The difference is that there is no main line rail alternative to HEX whereas GX has frequent and not hugely slower Southern competition. So HEX is effectively a monopoly and half the journey time of GX. 15 minutes is not enough time to savour luxuries. Incidentally, I was watching an episode of 'The Sopranos' the other day where there was a HEX flier posted on the US college noticeboard!
Actually, for a 15 minute journey they really only care about the speed. There's no time to appreciate many niceties.
The TfL Rail service is not 20mins slower, regardless of what the Heathrow Express PA announcers at the Heathrow stations may sometimes announce! As someone who is supposedly in the target audience of Heathrow Express (a business traveller who lived within 15mins of Paddington until a few months ago) I took the express service quite a bit, but interchangeably with the stopping service.
When the timetable is adjusted when the crossrail core opens. The Elizabeth line will be timed for 23 minutes from Heathrow Central this reduces the value of the Heathrow express proposition further
I think it's 23 minutes only for 2tph? Those which won't stop Hanwell, West Ealing and Acton. Another 4tph will make those stops so it'll still be similar journey time as currently is.
All services that stop at Heathrow will stop at hanwell and west Ealing. Acton Mainline will only get 4/6 stopping there.
Just going on what the crossrail journey time planner is saying. The 345s acceleration mean they often get to some stations two minutes early. Retiming will allow four minutes to be shaved off the journey time quite easily.
You're assuming different models of rolling stock are identically timed.
I think the class 387s have faster acceleration too but they haven't been retimed yet from the networkers profile.
It clearly states on the Crossrail website that when full Elizabeth line will be up and running Hanwell will get 4 tph and it only mention Heathrow branch in direction West. At the same time information for West Ealing and Acton states 4tph as well but it gives South Bucks and Berkshire as West destinations as well.
www.crossrail.co.uk
It clearly states on the Crossrail website that when full Elizabeth line will be up and running Hanwell will get 4 tph and it only mention Heathrow branch in direction West. At the same time information for West Ealing and Acton states 4tph as well but it gives South Bucks and Berkshire as West destinations as well.
Welcome to Crossrail
Crossrail Ltd has delivered the Elizabeth line - a new railway for London and the South East, running from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through 42km of new tunnels under London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east. The Elizabeth line has 41 accessible stations including 10 major new...
I attach screenshot for future reference in case changes will be published on Crossrail website and someone will dig through this thread in the future.
HANWELL: THE BIG CROSSRAIL BENEFICIARY
Airport services (shown in blue) will all call at Hanwell
Hanwell having only 2tph has always been a bit of an anomaly. Without a competing Tube service, or any other station nearby for that matter, it is strange that the service from this station has been so poor. Even today it still has only 2tph despite now being served by TfL Rail rather than Great Western Railway. It was promised 4tph once Crossrail was fully opened but will actually have 6tph from December 2019. Not only will all trains to and from Terminal 4 call there, those to and from Terminal 5 will now call there as well.
Whilst this is a bit unexpected, with hindsight it shouldn’t have been. TfL (and the future Elizabeth line’s operational director, Howard Smith) strongly believe in turn-up-and-go in the London metro area. 4tph isn’t considered good enough these days. It should be at least 6tph and ideally there should be no need to wait for longer than 10 minutes.
Note that, unfortunately, 6tph at Hanwell does not mean a train every 10 minutes and a worse case scenario of just missing a train could mean a 15 minute wait. Nevertheless, this is a significant improvement.
Whilst 6tph, effectively an even 4tph with an additional two trains, might not seem that much of a further improvement, one has to look to the west not just to the east. Hanwell will have a direct service to Terminal 5, the biggest terminal at Heathrow. Whilst this will be of limited benefit to the occasional Hanwell local wishing to fly out from Heathrow, it could make a significant difference to airport workers living in the area.
www.londonreconnections.com
(ALMOST) ALL-STATIONS AIRPORT SERVICES
Only airport services are shown
All previous plans suggested a complex mix of stopping and non-stopping airport services on the Elizabeth line and this was partly down to train pathing and partly down to some stations having less than 6tph. Now the rule is fairly simple: all services from Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 stop at all stations except that trains to or from Terminal 5 do not stop at Acton Main Line. This is much more in keeping with TfL’s desire to keep things easily understood by passengers.
According to the Crossrail website, the Elizabeth line will take 30 minutes to get to either Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 from Paddington. In the case of Terminal 4, that is a five minute improvement on today’s timing even though there will be an additional stop at Acton Main Line. Not only will the frequency improve, the perception will be one of a fast, frequent service to central London – at least compared to what was on offer in the past
The airport 387s can (and are) running in pairs. Only ETCS fitted sets can work to the airport: it was reported that two standard 387s (142/143) were to get ETCS as contingency. Not sure if they have been fitted as yet, though.
It seems all 387s (across TOCs) will have ETCS eventually, and more onto most of the Electrostar Fleet!
Its a big project over the years to come...
Bombardier signed the ETCS fitment contract for the rest of the Electorstar family fleets (357, 375, 376, 377, 378, 379 and remaining 387s) just before Christmas but the equipment will be different to the that already fitted to the HEx 387s which was get it done by a deadline job. Porterbrook leading on behalf of the other 4 Roscos.
