Getting to Heathrow at night?

[Domo455]

Hi,

I wondered if any trains run out of London to anywhere north between the hours of 2-5am, on a Saturday?

I think the answer to this is probably no, which is bad news for me!

 

[Tomnick]

There's two or three to Bedford between those times on a Saturday morning.

 

[DeparturesBeck]

Stansted Express departs Liverpool Street at 03:40, 04:10 and 04:40. Source: https://www.stanstedexpress.com/docs/default-source/documents/stansted-ex-tt-sat.pdf

 

[Tetchytyke]

There's a 2am Overground service from Euston to Watford Junction, and there's an hourly Thameslink to Bedford.

 

[Domo455]

That Bedford train looks like the answer - thanks very much!

 

[Taunton]

The first Heathrow Express gets into Terminal 5 at 0533, having left Paddington at 0510. This has just lost sight of the fact that Heathrow flights nowadays start leaving right on the nose of 0600 when the night restrictions come off. People like to be at the airport about 1.5 hours before departure, which means there is a demand to start leaving Central London from about 4 am onwards.

It's even worse for late evening plane arrivals where several each evening typically get in, delayed, and deliver passengers through immigration and waiting for baggage after the last train of the day has left.

I have never understood why HEx does not run an all-night something, either by rail or, if really not practical, by a substitute coach of their own running from Paddington every 30 minutes or better all through the night. As it is there are large numbers having to rely on taxis.

 

[ScotGG]

Never knew that about Heathrow. Seems ridiculous and embarrassing for one of the worlds major airports.

As you say, with flight arrivals it can be very difficult to predict exactly when you will land, and with long immigration queues common nowadays having to wait for a long time is sadly pretty frequent. I'm bloody amazed there's not late or very early trains.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

The no flying restrictions are simply because Heathrow is in a residential area, it's one of the reasons why Boris want's to built that Island airport in the Thames Estuary which would have no such restrictions, Heathrow may lose it's status as Europe's premier hub at some point in the not too distant future and now is the time to act.

The lack train service is odd, I'd have thought there would be the traffic to justify something at least hourly or bi hourly overnight. Will Crossrail address this issue?

 

[Clip]

With regards to HEX its only going to benefit running through the night those in the west so is there a demand for it?

If I get a cab from me to Paddington I may aswell spend the extra tenner or so and go direct to the airport itself.

 

[oversteer]

It's even worse for late evening plane arrivals where several each evening typically get in, delayed, and deliver passengers through immigration and waiting for baggage after the last train of the day has left.

I have never understood why HEx does not run an all-night something, either by rail or, if really not practical, by a substitute coach of their own running from Paddington every 30 minutes or better all through the night. As it is there are large numbers having to rely on taxis.

I thought I could rely on public transport getting back from Heathrow to Central London - I think I got out of departures about 2330, only to find that Heathrow Express had stopped (Connect only) and by the time I got to Paddington, the Underground had stopped too ! Still, we'll have a 24 hr tube "soon"..

 

[neilmc]

I thought I could rely on public transport getting back from Heathrow to Central London - I think I got out of departures about 2330, only to find that Heathrow Express had stopped (Connect only) and by the time I got to Paddington, the Underground had stopped too ! Still, we'll have a 24 hr tube "soon"..

I arrived from Turkey to Manchester Airport at something like two o'clock in the morning last year. However as there is an all-night bus service from the airport which runs past my house I safely was in bed an hour later.

London needs to catch up!

 

[tony6499]

Never knew that about Heathrow. Seems ridiculous and embarrassing for one of the worlds major airports.

As you say, with flight arrivals it can be very difficult to predict exactly when you will land, and with long immigration queues common nowadays having to wait for a long time is sadly pretty frequent. I'm bloody amazed there's not late or very early trains.

Strange that Gatwick has an hourly service throughout the night and Heathrow doesn't

 

[zuriblue]

Strange that Gatwick has an hourly service throughout the night and Heathrow doesn't

It does with the nightbus. According to TFL the N9 runs every 20 minutes.

First Heathrow Express is at 05:21

 

[radamfi]

Gatwick has night flights, so there is more reason to go to Gatwick in the middle of the night compared to Heathrow.

Heathrow does have overnight TfL buses, so you can get there from central London for £1.45.

 

[Busaholic]

Heathrow has all-night coach service to Oxford as well. VisitLondon website claims you can pay £1.40 cash and get the nightbus, but cash is no longer accepted and contactless bank cards have not been rolled out in most countries, which look upon such things as a retrograde move security-wise, as we'll discover too one day soon.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

Who can afford Heathrow Express anyway ? For most of us a cab would be cheaper.

