It’s among the busiest stops on the entire map
The London Underground carries millions of Londoners throughout the city every day. In many parts of the city – sorry, South East London, there’s usually a Tube station within walking distance.
Yet, one South West London station is unlike any other – it has no entry from public streets and is without a street-level entrance or exit.
Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 offers swift and reliable links to Heathrow Airport for Londoners. The Piccadilly line operates this station, situated in Travelcard Zone 6, next to the neighbouring Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 railway station, which provides Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line connections.
Previously called Heathrow Central, the station launched in December 1977 as the final station of the Piccadilly line’s expansion from Hounslow West to the airport.
This represented the first time an airport had received direct service from an underground railway network. Nowadays, thousands of travellers are spotted lugging their suitcases on and off Piccadilly line trains each day.
Nevertheless, the sole method to access the terminals via the tube is by joining at another station elsewhere on the route. From Leicester Square, the most central location on the line, the journey takes 50 minutes to reach Terminals 2 and 3.
On arriving at the station, passengers will discover escalators leading up to the ticket hall. There are also step-free access lifts connecting the ticket hall to the platforms, while airport lifts from Heathrow Coach station offer step-free access to street level.
While there are no other Tube stations that you can’t walk to, there are those that TfL recommends you walk between. This is down to their proximity to one another, especially in Central London.
Consider the journey between Charing Cross and Embankment, for instance. Walking the 300 metres proves both faster and more economical than boarding the Tube, despite the Bakerloo and Northern lines connecting the two stations.
Those acquainted with West London, meanwhile, will be well aware of the perplexing situation at Edgware Road, where one station serves the Bakerloo line while another caters to the Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines.
Hammersmith is another puzzle, being two separate stations.
Even more baffling, travelling between them on the Tube demands 10 stops and three different line changes.
There are a few other Tube journeys in London that could easily be faster to walk, though they’re considerably less complicated. The trip between Shepherd’s Bush Market station and Goldhawk Road Station on the Circle and Hammersmith and City Line only takes one minute.
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