please empty your brain below

If 10tph head beyond Paddington and 8tph skip Southall does that mean only alternate T4 trains stop there?

dg writes: That's not what it means. I've added a heading to the list.
Regarding Ilford you write:

At peak times expect a train every 4 minutes, plus a handful of Gidea Park trains into ground level Liverpool Street.

Shouldn't that be every 5 minutes - same as at Canary Wharf on the other branch as the branches receive alternate trains?

dg writes: Between 0715 and 0830 (westbound) and 1730 and 1830 (eastbound), the service at Ilford is best described as a train every 4 minutes. Outside those times, every 5.
8tph stop at Southall, and 2tph skip it. Only the T5 trains skip the station.

As for the other stations:
2tph Reading trains skip Iver
2tph Maidenhead trains skip Taplow.
Hanwell/Acton Main Line - Only 4tph T4 trains stop here.
West Ealing - Only 2tph T5 and 4tph T4 trains stop here.
The most surprising thing about this timetable is that any trains skip Southall. This is a busy station. But clearly the desire is to run from Terminal 5 then Terminals 2&3 and as few subsequent stations as the timetable will sensibly permit before reaching Paddington has limitations.

This non-stopping by 2tph at Southall is probably the biggest surprise in the timetable which, for the most part, is the same as planned a few years ago.
I took a Crossrail train to Heathrow T4 last week and was dismayed by the 6 minute timetabled dwell time at Heathrow T2T3. Is that wait removed in the new timetable?

dg writes: Yes.
I'm surprised that terminal 5 is so poorly served in comparison to terminal 4. Are passengers for T5 expected to take other options?
I apologise for not explaining everything.
There are four Heathrow Express trains per hour from Heathrow Central to Terminal 5, so T5 passengers may be faster taking the first T4 train and changing.
So that is roughly a train every 4 minutes if you include the 2tph that run from Gidea Park instead of ground level Liverpool Street in the peak period. So 14tph in total.

If I wanted to be really picky I would point out that Liverpool Street National Rail station is not at ground level. Indeed, because it is below ground level, it is classified as and underground station (small 'u') for fire regulations purposes.
I’ve had a look at the interchange with Heathrow Express at Heathrow T2T3 to reach T5. It isn’t too bad.

Both HEx and the T4 Liz Line will be running 4 trains an hour through T2T3 with the HeX train is running 5 minutes behind the T4 Liz Line train, giving a 5 minute same platform interchange for Liz line customers wanting to reach T5.

Similarly, in the other direction, there will be a 4-minute wait on the platform for T5 passengers arriving on the Heathrow Express.
You’ve explained the off-peak changes really well but I can’t work out what the extra 8tph in the peak are.
Post updated again with a table showing peak/off-peak services.
Is there no trains all the way from Shenfield to Reading? (Not that there would much point in them)
Trains from Shenfield will only go to Paddington or Heathrow T4, never Maidenhead or Reading.
Gidea Park to Liverpool Street high level hardly counts as proper crossrail.

What I am not sure about is which services to the crossrail stations will still also be provided by national rail.
If you look on a tube map, Kev, stations with other rail services have a National Rail symbol.
I would be surprised if the new Crossrail timetable lasts unchanged until the end of the decade, as most train companies have a habit of 'recasting' their timetable every three of four years or so (irrespective of whether a change is really required or not).
A key factor will be whether the Heathrow Expess can survive as a separate brand. If it doesn't, it would allow some (or all) of those Shenfield trains which terminate at Paddington to simply be extended to Heathrow Airport.
When I was working on the Elizabeth Line Bond Street westbound platform this week, platform staff were giving this exact advice about taking a T4 train and changing at T23 for the HEX as this was quicker than waiting for a T5 direct train.
Carlio - Pedantic of Purley is probably too modest to post a link to his own work in these comments but he has written about that very topic here.
The change I'm looking forward to most is the fact that the 7-8 minute frequency on the Abbey Wood and Shenfield branches continues till around 11pm if you're catching a train from the West End. At the moment a ten minute service kicks in around 10pm resulting in some quite big crowds especially at Tottenham Court Road on a Friday night.
There's still considerable variation in journey times between Paddington and Acton Main Line in both directions. I'm seeing 7 minute and 11 minute journeys, so some trains are clearly having to wait for a slot either in the tunnel or on the mainline.
When entering journeys from Whitechapel to Heathrow T4 or T5 into TfL’s journey planner and National Rail Enquiries, I’ve often found that amongst Crossrail services is the recommendation to change at Paddington to the Heathrow Express.

NRE’s results at least shows the price difference, TfL doesn’t. I wonder if at sometime in the future they’ll make it clear that you can take the first train to T23 and change for free on to HEX to T4 or T5?
The Elizabeth Line is shown on the “tube map”, but to T5 and west of Heathrow the frequency is hardly tube like. Meanwhile, 6 trains an hour will continue to terminate at Paddington!
Q: which Crossrail stations are also served by National Rail?
A: all of them, because Crossrail (like London Overground) is part of National Rail (just like GWR, for instance), information that TfL doesn't seem keen to share.
6 trains an hour to at least Heathrow T2&3 is a great service level from Farrrington et al.
These changes finally appeared in a press release two months later, so now the media have covered it.










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