No station at LCY is down to a mix of cost (and a poor cost / benefit ratio) and geography.

See also re issues with the Jet Centre

http://www.lcacc.org/access/#Crossrail


Also when the HEX franchise ends in 2023 it won't be renewed and I've read elsewhere that in effect it will be ended once CR starts operations.

Will that mean no fast trains to PAD?

Actually, thinking about it, HEX isn't a franchise -- it's Open Access like Hull Trains. 2023 is when their current agreement for the paths runs out.

As noted by paulwuk, HEX is not a franchise and I am not sure where you are getting the 2023 date from? Heathrow Connect is a franchise but will be absorbed in to Crossrail in 2019.

I seem to think I read HEX will continue but the fare prices are planned to come down to make it a bit more competitive compared to crossrail prices?

See here and especially 6 in the footnotes:

sorry getting confused over terminology. I'm blaming the flu.

HEX access to the great west mail line is currently until 2023

I'm sure they'll put a moving walkway in.

Er, yes. Sure.

^ ^ Good to see an airport that is competently run.

It is politically impossible. The airport has a lot more allowed movements it can make use of if it had a better turn around on its existing runway, more places to park and more passenger capacity in the terminals. The runway length is not a limit on LCY's operations in terms of the business case they have.

Indeed I think it is.

I'll just take a taxi to be honest!

Compared to many airports with "superior" train connections, that's pretty good. Have you ever done the walk from CDG RER to Terminal 2A? Or, still at CDG, the RER station for terminal 1 requires a monorail transfer to the terminal itself!

Even at Zurich, I was reminded last week what a long walk it is from platform to departures security. The walk from FRA's long distance station to T1 is also quite far.

You and I have discussed the LCY and MAN-HS2 issues before - whilst it would be lovely to have a mainline station directly underneath a central terminal complex at every UK airport, there are a huge amount of factors that prohibit that and it's not just 'British planning incompetence' as is often cited.

You're absolutely right: If someone set their mind to it, the aircraft <--> train connections in the UK could be made much worse than they actually are.

But here's one difference. If you arrive at LCY, that 200-yard walk at Canary Wharf/Poplar will only allow you to transfer you from a local commuter train to a regional commuter train (which has actually just run right underneath the airport you landed at), from which you may well have to change again. In contrast, if you arrive at ZRH and walk to the railway station, you can get on a high speed train there and then, and next get off at (say) Bern about 75 minutes later. The same goes for a number of continental European hub airports with an on-site station. That puts the need to walk a few hundred yards into some sort of context.

And while I accept that it is probably now too late to put a comprehensive railway service underneath LHR, that is largely a case of "we are now where we are", and a consequence of none of this having been thought through at a time when something constructive could have been done about it.

The frustration I have is that the same is now happening at LCY. Whatever the reasons which are now said to justify not putting in a station at the airport underneath which Crossrail will run, if (perhaps in 10 or 20 years time) it begins to look like it would have been a good idea, it will be too late to do anything about it and someone then will be saying "well, you know, it would be lovely to have a station here to make smoother connections to/from flights but there's now a huge amount of factors that make it impossible to do".

The East Coast main line runs a few hundred feet from one end of the runway at EDI, but they still spent nearly a billion quid building a tram system from the airport to the city, rather than a few million on a new railway station. Ditto for Glasgow, a railway line runs straight past the runway, but there is no station. Do not underestimate the power of politicians and quangos to muck things up (or to not bother looking at a map).

As part of the Crossrail Act, there was "passive provision" made for a future Crossrail Station to the west of the old Silvertown Statio on the old North London line, which is dependant on surrounding redevelopment.

Crossrail will be stopping at Custom House, where you can interchange with the DLR back to Canning Town, for the DLR to LCY, or just walk across the dock (on a nice day).

Without wanting to take this to OMNI, don't forget that the SNP administration came to power in 2007, and then cancelled EARL [Edinburgh Airport Rail Link] and GARL [Glasgow Airport Rail Link]. The former of which would have put a station underneath the airport, which would have connected to the whole Scottish rail network ... and it was cancelled on the ground of cost as "the tram is a much cheaper project".

Indeed.

But again, if you have even a wheely bag or two, and you want to go a bit further than one train ride, these changes begin to add up to a very sweaty journey. It becomes quite inconvenient—especially for people completely unfamiliar with the system, such as recent arrivals into the country—and it's back to taxis!

Well, that's alright then!

Get off Crossrail at Custom House, go to another platform, probably by going up to a footbridge and then down again. Get a DLR and take it two stops to Canning Town, then get off and cross to the opposite side of the platform. Then get on another DLR and get off at a station almost directly above where your Crossrail train passed some 15 or so minutes earlier.

Or a 1½ mile walk.

Also assume—
you are running a little bit late
you have some luggage
you cannot read English very well
you are completely unfamiliar with the area
you are largely unfamiliar with the tube/DLR/CrossRail system

It's not really the same as a simple signposted connection within the same building.

Or you could assume;
I've planned my journey
I've got wheels on my case
I've got a book or phone in a language I understand

But a lot like London's transport system, not everything is as easy as we would all like. You've just got to make the best of what you have.

At least we have a friendly place to come and ask the right questions, or get useful local information.