Heathrow Express

Feature Railways and Air Transport

Heathrow Express

Paul Le Blond

line built by Brunel in the mid-nineteenth tunnel. Special environmental measures Famous for 15 Minutes century. Paddington is in the heart of were taken. To reduce noise levels by London’s West End tourist and business up to 3dB at nearby houses, a green wall ‘In 15 minutes—every 15 minutes’ is the centre. made of soil and plants was built next to slogan of the new Heathrow Express rail In the mid-1980s, the UK’s railways and the railway to blend in with the embank- link between Heathrow Airport, the airports were in the public sector, but by ment. To mitigate the loss of some eco- world’s busiest international airport, and 1987, BAA (the major airport group) had logically valuable ponds, new ponds central London. This remarkable jour- been privatized. The new motivation were built and nesting birds relocated. ney time provides air passengers with a that this gave to BAA encouraged it to The 7 km of tunnel starts as two single dramatic improvement in choice of promote a joint venture with British Rail- bores to the first Airport station, where access and should enable Heathrow to ways to develop the Heathrow Express there are two platforms serving Terminals remain at the top of the league of inter- link. In more recent years, as the UK 1, 2, and 3. The separate lines then join national airports. railway industry was reorganized and to form a single track running to the Heathrow has been linked to the privatized, BAA took over more of the second Airport station that serves Termi- London Underground by the Piccadilly project and ended up with 100% own- nal 4. The main tunnels were cut using Line since 1977, and this line carries ership. tunnel boring machines through London more air passengers than any other air- Clay, but a section through an old refuse port rail link in the world. However, air tip was built using cut-and-cover tech- passengers have to share the train with Building the Infrastructure niques. The Terminal 4 station tunnels commuters and the trains are not suit- were built using sprayed concrete linings. able for people with baggage or in a It took 2.5 years to get approval to build The stations are about 25 metres below hurry. the link, and work started in 1993. It ground level and access to the terminals In 1985, the UK government decided that then took five years to complete the con- is provided by lifts and escalators, some expansion of Heathrow could not con- struction. The route from Paddington is of which feed directly into the Depar- tinue without a main line rail link. Fol- 25-km long, and about 18 km of this was tures and Arrivals concourses. The train lowing studies of alternatives, the route the existing Great Western main line. tunnels include an emergency walkway from Heathrow to London’s Paddington This was electrified to the 25-kV AC that connects to escape shafts at every Station was chosen, 70% of which uses catenary system. A new branch line was kilometer, in some places combined with the straight and fast Great Western main built north of the Airport mainly in a ventilation shaft. All the tunnels can be forcibly ventilated by two-way fans to remove smoke.

Rolling Stock

The trains are eight-car EMUs made by Siemens/CAF. Each carriage is 23 meters long, and the train is formed of two four- car units. The air-conditioned trains have about 430 First- and Express-class seats and run at 160 km/h. They are fitted with automatic train protection equipment and have the highest standards of fire protection. These latter two features were required because the trains oper- ate in long tunnels at Heathrow. The rolling-stock fleet is composed of 14 four- car units, enough to run the service with New elevated airport junction with ecologically sensitive area in foreground (BAA) a few back-up units. They are main-

Bus/coach: 17% Bus/coach: 11% London Car: 44% Car: 43% Underground: London 10% Underground: 1996 2003 16%

