It seems all is not well with Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect, with Heathrow Connect services suspended until further notice.
Heathrow Connect Arriving at Heathrow Central (Currently substituting for Heathrow Express trains) – Image, Economy Class and Beyond
According to a thread on RailForums, it seems the trains that Heathrow Express been pulled for safety checks, with the trains used for the Heathrow Express drafted in to replace them.
A squadron of five trains from Heathrow Connect (Class 360/2) will replace the existing fourteen trains used by Heathrow Express (although Heathrow Express normally use two Class 332 trains combined into one to operate its services).
So what’s the impact?
- Heathrow Connect services suspended until further notice. Passengers must use Great Western Railway services between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington, then bus 140 to Heathrow.
- Passengers with pre-booked Heathrow Connect tickets between Paddington and Heathrow can use Heathrow Express instead.
- Heathrow Express is planning to operate services as normal with five car trains
- Heathrow Express services will have no first class on them – so don’t waste the money to upgrade, or think you’ll get an upgrade with your Star Alliance Gold Card.
- Also, no WiFi aboard the trains.
National Rail Enquiries has its updates on ticket validity, whilst Heathrow Connect has a helpful message on its site.
It also means local services between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington will be packed (especially at peak times where Heathrow Connect services act as additional local capacity between West London and Paddington).
Sadly, extra trains can’t be drafted in due to the signalling used on the Great Western Main Line (it uses a form of Automatic Train Protection compared to the rest of the network which uses another form of train protection), and the ban on Diesel trains being used in the Heathrow Tunnels (which is what the rest of the trains Great Western Main Line use)
So the options if you want to get to Heathrow on the cheap by rail are slashed:
- Piccadilly Line to Heathrow
- Or take a gamble on the Great Western Railway services to Hayes and Harlington, then Bus 140.
Welcome to Economy Class and Beyond – Your no-nonsense guide to network news, honest reviews, with in-depth coverage, unique research as well as the humour and madness as I only know how to deliver.
Follow me on Twitter at @EconomyBeyond for the latest updates! You can also follow me on Instagram too!
Also remember that as well as being part of BoardingArea, we’re also part of BoardingArea.eu, delivering frequent flyer news, miles and points to European reader
You have a typo in your post. You wrote:
“According to a thread on RailForums, it seems the trains that Heathrow Express been pulled for safety checks, with the trains used for the Heathrow Express drafted in to replace them.”
It should have read:
“According to a thread on RailForums, it seems the trains that Heathrow Express been pulled for safety checks, with the trains used for the Heathrow Connect drafted in to replace them.”