I've had so many wretched, hot, uncomfortable and time-consuming journeys on the Tube between Heathrow and central London, that the introduction of the new Heathrow Express sounded like an attractive alternative. True, at £10 each way it's more expensive, but the new service, which runs between Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport, beats the Tube hands down for speed and comfort. Recently, on a one-day trip to London, I compared the prices, speeds and hassles of the Tube and the Express (in the interests of science, of course).
There are, of course, other options such as buses and taxis, but neither of these are advisable in the daytime because the traffic is so heavy - in any case, most passengers, particularly those travelling on their own, will find the taxi fare of at least £30 prohibitive.
Arriving at Terminal 1 in the morning, I decided to take the Tube and save the Express for the return journey. One reason was that I could expect the Tube to be less crowded in mid-morning - come the evening rush hour, when I expected to be returning, it would be a sweaty, claustrophobic, sardine-can experience. The other reason was that taking the Express on the way back would avoid going via Terminal 4, as the Tube does when coming from the city to Heathrow. This adds an ear-poppingly fast five minutes to the journey: the Express, on the other hand, would drop me at Terminal 1 before heading to Terminal 4.
I left the arrivals area of Terminal 1 at 11.33 a.m., had a brief wait to get change for my ticket and purchased an all-day Travelcard from a machine for £4.30. Costing just £1 more than the one-way fare between Heathrow and the city centre, the Travelcard is better value than an ordinary ticket and, since I needed to travel around in the city and then get back to Paddington, starting point for the Heathrow Express, at the end of the day, it was the obvious choice.
A Tube was ready to leave as I arrived on the platform. Sure enough, there was plenty of room at that time of the day, but it is nonetheless a long, monotonous journey, with 18 stops before reaching Piccadilly Circus. By 12.30 p.m. I was up the escalators and on to street level. Journey time: 57 minutes.
I was back at Piccadilly at 4.45 p.m., on my way to Paddington. I just missed a train, which was just as well as it was packed. Another, less crowded Tube arrived three minutes later and pulled in to Paddington, six stops away, at 5 p.m.
I could see no signpost for the Express service, so I asked for directions. Three minutes later I was up in the main rail station, and a Heathrow Express train was waiting on Platform 7; a computer screen indicated it would leave in seven minutes, and it did. These trains leave Paddington for Heathrow on 10, 25, 40 and 55 minutes past the hour, between 5.10 a.m. and 11.40 p.m.; trains leave Heathrow Central (Terminals 1, 2 and 3) on 2, 17, 32 and 47 minutes past the hour, between 5.07 a.m. and 11.52 p.m.
Tickets cost £10 for a one-way trip and can be bought from ticket machines with touch screens or from kiosks in the station. Children aged five to 15 travel for half-price. First-class tickets are available for £20 each way, which seems pointless given that the journey is scheduled to take only 15 minutes.
The Express was almost full, but the seats were comfortable, with ample leg room, and the air-conditioning made a refreshing contrast to the sauna-like conditions of a rush-hour Tube. And unlike the Tube, the Express offers plenty of luggage space in each carriage, along with toilets and baby-changing facilities.
Each carriage has a television screen which counts down the minutes to departure time, and when the train pulls out of the platform, the screen features a smiling, uniformed woman welcoming passengers on board, followed by some advertisements and a few international stories from BBC World. The words were barely audible, but who's complaining? The train itself is relatively quiet as it purrs along.
Just 12 1/2 minutes later, well ahead of schedule, the Express arrived at Heathrow Central; it would take another five minutes to get to Terminal 4. Escalators and a lift service bring passengers into the terminal building, and I was on the departures floor of Terminal 1 by 5.28 p.m. Total journey time: 43 minutes. Time saved: 15 minutes. Discomfort saved: incalculable.