Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 tube station - Definition and Overview

Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 is a station on the Heathrow branch of London Underground's Piccadilly Line. The station is situated in zone 6 and opened as Heathrow Central on December 16 1977, being renamed on September 3 1984, with the development of Terminal 4.

At the time the station originally opened, it was the stub terminus of the line with the next station to the east being Hatton Cross. Subsequently Heathrow Terminal 4 station opened on a unidirectional loop track from Hatton Cross to Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3. This loop track carried most trains until the 7th January 2005, when it closed in order to allow the construction of a new rail junction to link to the new Heathrow Terminal 5 station, with all trains reverting to the original routing.

This situation is expected to last until September 2006. When the new Terminal 5 station opens, it is anticipated that the service pattern will be 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 to Heathrow Terminal 5.