This sounds like it’s
Yes it sounds like it’s wildly successful, tfl is taking money from the privately operated Heathrow express and the upcoming increases in trains will resolve any capacity issues.
The Elizabeth Line (aka Crossrail) is go!
- Thread starter Bodmass
- Start date
This sounds like it’s
Yes it sounds like it’s wildly successful, tfl is taking money from the privately operated Heathrow express and the upcoming increases in trains will resolve any capacity issues.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Heathrow Express have upped their game to compete and now Business First passengers can use 'priority' security lanes when they get to Heathrow. Not sure how much of an impact that will have, seemingly not much.
www.businesstravelnewseurope.com
Of course, it would've been even better if they still allowed people to check their hold luggage in at Paddington before boarding. That would really be one up on the Elizabeth line. Those were the days. Sigh.
Heathrow Express’ Business First passengers to get fast-track security
assengers purchasing Business First tickets for travel on the Heathrow Express will be able to take advantage of fast-track security lanes at Heathrow airport from 1 July, the operator announced at Business Travel Show Europe. All Business First ticket holders travelling between London...
www.businesstravelnewseurope.com
Of course, it would've been even better if they still allowed people to check their hold luggage in at Paddington before boarding. That would really be one up on the Elizabeth line. Those were the days. Sigh.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Or as an alternative, simply offer walk-on fares for well under £10 at all times, which is as much as such journey should ever cost.Heathrow Express have upped their game to compete and now Business First passengers can use 'priority' security lanes when they get to Heathrow. Not sure how much of an impact that will have, seemingly not much.
Heathrow Express’ Business First passengers to get fast-track security
assengers purchasing Business First tickets for travel on the Heathrow Express will be able to take advantage of fast-track security lanes at Heathrow airport from 1 July, the operator announced at Business Travel Show Europe. All Business First ticket holders travelling between London...
Of course, it would've been even better if they still allowed people to check their hold luggage in at Paddington before boarding. That would really be one up on the Elizabeth line. Those were the days. Sigh.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
I did check online to test that, and I could barely find any tickets at that price. Very few, on one or two dates in the calendar only. You have to plan well in advance to fund such fares. Forget about trying to find one for a specific date next week at that such prices, at least when I looked.
kalmatthew
Lurker Extrodinaire
I mean I aline that new you would really hope wasnt having any engineering issues to delay things.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
Oh really? I know I’ll need to use it after a flight on September 11th this year to get to Paddington to connect to a train back to the SW. maybe I’ll book that ticket soon then.
Cheaper and easier going via Paddington than getting railair to Reading I think
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
I’ve just done another search to see if I could strike gold this time…
Random day next week, Thursday 2 Feb: £25.50
Random day the following week, Tuesday 7 Feb: £25
Random day three weeks from now, Friday 17 Feb: £25
They’re taking the fucking piss. The cheapest ticket might be £5.50, and I’m sure they exist, just as snow leopards exist too- good luck spotting one, though.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
You on BA? They do combined fares with HEX and GWR to the main stations in the south west…
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
Yeah I am. I’ll have to look into that. Cheers
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
Aye, don't know know what it's like way out West, but Woolwich -> central London is never any busier than any other main line, usually quieter, but crucially much faster.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
i thought the doom-mongers were saying a year or two back that lizard line was a white elephant and should have the plug pulled on finishing it because covid
would have thought reading and railair would be cheaper than going via paddington, but rail fares stopped making sense a long time ago.
if it's cheaper you want, there's plenty of ordinary buses from slough to heathrow (i'm a bit out of touch with the detail, but think some go to T5 some go to central) - and some of the routes run pretty much all night. not sure quite where in slough the buses are going from at the moment, as the bus station went on fire a few months back.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
I’ve looked into it, and basically the £5.50 fare makes it the cheaper option, it’s also more frequent and faster so the best option. I’m not landing till 7pm or so I need both a bit of contingency but also haven’t got many trains available. Paddington is a better place to hang around than Reading too.
Edit just booked the £5.50 ticket for September. Worth pencilling it in now.
Last edited:
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
hard to argue with that...
teuchter
je suis teuchter
TfL needs to sort its journey planner out though, which keeps sending you on routes that are slower than ones via Elizabeth line. And tries to put you on the Heathrow express to heathrow.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
I’ve just booked HEX singles for £5.50 for mid-week in June (holiday).
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
That’s good to know. However, whereas I am nowhere as versed as others in the mad world that is trying to find good value for money rail fares in this country, I was under the impression that dates over the 21-days-in-advance mark were around the sweet spot?
Just done another search. Late Feb, early March and even late March fares are still £25. The first reduction is in early April at £10. And the famed £5.50 fare appears in late April. On this evidence it seems you need to book three months in advance to get a meaningful reduction.
