Heathrow

I don't think anyone knows for certain. It's desirable certainly.

There were plans for Oyster to be extended to H'row Connect a few years ago but it fell through for some unspecified reason. I imagine Heathrow Express don't want gates which means you'd need validators or some other way of ensuring Oyster cards can be validated. I understand that even under Crossrail operation the premium fare into Heathrow will remain because it is required by BAA to pay off the debt for constructing the link in the first place.

Is the ownership change something to do with ensuring "non discriminatory" access to Heathrow to operators other than HEX?

I can see that getting Oyster to work at Heathrow (HEX) stations (for want of a better name) is not necessarily straightforward but validators are the obvious fall back. Whether the system overall can cope with the concept of yet more "zones" given the desire to expand Oyster to Gatwick and various other places on the TGSN network and to Dartford and Swanley remains to be seen.

Is the reference to revenue protection just for train running in to Heathrow or more generally? I would be genuinely surprised if MTR had NO revenue inspectors at all given the spread of Crossrail and mix of areas being served. There will be fare evasion on its services - that inescapable in London plus there are umpteen open interchanges with other lines / routes.

Are you sure? (though your screen name does suggest so)

I was under the impression that thanks to the Government of the day allowing BAA to effectively "buy" the "state's" portion of the project from British Rail (to make Railway privatisation simpler) the railway from Airport junction into Heathrow is not part of our national railway system. Effectively it is a "private railway" and has a similar status when it comes to EU directives as the various "private" Heritage railways scattered all over the UK. As a result EU directives requiring financial separation of infrastructure and service provision don't apply - so there is no legal reason why Heathrow Airport Holdings cannot transfer ownership plus all responsibility for infrastructure operation to its HEX subsidiary and get Crossrail to pay HEX for access to the infrastructure. EU rules about open access also don't apply to "private" railways and as I believe the branch is not offically classed as part of the national railway system (having a connection or even through running onto it doesn't make any difference - e.g. the NYMR running on to Whitby hasn't changed the staus of the NYMR) so HEX has no fundamental obligation under EU law to accept Crossrail trains in the first place.

Furthermore as train services over the branch to Heathrow be they HEX trains from Paddington or Heathrow Connect for the portion of the journey between Hayes and the airport are not part of our franchised / publicly subsidised services railway network, I believe HAH have the exclusive right to set the fares policy as they wish. Even the provision of through ticketing to the rest of the UK rail network is not an absolute legal requirement when you get down to the legal fundamentals covering the operation of the airport branch / HEX (or Heathrow Connect between Hayes and the airport). The reason through ticketing exists is solely due to comercial agreements signed between HAH / HEX and the other train opperators in ATOC because such a deal is beneficial to both sides - (the same applies to Eurostar, Grand central and Hull trains).

Thus I suspect the issue of Oyster aceptance & ticket surcharges cannot be enforced by trying 'legal' means, rather TfL and HAH have to come to a mutually acceptable of agreement over the issue - for example TfL may agree to pay slightly higher track access charges* to HAH (via HEX) for use of the infrastructure than would otherwise be the case in exchange for Oyster acceptance. Now naturally HAH are not stupid - having Crossrail coming to the airport does bring them significant advantages with direct links to the city and Canary Wharf being the obvious ones, plus of course improving their "green" credentials so its not as if TfL are entering the negotiations from a position of weekness. Both sides have things they want from each other and I have no doubt they are fully awere of the public and political backlash if a deal is not done so I confidently expect the issue will be resolved before Crossrail starts operations to the airport. What is certian however is that because it has to be resolved on the basis of a mutually satisfactory deal being struck - the deliberations themselves will be confidential and the exact specifics will take some time to be released into the public arena. Thus we get the situation where nobody within TfL can say anything definite on the subject - something that is unlikely to change in the near future.

* between Royal Oak & Reading plus between Stratford and Shenfield, TfL will be paying track access charges to Network Rail. Its only the core section of Crossrail which TfL own outright

Some details about those plans are at What Do They Know?.

I think one of the main problems is that passengers with Travelcards will have no incentive to touch out at Heathrow (to pay the premium). Maybe the OEP will be resurrected...