Rail: 0% Rail: 19%

Taxi: 24% Taxi: 16%

tained in a purpose-built service facility handling bags on public transport. next to the main line. On-train travel information is provided Heathrow Transport Hub by Express TV with four screens in each car. In the 15-minute journey, Express The Heathrow Express was not designed Service for Air Passengers TV gives information about the Heathrow in isolation from the rest of the transport Express service, directions for onward network serving the airport. Heathrow The simple fare structure makes buying travel from Paddington Station, and BBC is the world’s largest international airport a ticket easy and simple—a single costs World News and Weather. Announce- in terms of the number of passengers. In £10, and a return is £20 (£1 = US$1.60). ments about arriving at the end of the 1998, there were a total of 53 million First class costs £20 one way. The air- journey are triggered by trackside equip- international passengers out of a total of line ticket may include the train fare but ment. Each car has a public telephone 60 million, 70% of whom were not trans- if it does not, tickets can be bought at and mobile telephones can be used ferring between flights. Figure 1 shows shops, travel agencies, BAA ticket offices, throughout the journey even in the the modal shares in 1996, before the multilingual ticket machines, and from stations deep beneath the Airport, thanks Heathrow Express service started, and the the Customer Services Representatives to the installation of a leaky feeder aerial. projected shares in 2003. In 1996, who pass through the trains. Payment Heathrow is fully accessible to disabled private cars formed the largest share and can be made by credit card and in for- passengers. Level floors and platforms most of these journeys were to drop off eign currencies. Arriving passengers plus extensive provision of lifts make it and pick up air passengers, meaning two continuing their journey on other public easy for wheelchairs, and each train has car trips for every air journey. Similarly, transport can buy through tickets to the a secure position for a wheelchair as well taxis usually either enter or leave the London Underground or other railways. as a wheelchair-accessible toilet. airport empty. Buses and coaches also Services run every 15 minutes from 05:00 Furthermore, passengers who travel carry a significant number of air passen- to 23:30, 7 days-a-week with a remark- infrequently may not be familiar with the gers, particularly on the long-distance able journey time of just 15 minutes London Underground and UK rail net- coach network that operates successfully between Paddington and Terminals 1, 2, works, so simple signs and information throughout the UK. In fact, Heathrow and 3. This is the fastest way of getting systems make the journey easy and give is the largest bus and coach hub in the to Heathrow from central London. By reassurance. High staffing levels at UK because many coach services and comparison, the Piccadilly Line takes stations and on the trains provide a passengers use it as a staging point. between 45 minutes and 1 hour, and the human touch through their excellent cus- London Underground has achieved a sig- buses and taxis take about 1 hour and tomer service aptitude. nificant share of air passengers, despite much longer in rush hours. its shortcomings and also carries many The excellent baggage facilities eliminate airport staff and visitors. the difficulties air passengers have in Initially, we expect the Heathrow Express

to capture a market share of about 14%, start-up subsidy, of new or improved ser- passengers a day. On an annual basis, which will remove 3000 vehicles per day vices. this is over 3.5 million and the forecast from the roads around the Airport. The Although BAA wants to cut the number for the first full year is 6 million. target share of public transport is 40% of car journeys, the private car will still A marketing campaign was designed to by 2000, rising to 50% in the longer term. be the most popular mode for the make people aware of the new service Achieving this share requires both a good majority of passengers, so there are still and to get them to try it. Having Prime rail link as well as a whole series of im- plans to provide spaces for roads and car Minister Tony Blair open the service was provements to public transport and, in parking. Airport staff face more difficul- marvellous free advertising, but there line with national policies, restraints on ties with public transport because their is also an extensive paid campaign. use of private cars. working hours are often outside the hours Much of our advertising is based on the Heathrow transport policies target when public transport is running. The 15-minute journey time, and the improvements across the full range of Heathrow Express offers a 75% discount catchphrase ‘Famous for 15 minutes’ first public transport modes. Trains are good on monthly tickets to Airport staff and coined by Andy Warhol, fitted perfectly, for moving large numbers of people there are also discounts on many of the so the TV advertising and other media between a few key points, but they are bus routes to the Airport. Once at the campaigns use Warhol-type images of less good at distributing smaller numbers. Airport, the Heathrow Express between people and Heathrow Express. Buses are more economical for these Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4 is free, as are Other parts of the marketing campaign ‘thinner’ flows and also more flexible in Airport buses, so there is no need to drive concentrated on getting people to try adapting rapidly to changed circum- around the Airport. the service, hoping they would be so stances. New bus designs can match and impressed that they would come back sometimes exceed the comfort of trains, again. Many complimentary tickets and and road congestion can be avoided by Growing Passengers upgrades were distributed to regular air enforcing bus priority lanes on roads. travellers (through airline frequent flyer Our plans for public transport at In the few months since operations clubs), to shareholders, and others. Cou- Heathrow include provision of bus in- started on 23 June 1998, the Heathrow pons were also provided in newspapers. terchanges and encouragement, often by Express is carrying more than 10,000 This approach was very successful and our market research shows a high pro- portion of repeat customers. The main customers are business travellers, which is not surprising because our very fast journey time appeals to business people who will value the extra 30 minutes or 1 hour on a 1-day business trip to London. This shows clearly in the passenger weekly profile; peak days are Mondays and Fridays, while the numbers are much lower on Saturdays and Sundays. There are also daily peaks in the morning flow into London and the evening flow to the Airport. We are now adjusting our campaign to see if we can attract other types of customer. For example, to attract families on holiday trips, we are offering free child tickets when accom- panied by an adult during school holi- days. Word of mouth is one of the strongest marketing tools and we are endeavour- Lifts and escalators in Heathrow Central Station (BAA) ing to ensure that customers enjoy their

22 Japan Railway & Transport Review 19 • March 1999 Copyright © 1999 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Paddington is west, so a second service would serve a different market. In addi- tion, this second service could call at intermediate stations in west and north London. A second prospect is an international service from Paris by Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. We are looking at the technical and commercial issues with the Eurostar operators.

