FROM THE RM JULY 1996
PADDINGTON station remained in the throes of Elizabeth Line construction at the end of January 2022. Heathrow Express, the headline operator for access to Europe’s busiest pre-pandemic airport, made its impact with the strapline ‘Famous for Fifteen Minutes’. That Andy Warhol-inspired four-word slogan managed to convey the key message of a 15-minute core frequency and 15-minute journey time from Paddington to Heathrow Central (Terminals 2/3).
THE centrepiece of this year’s ‘Railtech’ exhibition, held at the NEC Birmingham between May 21-23, was the unveiling on the opening day of a full-size mock-up of a Class 332 ‘Heathrow Express’ vehicle.
Competitors had an uphill fight to counteract its effect. The stopping service, originally branded as Heathrow Connect, has six intermediate calls and takes 28 minutes (27 minutes net) to Central. The brand was transferred from the Great Western franchise to Transport for London (TfL) in May 2018, and will soon become part of the Elizabeth Line with penetration through central London, thus assuming prime position for ‘airport to East London’ journeys.
The full 23m long mock-up was produced in the Spanish factory of CAF, in which the fleet of units (12 three-car sets and two four-car sets) are currently under production in an order valued at £40m. The trains will be finished in an aesthetically-pleasing silver/black, offset by a broad band of black along the bodysides where the ribbon glazing is located.
At the start of 2022, TfL was operating two stopping trains an hour to the airport, but each was scheduled to be overtaken at Hanwell by the next Heathrow Express. In the raw, ‘tooth and claw’ atmosphere of on-rail competition – which was encouraged elsewhere in the early years of Privatisation – we should perhaps be pleasantly surprised that Heathrow Express staff are not encouraged to draw attention to this fact as their train whisks past the cheaper but slower TfL Class 345. After all, Heathrow Express is an independent operator, not linked to Department of Transport service contracts or franchise agreements.
The front end, while based on the ‘Networker’ style, is quite different, with a new design of curved front screen. The style of ‘Heathrow Express’ name shown on the original drawings some months ago has gone, and a very distinctive ‘X’ in two-tone colours is applied between the cab and the first pair of passenger doors.
“The brand was transferred in May 2018, and will soon become part of the Elizabeth Line with penetration through central London, thus assuming prime position for ‘airport to East London’ journeys”