I'm no trainspotter, but when I came through Paddington this evening I thought it looked like a Heathrow Connect train standing at the Heathrow Express platform. Turns out it was, as the Express trains all have cracks in them or something. As a result all Heathrow Connect trains are cancelled and they are running the Heathrow Express service. They've made the Express fares a bit cheaper, but there's no Business First, WiFi or power. Journey time is the same. Details here: https://www.heathrowexpress.com/timetable-schedule/service-plans Worth keeping an eye on this if you need to get to LHR anytime soon via train.
See http://www.globalrailnews.com/2016/...-fleet-out-of-service-for-foreseeable-future/ for more details. It'll be like this for "the foreseeable future" Apparently it's making things pretty grim for anyone trying to use the train at the intermediate stations served by the connect, as without those trains the remaining diesel ones are rammed. For Heathrow from one of those stations (more for workers than tourists I guess), you need to get an overcrowded train to Hayes then a local bus...
I am taking Mum down to London in late May and was looking forward to showing off the Heathrow Express trains which are a far cry from the poor stock that Northern Rail uses at our station. Now I'm somewhat concerned that she won't see them full stop...
If you take the train between Heathrow and Paddington, or Reading and Paddington, you should see several of them parked up at Old Oak Common (on the left heading into London) looking a bit sorry for themselves... If you want to actually ride on one, there was a rumour on the Rail Forums thread for this [1] that one of the 332 trains that normally run the HEX service has been cleared for shuttling between T4 and T2/T3 at low speed. Assuming that's still right, you could try one to get between T2/T3 and T4, which is a free transfer. Seems a bit of a faff though just to try one train! [1] Like FlyerTalk, but fewer planes and more trains
Thanks. This situation surely can't go on forever. The longer it does, the more embarrassing for Heathrow it becomes.
