[Anonymous]

[MarkCymru]

The rail service from T4 seems to mark a new stage in BAA’s attempt to make Heathrow the most hated airport in Europe.

When T5 first opened, the Heathrow Express was changed to go to Heathrow Central (1,2,3) and then T5 while the stopping, Heathrow Connect service went to Central and then T4. This meant a service to T4 from Paddington every 30 minutes that took 26 minutes — maximum possible time for the trip (if you’ve just missed the last train), therefore, 56 minutes. You had the option of changing at Central if you really wanted to get there 10 minutes faster. Not great but not too bad … except for BAA.

The problem is that the Express costs £18 and the Connect costs £7. Worse, frequent travellers started to find out about the Connect and might have paid the £7 each time they went from Central as well as using it from T4 (figuring that every minute you save on the Express costs over £1)

Cue a uniquely BAA solution. They started running shuttles between Central and T4 but timed the shuttles to cause the maximum possible delay to Connect passengers. They arrive at Central exactly 1 minute after the last Connect departs and go to T4 exactly one minute before the Connect arrives. This also has the advantage that the transferring passengers don’t see a Connect train while they wait for the Express so never get the idea of using it.

The knock-on effect on Express passengers, of course, doesn’t worry BAA. On weekends, it means that the shuttle arrives at Central from T4 a minute before the Express leaves so — of course — all transferring passengers miss it and have to wait 14 minutes for the next one. On weekdays, the shuttle arrives two minutes before the Express leaves meaning that only the elderly, disabled, confused and foreign get to miss the Express and wait 14 minutes for the next one. With a shuttle from T4 running every 15 minutes this means a maximum possible trip time of 49 minutes on the Express and a guaranteed trip of well over an hour if you want to use the Connect to Paddington (or to one of the intermediate station).

Result: a bit more money for BAA and lots of extra inconvenience for passengers. That could be the new motto for the airport, actually. At least BA’s happy: it discourages anyone from Central London considering flying from T4.

When will this government introduce a proper regulatory scheme with crippling fines until BAA runs a proper airport? A good basis for avoiding the fines would be the need to achieve a customer satisfaction score of at least 50%. What about £50 million for every point below that?

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

Greed gets my vote.

[NTarrant]

Mark I can understand the frustrations you mention. However it is not as simple as saying it is greed or incompetence. The likely reason that the timetable does not seem to fit is availability of paths once the train has left Heathrow and joins the national network.

This of course is dictated by Network Rail and remember that Heathrow Connect is the “new kid on the block” as it were. It is of course not acceptable but unfair to drop it on BAA, however incompetent they may be in running an airport.

[continentalclub]

There is also a balance to be struck between those travelling between the airport terminals and London, and those travelling solely between the airport terminals.

It is indeed a lamentable failure on BAA’s part that they do not provide a dedicated, standard-branded, inter-terminal landside bus (or other) service for non-interlined passengers – the London Bus services which link terminals are a wholly unsuitable solution for those with luggage and/or larger groups.

However, the change from a T4 to Paddington Heathrow Connect through-service, to a T4-T1/3 Heathrow Express Shuttle has, in the absence of a dedicated inter-terminal landside transfer system, improved T4 to T5 transfer times immeasurably.

And, as NTarrant explains above, much of the scheduling is governed in any event by Network Rail and their pathing decisions at Heathrow Junction on the Great Western Main Line, and also the junctions and crossovers within the Heathrow branches themselves.

There’s also the fact that, for many passengers, the Piccadilly Line provides the fastest means of getting to T4 from many parts of London, although it does take slightly longer to reach London on the return as the line loops through T1/3.

And, compared to the public transport options between airport and city in locations such as New York, Paris and Tokyo, Heathrow is arguably well-served by clean, safe, efficient, well-signed and usually reliable services, that are only shamed by some exceptional examples of city links in relatively few other capitals.

Even Zurich Airport, with its excellent rail link, enjoys a four-day camel ride from baggage reclaim to the platforms, with non-dedicated trains not necessarily perfectly designed for luggage and with pre-seated passengers already on board, compared to the almost immediate access to HEx, HCon and Underground platforms at T1, T4 and T5, with dedicated, terminated and therefore empty trains to board with luggage.

[NTarrant]

Just to add a bit more to what Continental Club has said, BAA has been very proactive in encouraging public transport use in the airport area over the last ten years.

It was good idea to clear up the plathora of hotel minibuses which gave birth to HotelHoppa. If you have light/cabin baggage all the buses in the airport area are free and if travelling to most of the hotels on Bath Road can be done for free on an LT bus rather than pay the Hotel Hoppa fare.

[MarkCymru]

N Tarrant and Continental Club: you would have a point if they had not abandoned a system that worked to go to one that doesn’t. If they wanted, they could run the two Connect trains to Heathrow every hour (as they used to) and supplement them with two shuttles and wouldn’t need to ask anyone. The movement of trains within Heathrow (including the shuttle from T4 to Central) is, I think, 100% on their own rails.

As for their devotion to public transport, that’s because they needed to try to get the emissions levels near the road tunnels down to EU levels. Now that there’s no question of building a new runway, they will probably worry less about this stuff.

The Hoppa bus is an outrage: £5 for the privilege of waiting 30 minutes (more, actually, as it’s often late) to be taken to your hotel by a grunting driver. The bus I was on only goes to two hotels anyway so it’s just like a hotel shuttle bus except that it doesn’t run on demand outside peak hours and it costs a lot.

You can travel all over Switzerland (and through much of France and Germany) on clean, punctual trains from Zurich Airport railway station. Using the train to central Zurich is free if you pick up a ticket inside the baggage hall. It’s a 300 metre walk (with trolleys available). Help me to understand how this is worse than the £18 Heathrow Express. (Oh, and you’ll have the energy to walk because Zurich Airport provides airside trolleys for hand luggage unlike … guess where)

[Binman62]

MarkCymru..I find my self in complete agreement with you. BAA run the worst airpport in Europe and the HEX services remains the single most expensive route mile for mile anywhere in the UK. Indeed at one stage it was chepaer to fly Concorde when measured in this way. Give me European Trains any day. CH bahn and DB Bahn are simply light years ahead of anything in the UK thanks to coherent national policies and a unified single operator.
Continental clubs view of Paris and New York is also correct but I would take issue with Tokyo. The NRT express takes about 50 mins and costs £22 single and £34 for the green cars. This for a journey of almost 40 miles. In comparison HEX costs £18 and £26 for a journey of less than 15 miles.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

MarkCymru

I agree with you, too and find Zurich an excellent airport.

[NTarrant]

Actually Mark that is not strictly true that they would not have to ask anyone. What they run between terminals can only be determined as to what they are able to run through to and from the main network which would govern what they can or can’t between terminals. I agree that the situation is not right, but it is not right to blame BAA when they don’t really have the power to change things that easily.

The reasons for “freeflow Heathrow” were not just about reducing emissions in the tunnel. It was about reducing car dependancy to and from the airport and to reduce the number of parking spaces for staff. I agree the fare on the Hoppa is too high which is why I pointed out that you can get to most of the hotels on the Bath Road for free using local buses.

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