International Comparisons

BAA believes there are about 60 existing airport rail links around the world with another 100 being planned or built. As most air journeys are international, it is interesting to compare the different experiences of air passengers at each end of a trip. Heathrow Express train standing at Paddington Station (BAA) The Heathrow Express is a dedicated airport rail link, in the sense that it is non- stop from the Airport to city centre and trip and recommend the Heathrow is clearly designed for air passengers, Express to friends and colleagues. The Future with special rolling stock and arrange- ments for baggage, etc. Other similar The massive investment in rail infrastruc- examples are the Airport Express to Financing ture at Heathrow was undertaken on the the new Hong Kong Airport, the basis of the initial Heathrow Express Gardermobanen to Oslo’s new airport, The Heathrow Express involved capital service to Paddington, but it was planned the Arlanda Express in Stockholm, and spending of more than £450 million. The with expansion in mind to accommodate the Narita Express in Tokyo. This type of largest amount was spent on the tunnels additional services. link seems successful where there is at Heathrow, with smaller sums spent on The basic infrastructure has a capacity heavy demand between the airport and the rolling stock, depot, electrification of twice the initial service of four trains city and where there are many interna- and Paddington Station. This sum was each way each hour. With further tional passengers. raised by BAA plc., a private company extensions of passenger terminals at A more common type of airport rail link listed on the London Stock Exchange. Heathrow, up to 16 trains per hour each is an extension of a city metro or regional Financing came from the company’s own way could be accommodated. Studies rail system to the airport. At Heathrow, cash flow and from loans from the Euro- have been underway for some time to the Piccadilly Line is a good example. pean Investment Bank and the Export- see if there is a demand for additional Other examples in Europe are Paris Import Bank of Japan. services and whether they could be Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and The surplus of revenue over operating viable. Barcelona airports. This is also the most costs is confidential, but it is expected In the next 5 years, there are two pros- common type of airport rail link in North to give shareholders an appropriate pects that look worthwhile. Central America, with examples at Chicago return on capital investment. There is London is by far the dominant destina- O’Hare, Washington National and no cross subsidy from other parts of the tion and a second Heathrow Express Boston Logan International. The advan- business and there is no public subsidy. service to St Pancras, another London tage of these links is that they have railway terminus is planned. St Pancras excellent through connectivity with the is east of central London while rest of the network, but the disadvantage

is that they are not designed for air pas- dedicated rail link to London’s Heathrow sengers who must share trains with other Airport. By making the service attrac- users. Their success in attracting air pas- tive to this particular group of discern- sengers is more mixed, but they usually ing passengers, a new market has been attract more airport staff. created for rail. A third type of rail link involves high- Finally, if you had started reading this speed long-distance trains. The TGV article when you left Heathrow, you station at Charles de Gaulle Airport in would be in central London by the time Paris and the ICE station being built at you reached the end! If you need any Frankfurt Airport are two examples. The more information, visit our website at main principle here is that some short- http://www.heathrowexpress.co.uk. I haul air services are better by train as long as the journey time is not much longer. We are looking at this possibil- ity at Heathrow too. Of course, there are many types of hybrid airport rail links and others where rail services are connected to the airport by bus or transit links. Each situation is different and there is no universal right answer. However, there is a lot of expertise and knowledge available from planners, designers, and operators and several have now grouped together as the International Air Rail Organisation (IARO). The objective of this group is to pool knowledge and share good ideas so that members can learn from each other’s experience. A best practice guide has been produced which picks out examples from around the world. Mem- bers solve common problems through conferences, meetings and newsletters. Membership is open to train operators, airports, airlines, consultants, contractors and others who have a direct involve- ment in airport rail links. The URL is

http://www.iaro.com. IARO’s Guide to Best Practice (IARO)

Conclusions Paul Le Blond Aviation has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the transport industry Mr Le Blond is Rail Strategy Manager with BAA plc. He has worked with BAA for 28 years as an but it is recognized that rail links to air- airport planner and manager, and has spent the last 10 years working on the Heathrow Express project. He has a Masters degree in Transportation Engineering from Leeds University, UK, and ports must be part of the solution to ac- is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport. commodating the growth. Heathrow Express is an example of the new think- ing that has created a purpose-designed,