Forum Topic

'Not Stopping ' at West Ealing

An extraordinary announcement by TfL is that more Elizabeth Line (EL) am weekday trains will be stopping at Acton Main Line, Hanwell and Southall. This as from 18 May 2026.BUT NOT WEST EALING!Getting on a commuter EL train around 8am week days is extremely difficult or impossible at West Ealing. West Ealing is where 150 new flats 300+ new residents) are being built next to the station. 183 students are expected in the new towers in Hastings Road and in coming years some 1,000 residents will be living at the 475 new Waitrose flats in Alexandria Road.Now during the Crossrail period of EL construction we were told to expect an Underground' style service. No timetables just very regular trains-STOPPING AT ALL STATIONS.Now was it an IT tool which fiddled around with which trains stop at which stations? Maybe it was human tool...Can someone suggest to me why the no new train stops at West Ealing?

Eric Alan Leach ● 1d11 Comments

>Hanwell currently gets 4 trains an hour eastbound, West Ealing gets 6, so the ssumption is that those 2 extra will now also stop at Hanwell.Hopefully it evens out the ingestion of passengers at BOTH stations. Complex system though and also there will be behaviour changes!

Paul James ● 1h

Hanwell currently gets 4 trains an hour eastbound, West Ealing gets 6, so the ssumption is that those 2 extra will now also stop at Hanwell.

Simon Higginson ● 1h

Hilarious comment from Paul James there: ‘if everything was perfect’.Considering this was the biggest public transport infrastructure project in London for decades and was years in the planning there was plenty of time and money to get things right. But the usual lack of foresight applied. They couldn’t even ensure it was safe to board or alight at Ealing Broadway station, as Eric found to his cost when he broke his foot.They flogged off properties at inflated prices close to the London stations, on the promise that commuting would be quick and easy.

Simon Hayes ● 4h

>Fine if you are fit and able to stand but not so good for those who cannot There is priority seating, and very helpful staff who will help people on and off trains if asked in advance, and I'm pretty sure they will kick people off seats if needed.I know it would be better if everything was perfect, but in the meantime:https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-line-making-rail-accessible.pdf

Paul James ● 5h

Fact is whilst the frequency is good and the ride into town quicker, Seat availability is way less than it was on most trains for users between Southall and Acton Main Line. So whilst London Borough Ratepayers pay extra to TfL, the actual real benefit of a seat on a train and a faster frequent service goes to those who live outside the GLA area or on the periphery where many commute to but do not pay the  the Council tax supplement. They pay the same fares as before but ,before outside of the rush hours, those inside the GLA boundaries no longer get a seat .Fine if you are fit and able to stand but not so good for those who cannot and even with a tweak to lifestyle to take later trains now cannot get a seat.  So no benefit for many.    Would be better to start trains from Hayes inside the London Zones to allow those who pay the levy to get some sort of benefit of a seat.But a real win if you live in Slough or Maidenhead.

Raymond Havelock ● 6h

These are complex systems that have any number of variables that can go wrong, be that computer related or simply passenger behaviour.Where the mischief here lies is that when Crossrail (as it was) was first given the go ahead there were any number of political types proclaiming how it would transform the lives of those commuting from west London. As anyone who followed this from the start would have known, it was always going to be more beneficial for commuters outside London. Not being able to board a train at a suburban station like West Ealing isn’t anything new. Try using the commuter lines in from Leht speak hours.We are very port at factoring in future changes to public transport in this country. For whatever reason modelling never gets the figures right. It’s why millions had to be spent on extending DLR platforms some years back.They know that populations in outer London would be increasing, yet have been very tardy in installing the infrastructure to cope with it. Cycle lanes don’t count.

Simon Hayes ● 1d

Over complicate the simplest of tasks.West Ealing has passengers who board & get off.Provide that service, quite simple (All stations, including Hanwell)

Peter Yale ● 1d

Computer chips have something called a NOP, which means no operation, i.e. don't do anything for a few clock cycles.You might think that's silly, but good use of it can help speed things up that otherwise would be slower without a gap.Same for trains I think!As ever Peter, real life is not as simple as you'd hope.

Paul James ● 1d

Walk, cycle or use public transport!!Yeah great. Amount of times there’s issues with the EL.It should stop at every station on route.If not it’s to apparently even out service, rarely works.Thought up by some overpaid bod on 6 figures, in TfL, led by you know who 😡😡

Peter Yale ● 1d

So yeah, West Ealing ALREADY gets more trains than the other Ealing stations (save Ealing Broadway).I did notice the other day on my train I boarded at Hanwell that people at west ealing were prepaered to wait for the next train rather than board my one, something you wouldn't do at Hanwell as that'll be 15 minutes at the moment.https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/west-london-commuters-get-boost-with-more-elizabeth-line-trains-from-this-spring-87176/

Paul James ● 1d

There are trains that already stop at west ealing but not hanwell. Isn't it just some of those that will addtionally stop at hanwell?

Paul James ● 1d