Forums › Other › London life › I’ve had it with the Elizabeth line to Heathrow
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I’ll be going back to the Piccadilly line in the interests of a more comfortable journey to Heathrow, not to mention one that’s much cheaper and doesn’t serve to put a fiver in the HAL coffers. My main gripe is the absence of any luggage storage on the trains, this just doesn’t work when so many people are travelling to Heathrow with wheely bags. Most people stand around the lobbies trying to stop their cases from running away from them, you can’t realistically use the floorspace in front of the seating areas where people are sitting side on as you’ll end up dragging your cases over umpteen feet and you’ve nothing to brace yourself against while hanging onto your bags. This whole configuration just doesn’t work for an airport train, it’s as if they’ve sacrificed basics like luggage racks and WCs in order to maximise standing capacity at rush hour. I don’t doubt this is also needed at peak times, but trying to combine this with an airport service is square peg in a round whole territory. Tempers were fraying on my most recent journey as passengers were jockeying for position with bags, obstructing access to the doors in the lobby areas. No more, using the first or last carriage on the Piccadilly line offers sufficient luggage storage in the step areas adjacent to the double doors, it’s also possible to sit down close to your bags, if not in central London then usually after Hammersmith as the train empties out. Things are no doubt even more spacious now that the Elizabeth line has stolen so many passengers from the tube.
The tube’s not even much slower compared to the Elizabeth line which outside of the automated core tunnel ambles between stations with all the alacrity of a heritage steam railway. Moreover, it’s never once been running according to the timetable in all the times I’ve used it whereas the tube is usually fine and if not, there’s always another train along in a few minutes. Even navigating the Heathrow tube station is a breeze compared to the Elizabeth line/HEX station where a tsunami of people being decanted off these vast trains is trying to use a bank of lifts at one end of the platform leading to long queues and lots of shoving as people are in a hurry to get out of the station. In comparison a regular trickle of people use the tube station so the crowds never build up.
Frankly, I wouldn’t use the Elizabeth line anymore even if it was the same price as the tube. The incoming Siemens Piccadilly line trains with AC seal the deal as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure it’s a great service if you’re departing from Stratford or Woolwich and can now get to Heathrow without changing train while seated in air conditioned comfort but for people looking to travel from the central core with luggage, the set-up doesn’t work, yet it should be a seamless experience.
A few points:
It isn’t actually meant to be an ‘airport train’ is it?
Many people seem to forget that most suitcases can be stood on their side (usually you’ll have some ‘feet’ there of some sort), so they won’t roll around.
I did the Piccadilly line last month from end to end – t5 through to Cockfosters. Took 1 hour and 12 minutes.Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course, the tsunami of people mentioned are clearly expressing theirs!
Don’t start holding your breath just yet for the new tube trains. They are coming, but not planned to start entering service until Autumn 2025. General rule – never trust targets generically based on seasons.
The biggest gripe for me is the inflated cost of the elizabeth line.
Indeed it’s not meant to be an airport train.
Any link at all to LHR was a relatively late addition to the scheme and going to T5 even later still.
Its primary purpose is to take pressure off the Central Line and improve east – west cross London links.
The times I’ve used it luggage hasn’t been a problem and especially if you move down th platforms away from the entrances to the platforms.
The biggest gripe for me is the inflated cost of the elizabeth line.
Still cheaper than the HEX though.
AND it’s included in the daily cap on fares.
It has definitely taken many individual travellers off taxis, HEX etc, so better than nothing. I use my car or taxi only when travelling with family.
It’s not as bad as OP makes it to be. Am not sure I’d leave my luggage and sit a few rows away. As long as you can get any of the seats facing away from windows, you are fine. You are guaranteed a seat when starting from Heathrow. It’s only an issue going to the airport.
Hilarious to hear the moans. You Londoners really don’t have a clue how the rest of the country lives.
I understand what it is and isn’t, but it serves the airport and it’s being promoted as the main form of transport between Heathrow and central London. I’d gladly rest my bags on their side, if there was anywhere to do it, but there isn’t.
I also recognise it’ll be a while before the new trains come on stream on the Piccadilly line but even the existing stock is fine by me because of the ample luggage storage. Each set of double doors can effectively accommodate four large suitcases which is perfectly adequate in light of the frequency of the service and the ratio of airport travellers versus local commuters.
