Operational decisions for the Reading branch train services, specifically related to the skipping of Hanwell, West Ealing, and Acton Main Line stations
Request ID: FOI-3583-2324 Date published: 30 January 2024
You asked
Dear Transport for London,
I am writing to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I seek information regarding the operational decisions for the Reading branch train services, specifically related to the skipping of Hanwell, West Ealing, and Acton Main Line stations.
Reason for Skipping Stations: Could you please provide the reasons or criteria behind the decision for Reading branch services to bypass Hanwell, West Ealing, and Acton Main Line stations?
Consideration of Local Developments: Given the significant housing developments in the Acton area, has there been any recent assessment or reconsideration of this service pattern? If so, could you provide details of these assessments or discussions?
Future Service Plans: Are there any plans or ongoing discussions about altering the current service pattern to include these stations in the near future?
I understand that under the Freedom of Information Act, I should expect a response within 20 working days. Please let me know if you require any further information to fulfill this request.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-3583-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 08 January 2024 asking for information about train services from Reading station.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.
I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
The Elizabeth line service between Paddington and Heathrow / Reading includes services transferred from Heathrow Connect in 2018 and Great Western Railway in 2019. Since then we have added additional services to meet evolving passenger demand and deliver the increase in capacity made possible by the Crossrail project.
In constructing the timetable, we seek to minimise journey time and maximise frequency, capacity and connectivity, but these objectives can come into conflict and trade-offs must be made. Services from Reading do not call at every station in order to provide the fastest possible journey times from stations such as Taplow to Tottenham Court Road, and by missing some stations that enables us to run more trains overall than we could if all station stops were met. Running passenger trains non-stop through some stations creates the gaps needed for (often slow moving) freight trains to operate. The overall timetable is developed in conjunction with Network Rail, who own and manage the railway between Paddington and Reading, and who need to accommodate services from all train operators to provide the best solution for passengers, and freight operators, across the network.
There is almost 14 times the demand towards the east (Central London) than to the west (Reading/Heathrow) from Hanwell, West Ealing and Acton Main Line. Isolating westbound journeys only, more customers are travelling towards Heathrow than towards Reading from these three stations. Thus we have targeted journey time and frequency improvements for journeys into Central London and the Airport for Hanwell, West Ealing and Acton Main Line.
The design of our timetable does mean that some customers may need to change trains to reach their destination. For example, if travelling from Hanwell, customers would typically need to change at Whitechapel for Stratford and stations towards Shenfield, at Heathrow Terminal 2/3 for Terminal 5, and at Hayes and Harlington for stations towards Reading.
On 21 May 2023, we introduced improvements to the Elizabeth line timetable resulting in improvements to journey times for customers traveling from Acton Main Line, Hanwell and West Ealing through to Central London. We also introduced two additional services each hour between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5. These services are not able to stop at all stations but do stop at West Ealing due to the higher footfall at this station and the links to other train services (via the Greenford branch line). This increased the stops at West Ealing from 4 trains per hour to 6 trains per hour.
We are aware of the increase in housing along this rail corridor and we regularly monitor passenger loadings and keep service levels under review. In November 2023 we added stops at Acton Main Line into two of the morning peak services from Reading. Passenger data shows that customers were struggling to board trains towards London from Acton Main Line between 0800 and 0900 on weekdays. We therefore targeted these times for providing additional trains to ease passenger loadings.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Tahsin Prima FOI Case Officer General Counsel Transport for London
