Martin Underwood wrote:
"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...

Martin Underwood wrote:


"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...


Martin Underwood wrote:


- Heathrow to Essex and Kent via Crossrail: I wonder if this will be

the

death knell of the premium-rate Heathrow Express service?


It's a shame that GW
and TT services from the west can't introduce Southall or Hayes &

Harlington

as an additional stop for connection to Heathrow: a cross-platform

change at

a railway station would be much easier than having to lug your cases

down

the steps at Reading and enduring the delays while the luggage is loaded
onto the coach and endure the slow journey out of Reading and along the

M4

to Heathrow.

Also a good idea, and I think this is planned - almost certainly for FGW
Link services along the Thames Valley to Reading, not sure about other
services but quite possible (perhaps alternating stops at Slough with
stops at Ealing Broadway like MML alternate Luton and Luton Airport
Parkway).

However in my view, even that's not really good enough; I think that
electrification of the route to Reading and services from Reading to
Heathrow (perhaps fasts calling at Maidenhead and Slough, and stoppers
too) would do more to combat motorway congestion (on the M4) than any
other rail project, since those Thames Valley towns depend a lot on
Heathrow in their economies.


I hope the GW line isn't electrified any further out: the thought of
Maidenhead bridge festooned with OHLE gantries doesn't bear thinking about
:-( Are there any classes of multiple unit that are
diesel/overhead-electric (like the 319s are third-rail/overhead)? If so,
maybe these should be used to provide a service from Reading to Heathrow,
using diesel from Reading to the point where the Heathrow line branches off
and OHLE from there onwards.

Certainly passengers from the west need a better means of connection than a
rail-air bus. Anything that reduces congestion on the M4 has got to be a
good thing. But it has to be affordable. And secure long-term parking would
be needed at stations along the way, for air travellers to leave their cars
while they went on holiday. That's a lot of joined-up thinking needed - too
much for us in the UK?

Hopefully a larger proportion of people would get rail from near to
their starting locations if there were a direct rail link into Heathrow
from Reading - since there would be a single change for a variety of
stations across the First Great Western and Virgin Cross Country networks.

I have wondered whether, if Airtrack were built, Reading's park-and-ride
site at Winnersh Triangle could be expanded to cater for park-and-ride
Heathrow travellers. (Services would run Reading - Winnersh - Staines
(High St) - Heathrow T5)


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London