On Sep 13, 9:36*am, CJB wrote:
On Sep 11, 1:43*pm, David wrote:





On Sep 11, 11:33*am, Mizter T wrote:

On Sep 11, 10:24*am, "Colin McKenzie" wrote:

On Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:35:32 +0100, CJB wrote:
BAA also continues to promote the OTT expensive HEX to the detriment
of the CON. The CON is not announced at calling at Heathrow at any of
the intermediate stations. The CON's on-board p.a. does not mention
the free shuttles between Central and T4 / T5.

I have to say this does seem to be a deliberate change. The announcement *
at Ealing Broadway has been crudely doctored to remove references to *
Heathrow: the next train at platform 3 is for pause, calling at West *
Ealing ... Hayes and Harlington and pause.

Presumably too many passengers were arriving at Paddington with time to *
spare, and saving themselves 6 quid (or whatever) a head. But it's stupid *
not to mention Heathrow at intermediate stations - surely no-one would go *
in to Paddington to catch HEx from Ealing or Southall?

This will undoubtedly be a cock-up, not a conspiracy. The very raison
d'etre of Heathrow Connect is to provide a service from those
intermediate stations to Heathrow, so deliberated not not announcing
Heathrow simply doesn't make any sense at all.

My guess is that the "Heathrow" announcement has somehow become
corrupted by accident in FGW's PA playout system, and they're too
rubbish to set about fixing it quickly (suburban London services don't
appear to be the highest priority of FGW!). I know the station is
called Heathrow Central (for Terminals 1&3), but did the announcement
used to include the terminal numbers? If so there may have been some
wish to change it to delete any reference to the now closed Terminal
2.

It has been that way for at least a year.
At Hayes and Harlington, the announcements used to say "calling at...
and Heathrow Terminal 4",
except for a few times when it lost Terminal 4 as well, so they said
"calling at... and..."
Now I believe they say "calling at... and Heathrow Airport".- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"Now I believe they say "calling at... and Heathrow Airport". " - not
so.

They say "calling at ... [silence]" where [silence] should be
"Heathrow Airport" or "Heathrow Central."

And the closure of T2 is nothing to do with any of this 'cos T2 was
never announced at any FGW stations before.

On board the failure to inform about the T5 and T4 connections /
shutttles is also deliberate. Its not so much FGW treating passengers
with arrogant disdain, its BAA who can't even run a simple out and
back train service.

BAA is so strapped for cash that even the arrival / departure screens
at T5 (and possibly other terminals) has been replaced with adverts
instead of arrival / departure information.

CJB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Another anomly is that the T4/T5 shuttles are not mentioned at all -
either on the FGW timetables nor on board the HEX or CONnect.
(Actually sometimes the CONnect driver - usually a woman - WILL make
an ad-hoc announcement about the shuttles - but this is unauthorised
by BAA).

On the FGW timetables for Saturday there are big gaps in the apparent
CONnect services from Paddington to T4. It is as though there are no
services at all to T4 - therefore intending passengers MUST use the
expensive HEX. As I said there is no mention of any of the shuttles.

The whole situation of the HEX and CON are appalling - but I believe
that its not FGW but BAA that is deliberately misleading the public.

CJB.