Reply To: I’ve had it with the Elizabeth line to Heathrow

[John]

I use the Piccadilly because I live along it.

I’ve never taken Crossrail between Hayes and Heathrow (I’ve used the HEx once, in 2012, and Heathrow Connect once earlier than that) so I do not know what it is like going to the airport. I have used Heathrow-bound trains to Ealing and I have found there to be plenty of space for people with luggage.

I do not recognise the OP’s positive description of the Piccadilly line. To me, all the depicted negatives of Crossrail are actually negatives of the Piccadilly line. Basically every afternoon and evening, you have to fight for space with the entire population of Hounslow going home, and there is literally no space to move your luggage beyond the immediate area of the door by which you entered the train (unless it is carry-on sized). Yes there are small alcoves at some ends of banks of seats but putting your luggage there doesn’t stop it from toppling or rolling over (nobody seems to understand that a bag with 4 wheels is going to roll when subject to acceleration forces). There is no space to put bags on their sides.

When going to T5 you have to get on the first carriage which is always more crowded. Yes the last carriage is less crowded but is only useful for T2/3, and you only have a 50% chance of making it to the end of the platform at Acton Town (which is also the furthest from the lifts) before the next train comes. If it’s raining you will also get drenched and for 6 months of the year it is freezing cold (not that the masses of humans near the front of the platform makes it much warmer but still..)

A few years ago my friend travelled on the Piccadilly bringing her dead dog in a luggage to the vet for cremation. For some reason she had to go at the height of rush hour, so she put the luggage in the alcove by the door and sat nearby, but didn’t pay too much attention as the content was not “valuable”. At one of the stops an alighting passenger snatched the bag as they were getting off… she was not close enough to react even if she had wanted to, so she just turned around at the next station and went home.