Elizabeth Line Reading to LHR

[rsquare]

I've been looking at the timetable for the Elizabeth Line, and it seems that trains starting in Reading do not service Heathrow.  There must be a way to get from Reading to Heathrow, probably involving a change of trains and perhaps an additional fare.  Could someone provide details?

[gumshoe958]

Heathrow, annoyingly, is on a separate spur off the main Reading to London line with no direct access from the Reading direction.

 

So from Reading you’d need to get off the Elizabeth line train at Hayes & Harlington and transfer there to a Heathrow train.

 

Alternatively, there’s a direct bus service branded Railair which leaves from just outside Reading station every 30 minutes and takes between 40 minutes and an hour, depending on your terminal at LHR - so about the same as the train.

[rsquare]

19 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

So from Reading you’d need to get off the Elizabeth line train at Hayes & Harlington and transfer there to a Heathrow train.

Thanks for the fast response.  Is there an extra fare to do this, or is it a cross-platform (or same-platform, next train) transfer?

[Globaliser]

25 minutes ago, rsquare said:

Is there an extra fare to do this, or is it a cross-platform (or same-platform, next train) transfer?

 

There is a published through fare on the Elizabeth Line from Reading to Heathrow. You simply touch in with your contactless payment card at Reading, and touch out at Heathrow with the same card. The TfL fare finder says that this is £21.00 one-way peak (Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930) and £14.90 off-peak. (The National Rail website suggests that a paper ticket would be £24.60 peak and £23.30 off-peak.)

 

It looks like EL trains from Reading usually use platform 4 at Hayes & Harlington, and EL trains from there to Heathrow use platform 3. That would involve going over the footbridge (it looks like there are lifts).

 

Personally, I'd be primarily looking at the Railair coach.

[Cotswold Eagle]

A decent rail link to Heathrow from the West is one of the great missing links. I pass through Reading when I'm heading to Heathrow from the Cotswolds on the train and I stay on a fast service through to Paddington and take the Heathrow Express out to Heathrow - most comfortable and about the same timings. 

 

Starting at Reading, personally I'd do the same but that has a cost disadvantage over the Railair coach, which is the simplest thing to do, and the TfL fare on the Elizabeth Line.