Heathrow Connect vs Heathrow Express
Difference between Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express is important to anyone, who is expecting to travel from Heathrow airport. Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express are two sources of transportation between Heathrow Airport and London Paddington. The trains have got their differences on the basis of fares, stations, and seats in the trains. Both these options are considered for traveling if one wants to go somewhere between the Heathrow Airport and London Paddington. Both these trains follow the same route from Heathrow Airport to London Paddington. Heathrow Connect began its services later than Heathrow Express, but both are in use currently.
More about Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect is a train operating company situated in London, which is being run jointly by the Heathrow Express Company and First Great Western Company. Heathrow Connect service was launched on the 12th of June, 2005. The service uses 5-coach Class 360 /2 trains built by Siemens in Germany. Heathrow Connect runs between the Heathrow Airport and Paddington station. The service connects several locations in western London with each other such as the airport and central London. The service runs once every 30 minutes with the first train from Paddington to Heathrow is at 4:32 and the last train at 23:07. This time changes according to different stations as well as days of the week.
More about Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is another train service, which serves as an airport rail link between the London Heathrow Airport and Paddington Station in London. The train service is being controlled by HEOC (Heathrow Express Operating Company). The train was launched by the then PM Tony Blair on 23rd June, 1998. Heathrow Express is not a legal part of state Railing System. However, the train service uses the same tracks as the National Rail System Trains for most of its journeys. The train service terminates its operations at a mainline station in London. The train leaves every fifteen minutes with the first train from London Paddington at 5:10 and the last train at 23:25. The train service is using Class 332 trains built by Siemens. Heathrow Express has a great performance record and the records in the second quarter of the 2010-11 year shows that 96 out of 100 trains by Heathrow Express service reached their destination within 5 minutes of expected time.
What is the difference between Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express?
• It has been noted that service by Heathrow Connect has been equally good and competitive as compared to service of Heathrow Express.
• Heather Connect service makes use of relief lines of the Great Western Main Line which joins the Airport and Paddington. The lines have been electrified and the trains use flyover tracks to avoid crossing the main lines. Heathrow Express runs on the Great Western main line as well between the Paddington and Airport Junction. The railway lines have also been electrified offering maximum functionality for the train.
• Heathrow Connect runs every 30 minutes while Heathrow Express runs every 15 minutes. The beginning and ending time as well as frequency of trains change depending on the day of the week.
• Heathrow Express is quite expensive at tickets costing £21.50 (2015) for standard. This is for a single trip. Heathrow Connect is equally functional and operates in the same way with a much cheaper price, which is £10.10 (2015) only for a standard ticket. The difference between fares makes Heathrow Connect a much better option as compared to Heathrow Express.
• However, since Heathrow Connect uses another row of seats than Heathrow Express, it has less space.
• Also, Heathrow Connect does not go to Terminal 4 and 5. It stops with Terminal 1, 2 and 3. Heathrow Express goes up to Terminal 4 and 5.
Images Courtesy:
- Heathrow Connect by Andrew Butcher (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Heathrow Express via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
