnel collapse occurred during construction that led to the

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

of a surface building and three large surface craters. The investigation into the collapse led to a six-month delay in opening and additional costs of around £150 million.

Opening

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. Full service between London Paddington, Heathrow Central and Terminal 4 opened on 23 June 1998, with an opening by Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

. The Heathrow Express brand, as well as staff uniforms, train design and station architecture were designed by

Wolff Olins Wolff Olins is a global brand consultancy agency that specialises in corporate identity. It was founded in 1965 in London, where its main office is still based, as well as having offices in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It emplo ...

. From 1999 to 2003, a check-in service was provided at Paddington, allowing Heathrow Express passengers to check in and drop off their luggage prior to flights, which was similar to the service currently provided on Hong Kong's Airport Express. Checked baggage was transported to the airport by using the luggage space in the westbound first carriage. This service was withdrawn due to low usage and high cost of operation. In the late 1990s, BAA proposed an extension of the line to St Pancras, proposing use of the Dudding Hill line to access the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

to access St Pancras.

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...

proposed a stopping service from Heathrow to St Pancras, by using

tracks. This was part of Railtrack's bid to win the public-private partnership (PPP) contract to upgrade and maintain the sub-surface lines of the Underground. Neither proposal took place, following Railtrack's financial issues in the early 2000s. In March 2008, the service was extended to the

Heathrow Terminal 5 station Heathrow Terminal 5 is a shared railway and London Underground station serving Heathrow Terminal 5. It serves as a terminus for Heathrow Express services to Paddington, and for Elizabeth line and London Underground Piccadilly line services to ce ...

with the opening of the new Terminal 5. In 2010, a dedicated shuttle between Heathrow Central and Terminal 4 was introduced, timed to connect with the main Heathrow Express service to/from Terminal 5 to improve connections between the terminals. During 2009, flight information display screens were introduced at London Paddington. In 2017, Heathrow Express announced that over 100 million passengers had used the service since opening in 1998. In March 2018, the Department for Transport and Heathrow Airport Holdings announced that the contract allowing Heathrow Express to operate had been extended to 2028. During August 2018,

(GWR) took over the operation of Heathrow Express as part of a new management contract. Heathrow Airport continues to be responsible for commercial aspects of the service, including marketing, ticket pricing and revenue management, while GWR are now responsible for operations. In December 2020, new trains were introduced, replacing the trains used since the service began in 1998.

Heathrow Connect to Elizabeth line

In June 2005, Heathrow Express began jointly providing a new Heathrow Connect service, which saw a new twice-hourly stopping service on the same route between Paddington and Heathrow using EMUs from the

Siemens Desiro The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of Diesel multiple unit, diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens, Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, ...

family. Heathrow Airport Holdings had provided the on-board staff through Heathrow Express as part of the contract. This continued until May 2018, when Heathrow Connect was absorbed into TfL Rail ahead of the new

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

project. In May 2022, TfL Rail services were rebranded as the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

, with through trains running through central London from November 2022. Heathrow Express services will continue to terminate at London Paddington.

Service

Trains depart Paddington every 15minutes from 05:10 (06:10 on Sunday) until 23:25, and there is a similar quarter-hourly service in the return direction. At Paddington they use dedicated platforms 6 and 7, although on occasions other platforms are used. There are two stops at Heathrow: Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 (journey time from Paddington 15minutes) and

Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Until 2012, the terminal was used ...

(journey time 21minutes), platforms 3 and 4. Passengers travelling between terminals can do so for free, with passengers for Heathrow Terminal 4 having to change to an

train at Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 station.

On board

Trains offer a choice of two classes of travel: express class which corresponds to standard class, and "business first" class which corresponds to first class. Both classes are fully accessible, with large luggage storage spaces and complimentary

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

. First class offers wider seats and a table at every seat, as well as 'Fast Track' security at the airport terminals. Children under 16 travel free of charge with a fare-paying adult; unaccompanied children may travel free of charge in express class only with proof of a same-day flight to or from Heathrow.

Route

The service runs along

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

from Paddington to Airport Junction. The line from Airport Junction to the airport terminals is owned by

but maintained by Network Rail. The line is electrified at overhead and uses

Automatic Train Protection Automatic train protection (ATP) is the generic term for train protection systems that continually check that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects ...

(ATP) and

European Train Control System The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a train protection system designed to replace the many incompatible systems used by European railways, and railways outside of Europe. ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European ...

(ETCS). The controlling signal centre for the entire route is the Thames Valley Signalling Centre (TVSC) in Didcot.

Stations

Rolling stock

Current fleet

On 29 December 2020, the first of twelve Class 387 units from the Bombardier Electrostar family began service with Heathrow Express, having replaced the Class 332 fleet. The units transferred from

who are also responsible for their maintenance and operation within Heathrow Express. The units underwent modifications prior to their introduction on Heathrow Express which included the fitting of USB power sockets, extra luggage space, work tables, on-board Wi-Fi and HD TVs. A new Business First cabin was also included in a 2+1 configuration with reclining seats.

Past fleet

The initial BAA/BR joint venture initially proposed use of Networker trains, similar to those purchased elsewhere by

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the networ ...

in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead, 14 Class 332 trainsets were ordered from Siemens Transportation Systems in July 1994. These were built by CAF with traction equipment supplied by Siemens, and first entered service in 1998. Additional carriages were ordered in 1998 to extend the trains firstly to four carriages, then in 2001 to extend 5 of the trains to five carriages in length. 332002 TSO Internal

Until May 2018, Heathrow Express leased a singular Class 360 unit which operated the shuttle service between Heathrow Central and Heathrow Terminal 4. Following the withdrawal of the Class 360 unit, all Heathrow Express services were operated by Class 332 units. In 2019, it was announced that all the Class 332 units would be replaced by a fleet of twelve Class 387 units from

with GWR also managing their introduction and arrival. The first Class 332 unit was withdrawn and scrapped in November 2020 and by 28 December 2020, all of the units were withdrawn.

References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=December 2024 Airport rail links in London Express Heathrow Express Open-access train operating companies Railway companies established in 1998 Railway operators in London Railway services introduced in 1998 1998 establishments in England British companies established in 1998