Passengers travelling to or from Heathrow Airport today, Sunday 18 October, face disrupted rail and Tube links because of planned engineering works, with no Piccadilly line service and reduced Elizabeth line and Heathrow Express trains running for most of the day.
Heathrow's own passenger updates page confirms there is no Piccadilly line London Underground service to or from the airport on both Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October because of planned engineering works. The Piccadilly line normally links all four terminals directly to central London, so its absence removes one of the main low-cost routes into and out of the airport for the weekend.
National Rail's engineering works notice adds further detail on the knock-on effects. Work is taking place between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway on Sunday, closing some lines and affecting the Elizabeth line, Great Western Railway and Heathrow Express.
On the Elizabeth line, trains between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 are running to a reduced timetable of two trains per hour, and journeys to Heathrow Terminal 5 are also affected. Trains between Abbey Wood and Maidenhead are instead running only as far as Paddington's Elizabeth line platforms, and some stations along the route, including Acton Main Line, Hanwell and West Ealing, are not being served at all. National Rail says ticket holders can use London Buses or the London Underground at those stations instead, at no extra cost for paper or e-ticket holders, though contactless and Oyster users will pay the normal fare on those alternatives.
Heathrow Express is also running an amended, reduced timetable between London Paddington and Terminal 5, with trains every 30 minutes from 09:40 until 22:40, roughly half its usual frequency. Great Western Railway long-distance services to and from Paddington are being retimed by up to seven minutes, with some calling patterns changed between Paddington and Reading, while local GWR trains between Paddington and Reading or Didcot Parkway are running a reduced service.
For anyone with a flight today, the practical effect is that journey times by rail and Tube to Heathrow are likely to be longer and less frequent than usual, particularly for Terminal 4 and Terminal 5 passengers relying on the Elizabeth line, and for anyone planning to use the Piccadilly line at all. Travellers are advised to check National Rail's journey planner or the Transport for London app before setting off, build in extra time, and consider an earlier departure from home.
What this means for your journey: if public transport looks too tight today, compare the cost and timing of a taxi against the reduced rail and Tube options on our /taxis/ page, or check parking availability on /parking/ if driving and leaving a car at the airport is more reliable than today's disrupted train and Tube services.