Heathrow Airtrack Waterloo rail link shelved by BAA

[chris from nailsea]

From the BBC:

A controversial rail link from Heathrow's Terminal 5 through south west London has been shelved due to a lack of money, according to the BAA.

The £675m line would have connected the airport terminal to Reading, Guildford and London Waterloo stations.

BAA said its decision to withdraw the rail link application followed concerns raised over level crossings delays.

"We have been unable to develop solutions which fully address these concerns," BAA said.

Richmond council had opposed the scheme due to increased congestion it said would occur at barriers at Barnes, Mortlake and North Sheen.

Heathrow's surface access director Allan Gregory said: "We've listened to the concerns raised by local residents about the impact of Airtrack and worked hard to try and resolve issues including level crossings. Despite our considerable efforts, including discussions with Network Rail and the local highway authorities, we have been unable to develop solutions which fully address these concerns."

He added the project was also cancelled due to lack of funds. "We have considered alternative scheme options and how these might be funded but in the absence of securing additional funding in the current economic climate, Heathrow Airport is unable to justify meeting the full cost of the project," he said.

Richmond council is yet to comment on the cancellation of the scheme.

[ChrisB]

I wonder whether there'll be any changes to the REading remodelling - wasn't at least one of the new southern platforms meant specifically for AirTrack?....

[Electric train]

The issue with the level crossing is, if I recall correctly, the barriers would be down more than they would be up something like 40 minuets in every hour the crossing would be closed to road traffic

[bignosemac]

And at more than one crossing. Three crossings in the Egham/Staines area and one in Wokingham were predicted to be severely affected, being closed for more than 50% of the time in each hour 0700-1900.

http://www.heathrowairport.com/assets/Internet/Heathrow/Heathrow%20downloads/Static%20files/ES_Volume2_Level_Crossing-Effects_Heathrow_Airtrack.pdf

[Ollie]

Wokingham has 3 level crossings, would have been a nightmare, particularly the one by the station which has an awful road layout and if AirTrack went ahead would have been used by FGW/SWT/AirTrack - and that random AXC service

[bobm]

There is an article in the latest Modern Railways which suggests an Airtrack Lite scheme is being proposed. It involves four trains an hour from London Waterloo to Staines and thence to the airport via a new chord. Two of the trains would be new. The other two would be Windsor services which would divide at Staines.

The bit I cannot quite follow is the suggestion in the article that it would be part of the Great Western tender documents. It seems in the heart of SWT land to me.

[eightf48544]

Perhaps they are getting muddled with the Western Link from T5 to the GWML which could be in the tender documents.

[paul7755]

Perhaps they are getting muddled with the Western Link from T5 to the GWML which could be in the tender documents.

Does seems to be a Modern Railways error in directly combining the two schemes. 

The GW consultation simply says:  "Western rail access to Heathrow – an initial study is under way, and this access could be in use by 2020 if it can be successfully incorporated with the other major works in the area."   

I suppose it depends on what they assumed was meant by 'other major works in the area' - personally I suspect it's a reference to Stockley Jn, Crossrail, and GWML electrification and resignalling - MR may have thought of Airtrack Lite?

Paul

[Southern Stag]

Saw this on the FGW website regarding the western link at Heathrow. Unusual to see FGW calling for an infrastructure improvement in this way.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/About-Us/Media-centre/MP-calls-for-direct-rail-link-from-the-West-to-Heathrow

[Rhydgaled]

Why all this talk of a new project, linking to Heathrow from other directions, when the currently planned, and even more important, major GWML project (electrification) is a half-hearted botch-job?

Isn't there a much cheaper means of providing a western rail access to Heathrow? What, other than the lack of electrification, is to stop a Reading - Heathrow service being introduced now (reversing at Hayes & Harlington, or whatever the first station reached after airport junction (heading east) is)?

[Southern Stag]

Reversing at Hayes & Harlington would use up too much capacity whilst you stopped and reversed, I'm not sure that there is the correct signalling at the moment either.

[eightf48544]

Platform 4 is   bidirectionally signalled form Southall West to and ther is a crossover to the Down Relief and Up Heathrow West of the station, plus the necessary signal at the west end of Platform 4.