I’ve tried all tactics, moving away from the main entrance to the platform, using first and last carriages, yet I always end up hovering in the lobby holding my bags while trying to brace myself against the wall or the central pole. It’s not beyond the wit of man to install luggage racks, it also needn’t be expensive. I cannot be the only one now avoiding the service and thus reducing the revenue from Heathrow trains but perhaps TFL doesn’t care as they only get a couple of quid more net once they’ve paid the Dick Turpin tax to HAL for the use of the access tunnel. I’d use it if I was going somewhere walking distance from an EL station, avoiding the need to negotiate stairs while changing tube lines but that’s the only situation I’d still take the EL. In fairness, a lot of airport passengers must be doing exactly this and step-free access to the EL stations is a great benefit.
There is a lot of space under the seats, which most passengers don’t seem to realise.
The HEx has plenty of luggage storage space, but very few people use it – this was a consideration in the design of the Elizabeth Line trains, as well as the fact they are not primarily airport trains as others have said.
TFL doesn’t care as they only get a couple of quid more net once they’ve paid the Dick Turpin tax to HAL for the use of the access tunnel.
It’s a fee calculated by the Office of Rail and Road (the regulator) and approved by the High Court after HAL challenged it (they wanted more) and were rejected for the use of a privately owned and paid for asset.
It covers not only access to the tunnels and platforms but all the other associated infrastructure and costs. It also pays for the staffing on the platforms. If anyone pays attention there are no TFL staff at any of the Heathrow rail stations even though there are more Lizzie line trains serving the airport than HEX!
TBH TFL really don’t care that you aren’t using Lizzie. They have plenty of people who are. Plus they still get your money from the tube journey!
£6.90 for a Contactless ride from Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow is absurd. TFL gets £1.90, HAL pockets £5. Maintaining the tunnels and staffing the stations cannot justify £5 per passenger, it’s a blatant money grab designed to equalise the cost of taking the EL and using the forecourt to drop off passengers, albeit it’s £5 per car, so even if there’s only two of you, it’s cheaper to be dropped off but even an Uber might be cheaper than £6.90 x 2. Cutting out the bulk of local journeys would go a long way to reducing traffic around Heathrow but this pricing strategy actually does the opposite. HAL ended the free travel zone for buses which shows you how committed they are to getting a higher percentage of passengers using public transport.
All respect to those that like the EL and will keep using it, more space for me on the Piccadilly line!
Lol. You have trains which are guaranteed to get you to the airport on the actual day you need to get there!
The tube is still a marvel for some of us 😂. I especially love how the Piccadilly line gets you from LHR to Hyde Park without having to change even once!
There is a lot of space under the seats, which most passengers don’t seem to realise.
In my desperation to find somewhere to store suitcases I quickly spied that opportunity, issue is that there is so little seating capacity on these trains, these seats are invariably all taken once the train has arrived in the central core. I’d be seriously miffed if someone approached me asking permission to put their suitcases under a seat I was occupying so I won’t go there.
The HEx has plenty of luggage storage space, but very few people use it
In my opinion this is to be expected as the passenger profiles are different. Business travellers tend to travel light, leisure travellers on the other hand tend to have a full size suitcase and they won’t take the HEX due to the much higher cost. A business traveller can expense a black cab to Paddington followed by a HEX ticket and would probably be applauded by the accounts department for not generating a taxi bill for a ride all the way to the airport.
Lol. You have trains which are guaranteed to get you to the airport on the actual day you need to get there!
I know it’s a ‘first world problem’ I’m grumbling about. The EL was however sold as the knight in shining armour and they charge a hefty premium to reflect the better experience, but expectation hasn’t matched reality for me. It tells you something that I would rather travel with fifty year old rolling stock with no AC!
The tube is still a marvel for some of us 😂. I especially love how the Piccadilly line gets you from LHR to Hyde Park without having to change even once!
It’s a marvel for me too! It serves local communities yet is brisk and the stations are well spaced out, it also doesn’t hang around in the stations. Under an hour to Covent Garden is speedy, the EL takes 40 mins to get you to a similar part of London. The non-stop part from Acton Town to Hammersmith is a great timesaver.
