Heathrow Express

Discussion in 'Suggestions' started by Swedewagon, Oct 15, 2020.

  1. Swedewagon

    Swedewagon Well-Known Member

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    Hello again! It's another route suggestion from me. This time being the Heathrow Express than runs between London Heathrow Airport and London Paddington. The journey takes about 21 minutes from one terminus to the other. But without a furtherado, let us begin!

    London Paddington
    [​IMG]

    We start off at Paddington which owners of the Great Western Express are surely familiar with by now. It one of the major railway stations serving London. The station is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the main line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

    Paddington is the London terminus of the Great Western main line; passenger services are primarily operated by Great Western Railway, which provides the majority of commuter and regional passenger services to west London and the Thames Valley region as well as long-distance intercity services to South West England and South Wales. It is also the terminus for the Heathrow Express and TfL Rail services to and from Heathrow Airport and Reading. It is one of 11 London stations managed directly by Network Rail.

    Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3
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    Our next and only intermediate stop is Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3. The station serves Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 (and formerly Terminal 1 before its closure) at London Heathrow Airport. It is served by Heathrow Express trains direct to central London and TfL Rail trains that stop at local stations. It is 14 miles 50 chains (23.5 km) down-line from London Paddington. Transport for London Travelcards are not valid on Express services from the station. Passengers transferring between any of the terminals at Heathrow may use the trains free of charge.

    The station has services running direct to Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 provided by Heathrow Express, normally running every 15 minutes, and by TfL Rail, normally running every half hour and stopping at most intermediate stations. It is also serviced by the Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle, which runs between this location and Heathrow Terminal 4 approximately every 15 minutes.

    Since May 2018, the station has been served by TfL Rail, part of the new Crossrail project, replacing the Heathrow Connect service. Services initially run as far as London Paddington calling at all intermediate stations. In October 2020, the service will be rebranded the Elizabeth Line, and in December 2021 the full route opens, running through Central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

    Heathrow Terminal 5[​IMG]
    Our final stop is Heathrow Terminal 5. The station is a shared railway and London Underground station serving Heathrow Terminal 5. It serves as a terminus for Heathrow Express services to Paddington, and for London Underground Piccadilly line services. Managed by Heathrow Express, it is staffed entirely by Heathrow Express staff, unlike the other underground stations serving Terminal 4 and Terminals 2 & 3. It is the only station at Heathrow Airport where both the Heathrow Express and Piccadilly line services share the same station. The station is served by the Heathrow Express, Piccadilly Line of the London Underground and will soon be served by Crossrail as well

    Rolling Stock
    Class 332
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    The current rolling stock used on the route is the Class 332, produced by CAF and Siemens Mobility. A total of 14 units have been produced all for use on the Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport. The fleet was built in 1997-1998 in Zaragoza having originally been designated as a Class 331. The units have Automatic Train Protection (ATP) equipment, one of the few fleets in the UK to do so.

    This is largely as a consequence of the Paddington-Heathrow route being mainly on the Great Western Main Line, which was equipped with ATP in the early 1990s as part of a trial of the system by British Rail. From 2020, Great Western Railway will be providing a fleet of twelve Class 387 from the Bombardier Electrostar family to replace all of the 332s used on the Heathrow Express, while Heathrow Airport Holdings will continue to own Heathrow Express. The future on the whole of the 332 fleet is unclear.

    Conclusion
    And that is that everyone. We could get a reskin of 377 or an actual 387 with the Heathrow Express livery. But who knows. But until next time, see you lot around!
     
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  2. isaiahslateter

    isaiahslateter Member

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    Tbh i don't know to much about this train but given the info you put and pictures i see i feel like this would be a great fit for the game
     
  3. dasmith1

    dasmith1 Active Member

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    The Heathrow express isnt going to be operated with the Class 332 as the 332s are being transferred to Northern Trains with the Class 387 taking over. If the Heathrow route was added, DTG would have to start from scratch by building Padding adding overhead lines, adding the Class 800/802, 387, 165. It would have to be a completely new DLC as there is a lot of people wanting a GWR expansion to Penzance which would include Class 150,143 pacer aswell as having the possibility of having Crosscountry added with the HST and Supervoyger.
     
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  4. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    The power lines are already in place on GWE. If it were to be set in the same period (2015ish), the Class 332 HEx and Class 360 Heathrow Connect will be the correct stock.
    Only licencing is holding this back i believe.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2020
  5. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    The route from Hayes and Harlington to Heathrow is owned by the airport itself and they don't license things... So this line is very unlikely to appear in game, ever

    Yes GWR are taking over the running of Heathrow Express and TFL have already got the Heathrow Connect runs, but both run on the airport's lines.
     
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  6. Swedewagon

    Swedewagon Well-Known Member

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    I doubt they'll ever make this route reality, even after GWR takes over, if Train Sim World still exists by then.
     
  7. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    GWR started in 2018, but under HE branding
     
  8. LucasLCC

    LucasLCC Well-Known Member

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    GWR has taken over the running of Heathrow Express for over a year now. (Sorry, only saw your second reply after I'd typed this).

    However, I very much doubt this route would ever appear, as I can't imagine Heathrow Airport Limited agreeing for the tunnels to be modelled.

    I agree it would make a nice route if it was possible...
     
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  9. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    HAL is a Spanish owned organisation, Ferrovial I believe . If it were still in BAAs hands, I'm sure that licence could have been acquired. Sadly HAL are largely unhelpful in more ways than this.
     
  10. no123

    no123 Member

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    Class 387 on HEX uses AC overhead wires, not DC third rail. Idk how do i cross out the words, but Heathrow Junction (or at least the remains of it) would be nice.
     
  11. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    The overhead wires on GWE are completely non-functional. They are just assets.
     
  12. elarthur

    elarthur Well-Known Member

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    But they are there and could be 'powered up' with a little recoding. Irrelevant however, until a licence is obtained which is very unlikely from the current owners.
     
  13. Swedewagon

    Swedewagon Well-Known Member

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    I'd say near impossible if i'm honest.
     
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  14. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    They'd have to effectively rebuild that part of the route. It's not just a case of 'powering them up'.
     
  15. stujoy

    stujoy Well-Known Member

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    You do realise that in the game the power doesn’t actually come from the artwork? :D
     
  16. fabdiva

    fabdiva Well-Known Member

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    The GWR licence means nothing either - all the branding and most of the infrastructure is owned by the Airport. Heathrow Express is the TOC from a legal standpoint too (though operations are subcontracted to GWR)

    The 387s are also non standard, the Heathrow subfleet now have glass cockpits and ETCS for use in the Heathrow Tunnels - part of the reason for the stock change is the ATP system is obsolete and doesn't play nicely with the ETCS used on Crossrail

    Also as far as I'm aware the 332s are best suited as parts donors for the 333 fleet, they would need a *lot* of work for use elsewhere, might not be worth it for 25 year old stock!
     
  17. Doomotron

    Doomotron Well-Known Member

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    ???
     
  18. ZeenozPlays

    ZeenozPlays Well-Known Member

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    Should be a (sorta) easy route to do since they already have Paddington and the part of the route that runs with GWR modeled.

    They could just make this an extension to GWR and have Heathrow trains running alongside them to simulate a busy service pattern.
     
  19. Swedewagon

    Swedewagon Well-Known Member

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    There's one problem though. It's near impossible to acquire a license from the current owners of that piece of track. Not to mention the fleet will be replaced by Electrostars.
     

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