RailAir describes a number of

airport bus An airport bus, or airport shuttle bus, alternatively simply airport shuttle or shuttle bus is a bus designed for transport of passengers to and from, or within airports. These vehicles will usually be equipped with larger luggage space, and i ...

and coach services designed to connect the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, a group representing passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services previously provided by ...

network to airports in the United Kingdom. Services are currently concentrated on

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

, with one other from

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, England, situated east of the town centre, and is the fourth-busiest airport serving London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Limited, a company wholly owned by ...

. RailAir services are operated as public transport services by or on behalf of train operators, where the whole journey is paid for as a through-ticket which combines the railway and bus journey, although journeys can be made using the bus only. As such, many are operated where the train and bus operator are owned by the same company.

History

National Bus Company era

Railair services originated as a partnership between the nationalised bus operator, the National Bus Company, and the nationalised rail operator,

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

, under the Railair Link brand name. In

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

National Bus Company subsidiary Luton & District, operated a Railair Link branded shuttle bus between

Luton railway station Luton railway station (formerly Luton Midland Road) is located in the town centre of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is about three minutes' walk from The Mall (Luton), The Mall Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line ...

and

, as the Luton Flyer.

Luton Airport Parkway railway station Luton Airport Parkway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. The station is situated in Luton's Park Town, Luton, Park Town district, being from St Pancras railway station, London ...

has since been built closer to the airport. From 1967, Thames Valley Traction,History of Reading Railair
/ref> (later Alder Valley), operated a Railair Link coach between Heathrow and Reading station in a yellow striped livery as route X25, and later in National Bus Company coach livery. A Railair Link service was also operated by coach operator Rickards from Heathrow to

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

Post deregulation

After bus deregulation, the existing Reading and Woking to Heathrow Railair services passed to private companies. Privatised Alder Valley, as the Bee Line bus company, owned by Q-Drive, operated the Heathrow to Reading Railair service in bottle green liveried coaches as the Rail Air service with marketing for the onward rail links to South Wales and the West of England. When Beeline passed to

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First Berkshire, which in 2003 relaunched the service with Irizar Century bodied Scania K114IB coaches. The serviced operates as the FirstGroup branded service Rail Air.com. The Woking to Heathrow service was operated by Speedlink Airport Services in a blue livery. Speedlink was later sold to

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

, which operated it in a light blue version of their 2003 livery, in conjunction with

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

South West Trains Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, trading as South West Trains (SWT), was an English train operating company owned by Stagecoach, which operated the South Western franchise between February 1996 and August 2017. SWT operated the majori ...

subsidiary, also with branding promoting rail connections to the South West. In 2006 Virgin Trains West Coast, which is 49% owned by Stagecoach, introduced Virgin Trains liveried coaches for Railair links to Virgin trains services from Luton and Heathrow airports, as the Virgin Trains ExpressCoach services, operated by Stagecoach East. From 1 June 2008, the Virgin service to Heathrow was withdrawn, with passengers directed to Green Line route 724 as a replacement.

Current services

RailAir is used as a generic term for these services by the public and airline operators, such as

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

at Heathrow,British Airways
Terminal 5 Railair services summary page and as a specific brand name of some of the services. The Reading to Heathrow RailAir bus allows connection from cities such as

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

and

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

to Heathrow Airport without having to change at London Paddington. However, it is possible to change trains at Hayes & Harlington and go by train instead, a change at Reading being also required for this service. With the exception of London Buses route 285, Railair services are direct express coach services, longer and in contrast to local airport buses from nearby stations and offer through-ticketing, as opposed to bus-only ticketed airport hub connected coach networks, such as

Airport branded services. In 2008 National Express dropped the smile livery for a group wide re-branding, thus more normally National Express are running the route. In July 2019

First Berkshire & The Thames Valley First Beeline Buses Limited, trading as First Beeline, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History In January 1986 Alder Valley North Limited, later renamed, The Berks Bucks Bus Compan ...

commenced operating route RA2 from

to Guildford station. In January 2020, this service was diverted to serve Woking station as well as Guildford. First Group
RailAir 2 Extension to Woking From 23 July 2023, First Berkshire & The Thames Valley commenced operating route RA3 from Heathrow Airport to

Watford Junction Watford Junction is a railway station serving the town of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), from and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. It is also the northern terminus of the Lion ...

Railway Station

References

{{authority control Coach operators in England Transport in Surrey British Rail Buses serving Heathrow Airport Transport in Berkshire Airport rail links in the United Kingdom 1967 establishments in the United Kingdom Airport bus services in the United Kingdom

History

National Bus Company era

Post deregulation

Current services

See also

References