Many flights are booked more than three months in advance, but then many others are not. So a great many people needing to travel to the airport will not have the opportunity to buy a cheap Heathrow Express ticket.
Most other rail operators seem to be able to offer at least some degree of discount over the published walk-on fare vs a ticket two or three weeks in advance. But a ticket booked eight weeks in advance costing the same as a walk-on fare? Ripoff cunts
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
Of course, another outcome is for people to say ‘fuck paying nearly £80 for our party of three to get to the airport when we could do a door to door cab for half the price’.
As a fierce advocate of reducing or eliminating car usage in and around cities, I would have thought you’d be more supportive of calls to make train fares to major transport hubs as attractive as possible.
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
teuchter
je suis teuchter
The Heathrow Express is not really part of the normal rail network. It's basically owned by Heathrow airport and is just another part of their business based around extracting revenue from air travellers. Their pricing will be entirely market driven I assume. They'll know the threshold where they start losing wealthy globe-trotters to taxis or other modes. They are happy to sell cheap to well organised, canny travellers like Elpenor who otherwise would just get the tube or Elizabeth line. Those tickets are kind of subsidised by more chaotic travellers who don't plan much in advance, and will make a lot of noise before eventually stumping up the higher price because they don't want to sit on the tube with normal people (and have any of their ticket money go to publicly operated TfL instead of capitalist monstrosity Heathrow Airport) - and know that a cab will take ages.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
May timetable has been published. This is the "final" upgrade to the service.
Boring list of times: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-line-timetable-may-2023.pdf
TL;DR:
24 trains per hour through the core in the peaks of which approx
10tph Shenfield - Paddington
2tph Shenfield - Heathrow 5
5tph Abbey Wood - Reading
4tph AbbeyWood - Heathrow 4
3tph Abbey Wood - Paddington
(it might be 4,4,4 but I just picked an arbitrary hour to count in)
Also 2tph Gidea Park (short of Shenfield) into Liverpool St. upstairs, skipping Stratford.
Long waits on the way into Paddington Eastbound eliminated as far as I can tell.
No trains into Paddington upstairs.
Some branch pairs do not exist (eg Shenfield - Reading or Abbey Wood - Heathrow 5
Note that when Old Oak Common gets built, a load of those Paddington terminators will get extended there.
Boring list of times: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-line-timetable-may-2023.pdf
TL;DR:
24 trains per hour through the core in the peaks of which approx
10tph Shenfield - Paddington
2tph Shenfield - Heathrow 5
5tph Abbey Wood - Reading
4tph AbbeyWood - Heathrow 4
3tph Abbey Wood - Paddington
(it might be 4,4,4 but I just picked an arbitrary hour to count in)
Also 2tph Gidea Park (short of Shenfield) into Liverpool St. upstairs, skipping Stratford.
Long waits on the way into Paddington Eastbound eliminated as far as I can tell.
No trains into Paddington upstairs.
Some branch pairs do not exist (eg Shenfield - Reading or Abbey Wood - Heathrow 5
Note that when Old Oak Common gets built, a load of those Paddington terminators will get extended there.
busiest railway line in the UK Elizabeth line: passenger numbers soar by 41 per cent in three months
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
IIRC when I lived in Woolwich, it was about 45 minutes into Waterloo.
The line went one of two ways, one took you past the Valley Football Ground, which had trees growing on the pitch at that time. (1990).
teuchter
je suis teuchter
10 or 15 years from now I wonder if we'll be reading similar articles about HS2 - new services rapidly full to capacity, UK's busiest intercity line, etc etc and most people will forget that they spent the previous decade saying it would be a white elephant and there's no need for it and everyone does everything on zoom these days anyway.
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
Really depends on the fares.
Last time I went to Bristol GWR peak time ( on an advance so it cost about 20 squid) the carriage was empty.
If HS2 can be run on a pile them high cram then in metro rail basis it will be game changing.
If they have advance fare pre booking and insanely high cost Flexi tickets it will just be more of the same crap we have lived with for years.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
I expect the fare structure on HS2 will be similar to any other UK intercity routes. What that structure will be in 10 year's time, we'll have to wait and see. There are various changes in travel habits underway at the moment which will have an effect, and it'll also depend on the government of the time and their transport policy.
kenny g
Sheeple Awake!
I was on a peak at 7 ish am and tumbleweed was blowing. Coming back was off peak and eyewateringly expensive on a crowded train. The journey isn't that far either.
marty21
One on one? You're crazy.
Not too bad at weekends - often get the train to Bath, generally pay about £65 return - try and do a 1st class upgrade for £20 - last time they just didn't check the tickets
Similar threads
