The number of Piccadilly line trains serving Heathrow Terminal 4 has been cut by 50 per cent, so allow more time for your journey.
As we predicted last year (see online news, June 7, 2007), Terminal 5’s opening in March will lead to a reorganisation of trains serving Heathrow, and T4 is set to lose out in favour of the other terminals.
Last year we believed train frequency to T4 would be cut to every 15 minutes. In the event London Underground has settled on a revised frequency of every ten minutes.
The new timings came into effect January 13, meaning that:
- Six of the 12 per hour Piccadilly trains which run between central London and Heathrow Central (serving Terminals 1, 2 and 3) will no longer call at T4.
- The other six trains per hour will call at T4 and then continue to Heathrow Central. But these trains are set to wait for up to eight minutes at T4 so journey times to Heathrow Central will be extended.
When T5 opens on March 27, it’s expected that the latter services will continue beyond Terminals 1, 2 and 3 to cover T5.
British Airways is currently the main operator at T4, but after it moves across to the new T5, then T4 will become the home of carriers linked to the Skyteam alliance.
For more information visit tfl.gov.uk.
Report by Alex McWhirter
