National Rail has warned passengers that overnight engineering works between London Paddington and Heathrow / Reading will reduce service levels on the evenings of 21-23 September. From 22:00 BST each night, Elizabeth line frequencies on the Heathrow branch drop to two trains per hour, while several Great Western Railway (GWR) inter-city services will arrive into Paddington several minutes late. No Elizabeth line trains will stop at Acton Main Line, West Ealing or Hanwell after 23:00. The maintenance closes two of the four fast lines west of Paddington to allow signalling upgrades connected to the Digital Railway programme and preparatory work for HS2 tunnelling near Old Oak Common. Network Rail says the window was chosen to minimise impact on peak-time business travel, but acknowledges it will affect late-arriving long-haul passengers and aircrew repositioning from Heathrow. Heathrow Express services are unaffected but may be busier than usual; GWR has lifted peak-time ticket restrictions on selected evening services to spread demand. Travel-management companies are advising corporate travellers arriving on late-evening flights to consider taxi or hotel options if onward train connections are tight. In the medium term the upgrades will support 4-minute headways on the Elizabeth line and provide additional capacity ahead of Heathrow’s proposed third-runway expansion, but short-term disruption illustrates the complexity of upgrading legacy infrastructure in a living rail environment. Mobility teams should build wider connection buffers into itineraries through Thursday morning and remind travellers to check National Rail journey planners before departure.
Source: National Rail