 

[Abpj17]

There's two or three to Bedford between those times on a Saturday morning.

^^ hourly at the moment, it's apparently increasing to every 30 mins at the moment (the airport means there is a reasonable night surface). The night trains are usually better at running on time than day time trains...

 

[gage75]

It does with the nightbus. According to TFL the N9 runs every 20 minutes.

First Heathrow Express is at 05:21

There are five night routes serving Heathrow

105 to Greenford via Southall
111 to Kingston via Cranford, Hounslow and Hampton
140 to Harrow Weald via Hayes, Northolt
285 to Kingston via Feltham, Hampton and Teddington (quicker than 111)
N9 to Central London
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Who can afford Heathrow Express anyway ? For most of us a cab would be cheaper.

There is of course the Heathrow Connect which serves intermediate stops except Acton Main Line

 

[matt_world2004]

Busses serving heathrow still in offically accept cash to deal with the tourist problem.

 

[ScotGG]

Night buses will never be a decent substitute in a city as big as London. Even at night it's a very slow journey to central London, then there's getting off and faced with another very long bus journey if living in zone 3 or further in much of London. The wait in between buses can also be pretty lengthy and all adding up.

I can easily see it taking 2-3 hours to get to East or SE London from Heathrow on buses alone. That's very poor in 2014 for a such a major airport and city. Crossrail can't come soon enough for things like this. Heathrow to Stratford, Woolwich etc through the night in less than an hour direct?

 

[matt_world2004]

Night buses will never be a decent substitute in a city as big as London. Even at night it's a very slow journey to central London, then there's getting off and faced with another very long bus journey if living in zone 3 or further in much of London. The wait in between buses can also be pretty lengthy and all adding up.

I can easily see it taking 2-3 hours to get to East or SE London from Heathrow on buses alone. That's very poor in 2014 for a such a major airport and city. Crossrail can't come soon enough for things like this. Heathrow to Stratford, Woolwich etc through the night in less than an hour direct?

I cannot see how crossrail is going to be able to offer a night service with only two tracks. the most of a night service it is going to be able to offer is between London Paddington and Reading and Liverpool Street to Shenfield. It takes upto four hours to reach heathrow from some parts of SE london now during the day.

 

[AM9]

I cannot see how crossrail is going to be able to offer a night service with only two tracks. the most of a night service it is going to be able to offer is between London Paddington and Reading and Liverpool Street to Shenfield. It takes upto four hours to reach heathrow from some parts of SE london now during the day.

Please explain how a journey from South-east London to Heathrow can take up to four hours.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Don't know if the OP has made the journey already but the National Express website shows a possible journey (they didn't say where they're travelling to - but based on their reply to another post I'm assuming possibly Bedford):

Selecting Sat 29 Nov as the departure date:

Depart Heathrow (T1-T3 - probably the main bus station) at 05:00 arriving at Cambridge at 07:25 (service JL727).
Depart Cambridge 08:00 and arrive at Bedford at 09:09 (service UCX5 - Stagecoach United Counties), it shows that costing £37.90 for the journey and taking 4h4m. It lists there being just 4 seats left.

 

[Taunton]

I cannot see how crossrail is going to be able to offer a night service with only two tracks. The most of a night service it is going to be able to offer is between London Paddington and Reading and Liverpool Street to Shenfield.

Surely Crossrail, of all operations, is able to provide for this by installing crossovers at each station as a part of the project, to allow them to run single line between midnight and 5 am, which could handle a 10-15 minute service. Elsewhere in the world this is normal practice on busy cross-city routes.

 

[Deerfold]

Don't know if the OP has made the journey already but the National Express website shows a possible journey (they didn't say where they're travelling to - but based on their reply to another post I'm assuming possibly Bedford):

Selecting Sat 29 Nov as the departure date:

Depart Heathrow (T1-T3 - probably the main bus station) at 05:00 arriving at Cambridge at 07:25 (service JL727).
Depart Cambridge 08:00 and arrive at Bedford at 09:09 (service UCX5 - Stagecoach United Counties), it shows that costing £37.90 for the journey and taking 4h4m. It lists there being just 4 seats left.

If you're going to wait until 0500 you could wait until 0520 and get the Heathrow Express and Thameslink and be in Bedford for 0720.

Cambridge is a lot further from Heathrow than Bedford!

Even using the N9 overnight you should be able to do Heathrow - Bedford in 3 hours.