@Londonsteve – “once they’ve paid the Dick Turpin tax to HAL for the use of the access tunnel” if you had paid to build the tunnel, wouldn’t you wish to recoup the cost? Isn’t it fair that users pay the cost or should the cost of building that rail link have been paid out of general taxation?
The good news is, the Heathrow Track Access Agreement has been extended until June 2028.
@Londonsteve – “once they’ve paid the Dick Turpin tax to HAL for the use of the access tunnel” if you had paid to build the tunnel, wouldn’t you wish to recoup the cost? Isn’t it fair that users pay the cost or should the cost of building that rail link have been paid out of general taxation?
The good news is, the Heathrow Track Access Agreement has been extended until June 2028.
I’m a firm believer in public transport being funded out of the public purse and fares being set at affordable levels. I understand the cost of construction has already been recouped when you factor in the profits made on HEX for the 20 years when it was a monopoly service (putting aside the Heathrow Connect which also only ran as far as Paddington). I can understand if TFL is expected to pay money to HAL considering they staff and maintain the stations but no more than £2 feels appropriate, considering TFL takes only £1.90 from a nearby station and they’re having to lease the trains, employ the driver and pay National Rail for track access charges. At the end of the day, this is public transport and irrespective of the financial background, it needs to be affordable for it to fulfil its function.
Is it good news for the travelling public that the £5 charge remains for another 4 years? I’d submit it’s the opposite. I feel sorry for TFL who are having to subsidise the travelling public when they use a Travelcard to Heathrow. TFL is hard up, HAL is not.
@Londonsteve – “once they’ve paid the Dick Turpin tax to HAL for the use of the access tunnel” if you had paid to build the tunnel, wouldn’t you wish to recoup the cost? Isn’t it fair that users pay the cost or should the cost of building that rail link have been paid out of general taxation?
The good news is, the Heathrow Track Access Agreement has been extended until June 2028.
That’s the agreenent for HEX to use the national rail tracks between Paddington and the airport spur and the platforns at Paddington – which they pay to use.
Totally different to anything TFL pays for access to the HAL owned and paid for infrastructure.
BTW I can’t find anything that HAL is charging TFL £5 per passenger.
But I can find various reports that it’s a couple of hundred quid per train (if that) so perhaps not so much of a ‘dick turpin tax’ as some would make it out to be.
@Londonsteve I think you are in the minority – all my friends and acquaintances love the Elizabeth line and those that used to use the Piccadilly line have been delighted to ditch it.
If there is something to complain about it is the reliability issues on the Western end of the Lizzie, but once that is resolved it will be a dream.
I am sure if you are going to parts of London that are directly served by the Piccadilly line it may be quicker and easier to get that, but having lived on it all the issues you describe with luggage also occur there, if not worse. And there’s no AC. So I guess to each their own 🙂
Given that the full contract terms and the current price list are public information, I don’t know where some of these numbers like £5 per pax come from. This is the price list based on ten trains per hour :-
I assume the misquoted £5 figure comes from the difference between the £1.90 zone 5 – zone 6 tube fare and the £6.90 cost from Hayes & Harlington, while conveniently ignoring the fact that TfL also imposed a premium on the tube from zone 1 by scrapping the off peak fare.
Working in the City the Elizabeth Line has been a gamechanger for me for early evening flights after work in particular. One train straight through to LHR T5, and timetabled too, so no wasting time waiting around.
Have some sympathy re comments on the pace of it once it emerges from the tunnel – it does seem to crawl unnecessarily slowly. And agree its a bit of a scrum at LHR especially with those annoying automated lifts. But it ticks every other box for me.
Re space, I always find the central carriages somewhat more spacious. Most stations have entrances at both ends, so the central area seems to attract fewer passengers. Never had a real issue re seating / space or my bags.
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.
General rule – never trust targets generically based on seasons.
How late and over budget was Crossrail?
Delayed by issues with safety testing and signalling systems, even before the onset of the pandemic, Crossrail has opened three and a half years late and more than 4 billion pounds over budget for a total cost of 18.8 billion pounds ($23.6 billion).
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