Speaking of optimism, 45 mins from LHR to Kings Cross. On the Piccadilly Line. THE Piccadilly Line that I know?
Mmmm.

I have just stepped down from the Piccadilly Line (LHR-Gloucester Rd).
45 minutes. The train stopped THREE times due to traffic congestion.
Gentlemen, it was 6am!

I think VS is desperately trying to fill the current demand gap with feeder traffic. Partnering with Eurostar, eyeing bmi, etc.

Phnar, phnar – let the double entendre station special commence!

Shepherds Bush

There’s actually a big debate at the moment about whether LHR should get a third runway, a high speed rail station on a line going London – LHR – Birmingham and on to Scotland, or both. Don’t hold your breath for either.

The high speed rail line London-Birmingham-Manchester-Scotland is, I think, inevitable – the timescale is the only thing to debate! The powerful argument for early build is that you can take significant traffic off the airlines thus releaving slots at Heathrow. Argument has evidence backing it up if you look at the reduction in flights to Brussels and Paris from London following the introduction of the Eurostar (and in France between Paris and Lyon following the introduction of the TGV line). Immediate need is seen as the introduction of the high speed line to take away the point-to-point traffic from the airport then integrate with the airport (either directly with a stop at the airport or with a spur from an existing terminus). The railway station at Terminal 5 at Heathrow does have spare capacity (2 additional platforms currently unused) that are earmarked for a high speed connection to Waterloo station with a stop at Clapham Junction.

Bobber wrote:
Don’t dis Cockfosters, Cranky!
Make no mistake. I think Cockfosters is one of the greatest names ever!

What about ‘Mudchute’ station on the DLR?

When it was built, wasn’t the Piccadily line the first metro link to any international airport anywhere? Every now and then we do something world-leading, then the rest of the world does it better…

QuercyNomad wrote:

The much promised Crossrail will actually link Heathrow with the Eurostar – just not at St Pancras. The route east goes to Stratford …

I thought Stratford was supposed to be a partial stop for Eurostar, with many trains skipping it and going directly to St Pancras.

In Germany for many years now the train between Stuttgart and Frankfurt had a LH flight number alongside the train number and allowed seamless travel between plane and train (including checking bags through to the destination).

Not to mention that the LH car between Frankfurt and Stuttgart is a 1st class ICE car regardless of the class of travel of your plane ticket. The flip side is that LH-coded train tickets are only good for trains with a designated LH car, even when a regular train can offer a shorter connection (1 hour of my life lost at FRA Fernbahnhof).

Don’t dis Cockfosters, Cranky!

Make no mistake. I think Cockfosters is one of the greatest names ever!

I know that Lufthansa has integration with DB. Do any of the others?

Re: rail connections – In addition to Crossrail, there has been a lot of talk about more high speed lines in the UK’s future. The most likely candidate would be a high-speed line up to Birmingham and eventually onto Scotland along the west coast. Some of the plans indicate a stop at Heathrow to connect it up to the high-speed network. Obviously, this is all pre-election, pie-in-the-sky talk right now, but if it happens some time in the future, it could mean better connections.