On May 21, 10:26*am, Bruce wrote:
And just as the mythical western terminus of Maidenhead got initial
approval for Crossrail in better fiscal times, a western terminus at
Heathrow would cut project costs allowing it to go ahead in these
straitened times. *It would also allow Ealing Broadway to be served by
the trains that don't terminate at Paddington.

Yes, but there isn't room for all the trains at Heathrow, and adding
it would be prohibitively expensive. That's the problem.

Descoping Maidenhead until Crossrail can run to Reading makes a lot of
sense, but then the right answer is to turn trains at Hayes &
Harlington, ideally by a rebuild that puts a couple of terminating
tracks between the through tracks. All you need is to demolish
platform 1, slew the tracks so that the up main runs in the old down
main and the down main runs where platform 1 used to be, extend
platform 5 under the bridge, and hook it all up with pointwork. Bingo,
you have a useful terminating station that can take the service it
needs. Not cheap, but a whole lot cheaper than most of the
alternatives. (If you want to go even cheaper, you use the existing
bay and turn some other trains at West Ealing or something.)

As for taking out Abbey Wood, that's pretty idiotic for the reasons
previously cited. And I can't think of a good way to descope it and
still achieve the necessary at Canary Wharf. On the other hand, it's
pretty expensive to tunnel all the way from Whitechapel to Woolwich.