Article from BTNews 30 SEPTEMBER 2019
Now it's London Reading
Services between Paddington and Reading operated by Transport for London (TfL) with a pay-as-you-go contactless facility will mark the next step in the delivery of the Elizabeth Line from January 2020.
The company said last week work to make stations more accessible to customers is now well under way, with Iver, Langley and Taplow all set to become step-free by March 2020.
From Sunday 15 December, TfL will start running the stopping Paddington – Reading route, currently operated by GWR, as TfL Rail ahead of the service becoming part of the Elizabeth Line when the route opens through central London.
TfL Rail says the current service frequency of four stopping trains an hour in the peak will be maintained using the new Elizabeth Line trains. As now, two trains an hour will run at off-peak times.
While the service replaces part of the Great Western inner suburban route, some fast trains will continue to be operated by GWR from Reading, Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough to Paddington.
TfL Rail operations director Howard Smith said: “Customers will see staff at every station and improvements to stations including installing lifts for step-free access and the convenience of pay-as-you-go payments all the way to Reading.”
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Edward Harrison, Yeovil
I'm confused! There are currently 4 trains an hour from Maidenhead (just as an example) to Paddington. On 17th December (random date after the timetable change) there will still be 4 trains 2 operated by TfL and 2 (starting at Reading) by GWR. The TfL press release reads like the TfL trains will be PAYG but says nothing about the GWR trains. I'm guessing what they mean is that PAYG will apply to all services (and I also guess to intermediate stations e.g. Maidenhead to Slough, not just Paddington)but it really isn't crystal clear.