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HEX-IT: laying the foundations for a super-hub station In 2020 Heathrow Express embarked on the final phase of its exit from the depot it had called home for over 20 years. This move paves the way for the transformation of Old Oak Common into the UK’s biggest ‘super-hub’ station
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uring the transition it was imperative for Heathrow Express to maintain its daily service while launching a new upgraded fleet maintained in Reading. The project was complex and involved many stakeholders. Here Sophie Chapman, business lead of Heathrow Express, explains how great teamwork and a collaborative approach made a smooth ‘HEX-it’ happen. Heathrow Express has known for at least six years that it would need to vacate the Old Oak Common depot to make way for the HS2 route. What was once an industrial depot used for train maintenance will become a ‘super-hub’ connecting high speed rail services between the South West, Midlands, Scotland and the North with Central London and Heathrow. Initially, there were plans for Heathrow Express to build a new depot in Langley. But then as GWR’s Class 387s became available, the decision was made in 2018 to save money for the public purse and join forces with GWR to migrate to their Reading depot. This also presented an opportunity to retire the life-expired Class 332 trains. We might be a 15-minute point-to-point service, but we are at the centre of the action when it comes to the next phase of boosting sustainable rail travel in the UK for a global Britain! We are also an important tool for Heathrow’s ambitions to ensure that 45 per cent of passengers reach the airport by public transport by 2026. Space is always constrained in our metropolitan South East region and the deadlines were tight, so maintaining a business-as-usual service while managing a major project was always going to be a logistical challenge. Doing so during a pandemic, with extra health and safety
measures to implement and unprecedented business pressures, added to the complexity. Andrew Darbyshire took on the challenge to lead the final operational phases of ‘HEXit’ as it started to become known. He joined the business in March 2019 to work on maintaining service levels while Heathrow Express dropped down from two platforms to one at Paddington to enable the delivery of the enhanced December 2019 Western Route Timetable. Once this was delivered, he became our interim Head of Train Services, responsible for the transition from project to business as usual. ‘HEX-it’ required various stages to be aligned. We knew the final process would take several months to complete in terms of the removal and disposal of trains and handover to new ownership, but we also
had to co-ordinate with colleagues readying the new Class 387 fleet, including GWR, Porterbrook and Alstom (was Bombardier). The Class 332 fleet, which had become synonymous with Heathrow Express, had reached the end of its life, but as the Department of Transport confirmed that the Heathrow Express service will run at least until 2028, the nearly new GWR 387s were perfectly placed to take their place after being carefully converted to meet the needs of airport customers. The upgraded fleet had to be fully operational and in service before we could decommission the Class 332 fleet. That meant keeping two fleets maintained at the same time, with two engineering teams, no gaps in service and access to Old Oak Common maintained. The collaborative relationship between Heathrow Express and Siemens Mobility was crucial to achieving this. The HS2 deadline was very clear and all the parties involved knew we couldn’t delay beyond end of February 2021. If we did, the HS2 programme could be put at risk, as they needed us out of the depot so that they could complete structural works. But we had carefully planned the process and had complete faith that our timetable was realistic and achievable. Part of that plan included the launch of the new fleet by the end of 2020, with the biggest challenge being successfully operating the new European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling system. By the Christmas holidays, the up-cycled trains were launched and running two services an hour, as per our Covid-19 timetable. From autumn onward a dedicated team of up to eight from Heathrow Express worked exceptionally closely with colleagues from Siemens on readying the depot for closure Rail Professional
