Great Western Railway, Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express Trains at Hanwell on July 11th 2024

2nd visit to Hanwell on the Great Western Main Line

Featuring services from Great Western Railway, Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express

Hanwell was a slight later addition when it opened on December 1st 1838 nearly 6 months after the first section of the Great Western Main Line under Brunels Original Broad Gauge system from London Paddington which originally opened on June 4th 1838.

The station was renamed Hanwell and Elthorne on April 1st 1896 however the Elthorne name was dropped when it was reverted back to the original station name of Hanwell on May 6th 1974.

The south entrance of the station closed in 1970 at the time of when the Beeching Axe was hitting hard on the UK Rail Network however it was reopened in December 2014 after funding was secured by Ealing Council and TFL.

Today stopping services provided every 15 minutes by the Elizabeth Line to and from Heathrow Terminal 4 and Abbey Wood while other services from Reading to Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 5 to Shenfield run non stop through here.

The Class 345s built originally by Bombardier in Derby first entered service on the Great Eastern Main Line in September 2017 however it wasn't until May 2019 when they began running at first on the Great Western Main Line.

The central Crossrail section was suppose to open in December 2018 however due to ongoing difficulties with overcomplex software, engineering difficulties with building some of the stations such as Bond Street and Whitechapel and from March 2020 to July 2021 the worst of the Coronavirus Pandemic meant deadlines have slipped.

it was eventually opened on May 17th 2022 with passenger services running from Paddington to Abbey Wood a week later on May 24th although it wasn't until May 22th 2023 when full through services were operating.

Since December 2019 all Heathrow Express services are also now operated by Class 387s which replaced the Class 332s which first ran since May 1997 however despite the trains age however one of the reasons for the Class 332s demise was due to extensive corrosion damage which was first discovered in 2016 which led to Heathrow Express service being suspended however recent factors with high leasing costs of maintaining older trains which has been debated.

Great Western Railway Intercity services are nowadays provided by Class 800 and 802 IETs which entered service in October 2017 with the Class 800s and August 2018 with the Class 802s which replaced the ageing long distance HSTs completely in May 2019.

Class 387s operate on Great Western Railway nowadays run non stop on their semi fast services to and from Didcot Parkway between London Paddington and Slough

They also provide services to and from Newbury and occasionally since May 2021 to Bristol Parkway and Cardiff Central.

Times may have changed and memories of older trains have come and gone over the years however at Hanwell itself even today some of the originality still remains intact.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - Copyr...  

Filmed on IPhone 15 Pro on Thursday July 11th 2024 and edited on iMovie

#elizabethline #greatwesternrailway #tfl #gwr #class345 #class387 #class800 #class802 #hanwell #gwml #alstom #hitachi #london