A power supply failure on the line between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals has severely cut rail services to and from the airport on Wednesday 13 August, with National Rail warning that major disruption is expected to last until the end of the day.
Heathrow Express has been reduced to just two trains an hour in each direction, departing Paddington at 10 and 40 minutes past the hour and Heathrow Terminal 5 at 12 and 42 minutes past the hour, National Rail's incident page for the route confirms. Elizabeth line services between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 are running a heavily reduced service, and some passengers reported being stuck on a stationary train for around an hour during the fault, according to a report carried by news aggregator Inkl.
Great Western Railway services between Paddington and Reading are also affected. Elizabeth line tickets are being accepted on the Piccadilly line, on Great Western Railway, and on a number of London bus routes including the 105, 278, 350 and 482, while wider ticket acceptance also covers London Underground, London Buses, the DLR, South Western Railway, Chiltern Railway, Thameslink and Southeastern. Passengers heading to or from Heathrow by rail are being told to use the Piccadilly line as their main alternative into central London.
The fault is separate from the slow-moving traffic already building on the A30 around the airport this afternoon, meaning both road and rail routes into Heathrow are under pressure at the same time.