{"id":783270,"date":"2026-09-26T13:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783270\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T13:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T13:38:11","slug":"london-transfer-is-it-time-to-kill-off-the-heathrow-express-rail-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/783270\/","title":{"rendered":"London transfer: is it time to kill off the Heathrow Express? | Rail transport"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Heathrow finally builds its third runway, Londoners can expect hundreds more planes flying overhead each day. But greater congestion on the ground will be a problem too. Under Heathrow\u2019s \u00a333bn expansion plan<\/a>, 100,000-200,000 more passengers would eventually be travelling to or from the airport each day.<\/p>\n

The most eye-catching problem has been moving part of the UK\u2019s busiest motorway, the M25, to make space for a new 2.2-mile (3.5km) runway. A thornier one may be getting motorists out of their cars, and finding more sustainable ways for the extra passengers \u2013 and thousands of staff \u2013 to travel to and from Heathrow.<\/p>\n

Although ride-sharing, coaches and buses can play a part, scaling up rail is the clear alternative. Space on the existing line is, however, at a premium, and the Elizabeth line, built with a promise of connecting business travellers swiftly and directly from Heathrow<\/a> to the City and Canary Wharf, only has limited paths. With everything up for negotiation, transport experts are asking: has the time come to kill off the Heathrow Express?<\/p>\n

The obvious airport train, as unwary visitors often find out too late, may not be the best one. The Heathrow Express, which charges a whopping \u00a326 for a 15- to 21-minute one-way hop, was long one of the most expensive airport connections around (at least until it was overtaken by the Luton Dart<\/a>). It is, as advertised, technically the fastest way to central London, though passengers travelling beyond Paddington may reach their destination more quickly on the Elizabeth line or even the tube on a direct route.<\/p>\n

For those who value the speed \u2013 in addition to TV news, a toilet and a luggage rack \u2013 it may be the perfect service. But the Heathrow Express was only used by 4.5 million passengers last year, a figure that represents, at best, less than 6% of Heathrow\u2019s air passengers, with the number bolstered by airport staff on heavily discounted tickets.<\/p>\n

Transport for London (TfL) has signalled its belief that the service\u2019s time is up, as the government consults on its Heathrow expansion national policy statement. MPs must approve the statement for the runway to go ahead. That no longer seems automatic: Andy Burnham\u2019s long-term scepticism over a third runway, along with the loss of Rachel Reeves in No 11 as a champion of expansion, makes Downing Street support look ambivalent at best \u2013 even given the new chancellor\u2019s belated assertion that the \u201ceconomic case stacks up\u201d.<\/p>\n

However many runways the airport has, TfL said it was \u201cworth reviewing [the Heathrow Express\u2019s] future in the context of determining the optimal mix of services on the Great Western mainline to make the most effective use of the limited capacity available\u201d.<\/p>\n

Map showing rail routes from Heathrow\u2019s Terminal 5 to destinations in central London<\/a><\/p>\n

For TfL, the Elizabeth line, going deeper and cheaper into the heart of London<\/a>, is \u201ca more compelling service\u201d. At the moment, only two Elizabeth line trains an hour serve Heathrow\u2019s Terminal 5, which handles about 40% of the airport\u2019s passengers. That means a passenger who does not carefully judge the timing may face a journey from the City or Canary Wharf to T5 of more than an hour. The frequency is due to double next year but more space into Heathrow could still be freed up.<\/p>\n

Alex Williams, the chief customer and strategy officer at TfL, told MPs at a select committee hearing this month that the Heathrow Express was \u201ctaking up valuable paths that aren\u2019t actually well used. There\u2019s a way of repurposing that to be more affordable, more attractive, and carry more public transport users.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surface access, or getting people between central London and Britain\u2019s biggest airport, underwent a step change with the Elizabeth line. Previously, the little-advertised offering Heathrow Connect joined the dots at the likes of Hayes & Harlington on a slower train to Paddington, serving many airport workers, if not international travellers. Fares were then about a third of the price of the Heathrow Express \u2013 a gap that is now less significant given that the Elizabeth line charges \u00a315.50 to reach any of its central London stations. And for those who are able to book and plan a month ahead, the Express advance tickets can prove less expensive at \u00a310.<\/p>\n

People waiting for an Elizabeth line train at Paddington. Photograph: Matthew Ashmore\/Alamy<\/p>\n

TfL\u2019s cheaper but slower alternative, the Piccadilly line (\u00a35.90 into central London), is also due to get an upgrade of signalling and trains, increasing capacity.<\/p>\n

Two additional rail schemes have been mooted \u2013 Heathrow Southern Railway and a Western Rail link \u2013 as ways to connect into the wider national rail network, and the Elizabeth line itself could be extended to Staines \u2013 all of which would encourage many more from the suburban commuter belt to take the train rather than drive to the airport.<\/p>\n

Rebooting the railway now would coincide with the end of Heathrow Express\u2019s operating agreement with the Department for Transport, which gives the service access rights to the national railway until June 2028. The DfT says no decision has yet been made on the future operation.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s complicated: the actual operator, the FirstGroup-owned Great Western Railway, is due to be nationalised this December and become part of Great British Railways<\/a> next year. Meanwhile, Heathrow owns the stations and five miles of railway from the airport to the mainline, part of its original \u00a31bn investment in the Express in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

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The service brought in revenue of \u00a348m for the first six months of 2026, according to a Heathrow spokesperson. They said: \u201cIt operates without taxpayer funding and helps keep airport charges down. Passengers don\u2019t want fewer choices \u2013 Heathrow Express remains an important part of the competitive connectivity, convenience and flexibility they expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many question whether enough is being done \u2013 or if there will be enough pressure on Heathrow to avoid gridlock on the roads. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, warned that the taxpayer could be left picking up the bill for public transport improvements \u201cleft undefined and unfunded in the current proposals\u201d for expansion \u2013 estimated at up to \u00a39bn by TfL, a figure Heathrow said it did not recognise.<\/p>\n

Heathrow has plans to increase its parking space capacity from 21,000 to 36,000. Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Most passengers go to the airport by car. And while Heathrow is funding new car parks \u2013 with plans to boost its parking space capacity from 21,000 to 36,000 \u2013 and its rerouting of the M25, it has not pledged any of its \u00a333bn expenditure on improving the trains, Williams told the select committee, adding: \u201cIf you make it easier for people to park very near the terminal, how will you encourage them to get on the train?\u201d<\/p>\n

Without clear demands for a mode shift to public transport \u2013 as existed in the previous expansion plan, as well as in the planning permission for Gatwick\u2019s recently approved second runway \u2013 the policy statement was \u201ca step backwards\u201d, Williams said, adding that in 2017 \u201cthere was a commitment or an aspiration from Heathrow to get no extra traffic. That is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DfT spokesperson said: \u201cWe are carefully considering responses to the consultation, which sets out the key requirements any future planning application for expansion would have to meet, including public transport targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

A legal mandate could happen, a source said. But so far these are just targets: at the most stringent, 55% of airport passengers using public transport, and only when Heathrow\u2019s third runway is fully operational.<\/p>\n

For Anthony Smith, the former passenger watchdog who now chairs the Heathrow Area Transport Forum, it seems a curious timetable. He told MPs: \u201cIf you\u2019re trying to shift people out of cars in 20 years\u2019 time, when you\u2019ve got 130 million passengers, it\u2019s just harder, harder, harder.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Heathrow finally builds its third runway, Londoners can expect hundreds more planes flying overhead each day. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-783270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}