Heathrow Terminal 4 is a
London UndergroundThe London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
station at
Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
on the Heathrow branch of the
Piccadilly LineThe Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
. The station is situated in
Travelcard Zone 6Fare zone 6 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. The zone was created in January 1991; from May 1983 it had...
.
The station opened on the 12 April 1986 to serve the then recently opened Heathrow Terminal 4. It is situated on a unidirectional loop tunnel which was constructed between the existing
Hatton CrossHatton Cross tube station is on the Heathrow branch of the London Underground Piccadilly line. It is in Travelcard Zones 5 and 6 and stands between the Great South West Road and the Heathrow Airport Southern Perimeter Road....
and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 stations. The station is one of the few on the London Underground to have only one platform, and is the only one with one-way train service.
In-service routing took trains from Hatton Cross to Terminal 4 then Terminals 1, 2, 3 and back to Hatton Cross. On 7 January 2005, both the loop track and the station were closed temporarily in order to allow the construction of a new rail junction to link to the new
Heathrow Terminal 5 stationHeathrow Terminal 5 station is a shared railway station at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 which was opened on 27 March 2008. It was designed by architects HOK International in conjunction with Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners....
. All trains reverted to using the original westbound track from Hatton Cross direct to Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 which was used prior to the opening of Heathrow Terminal 4. For passengers travelling to or from Heathrow Terminal 4, a shuttle bus was provided from Hatton Cross tube station. This situation continued until 17 September 2006 when the loop line and station were reopened following completion of the construction, and with new security and customer announcement technologies in place at the station.
Now that the new
Heathrow Terminal 5 stationHeathrow Terminal 5 station is a shared railway station at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 which was opened on 27 March 2008. It was designed by architects HOK International in conjunction with Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners....
has opened, the service pattern is that every other train arriving at Hatton Cross will run via the Heathrow Terminal 4 loop, whilst the alternate trains will run direct to Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 and then continue down the new branch directly to Heathrow Terminal 5.
In contrast to the
Heathrow ExpressHeathrow Express is an airport rail link from London Heathrow Airport to London Paddington station in London operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Authority, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAA. It was opened by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998...
, London Underground services do not provide free transfer between terminals. Passengers using the Piccadilly Line to travel from Terminal 4 to Terminals 1, 2, 3 would need to purchase a ticket, and no direct services exist in the other direction. Airline passengers connecting between terminals at Heathrow can travel free of charge on the
Heathrow ConnectHeathrow Connect is a train operating company in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and First Great Western, connecting Heathrow Airport with station. The service follows the same route as the Heathrow Express service but serves intermediate stations en route, thus connecting several...
to Heathrow Central (Terminals 1, 2, 3).
This station is also a popular starting station for those participating in the London Underground
Tube ChallengeThe Tube Challenge is the accepted name for the Guinness World Record attempt to visit all the stations on the London Underground network in the fastest time possible. Participants do not have to travel along all lines to complete the challenge, merely to pass through all the stations on the system...
.
External links
Platform of Terminal 4 station.