Western Rail Access to Heathrow

[whole diary]

[woody]

MANAGING director of First Great Western Mark Hopwood has called for a direct rail route west of Paddington into Heathrow Airport.
 http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2011/07/01/first-great-western-s-mark-hopwood-calls-for-direct-rail-link-from-south-wales-to-heathrow-91466-28974452/
Should have been done years ago before fragmentation of the rail industry sent costs spiralling and our current(and future?) economic woes cramped any style we had.
  Commenting on the opening of the Beijing to Shanghai high speed rail line a government spokesman said China had adopted a "build it now and build it quick" approach knowing that leaving it till later (HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)))
inevitably led to cost inflation.

[ChrisB]

A couple of inaccuracies though, or bad English at least....

MANAGING director of First Great Western Mark Hopwood has called for a direct rail route west of Paddington into Heathrow Airport.

The HEX/Connect spur is West of Paddington....

"From west of Heathrow" I think is what's meant!

Mr Hopwood said that the performance on the network was the best since privatisation, which now sees two trains running every half-hour from South Wales to London as opposed to one an hour a decade ago.

Errr.....nope. Two trains every hour, maybe.....

[Electric train]

A connection toward the west will be once GW^▸ (Great Western) electrification is done, only electric traction can operate in the Heathrow tunnel system, there was a plan to use the old Stains / Colenbrook line, now that the Airtrack scheme has hit the stop blocks may well get resurrected perhaps as part of a TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) franchise bid?

[12hoursunday]

Too many HEX running back and forth to the airport less than half full. 90% of High Speed Services get held up at airport junction which is 90% too many!

[Surrey 455]

There was a proposal last year to link Slough to Terminal 5 via a new station at Windsor connecting with the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) line and branching off to a new track at Wraysbury. Not sure what's happening with it because the website hasn't been updated since January 2011.

http://windsorlink.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Link_Railway

[paul7575]

The proposer was probably taken to one side by local landowners, such as Eton College and HM the Queen, and they explained his ideas stood absolutely no chance.

At least NR^» (Network Rail - home page) mentioned the private enterprise Brighton Main Line 2 in the SE RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy), along with a comment that it didn't meet any of their known requirements...

Maybe the 'Windsor link' will appear in the final RUS - but I wouldn't bet on it...

Paul

[Electric train]

There was a proposal last year to link Slough to Terminal 5 via a new station at Windsor connecting with the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) line and branching off to a new track at Wraysbury. Not sure what's happening with it because the website hasn't been updated since January 2011.

http://windsorlink.net/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Link_Railway

This proposal falls down in so many ways, first Airtrack (the Waterloo Heathrow link via Staines) has been scraped due to insurmountable problems surrounding the level crossings in the Hounslow area and others to solve these pushed the cost beyond what BAA could afford.  Second the Windsor link requires a new railway to be built through or under Windsor a very expensive idea for a very very very limited traffic level.

The best option for a link to from the west is a new cord the country side of West Drayton using the Colnebrook line and a short link tunnel to T5

[eightf48544]

it's going to be an interesting civil engineering problem devising a juction to take traffic West from Heathrow. Use of Colnbrook branch gets it under the M4 but then you've either got to build the curve up to teh GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

The problem is that the Colonborok branch crosses under the main line when it is on an embankment and swings sharp right to join up with the old Uxbridge branch into West Drayton Station. To Swing left which ever side you start requires crossing two rivers and house and golf course on  the South side to join the Main Lines (not satisfactory) or two rivers and a gravel pit to the North. To add to the complications the Main line enters a small cutting after crossing the second river at the East end of which is the M25.

It could be done but too costly?

[anthony215]

might be diffcult especially pathing trains but couldnt trains reverse at west drayton (slow lines)?

[Electric train]

Amazing what a little civil engineering design, some concrete, steel can do to build a fly over form the Colnebrook line up and over and land between the UM and DR also over to the UR.  Unlikely that a direct connection the Mains would be need in normal use only required when the Reliefs are blocked for engineering

[Not from Brighton]

Does anyone know how much the grade separation west of Reading is costing? Surely it would have be be cheaper than that as the Reading project is much more complicated.

[Surrey 455]

If the old West Drayton to Staines line was re-engineered to allow a western link, would trains run any further than T5 - Reading on the Great Western line? Would there be a demand for trains to travel further? If so then what about trains from other parts of the country e.g. Crosscountry?

[eightf48544]

As for going further than Reading depends on where the wires go plus the stock to be used. Crossrail stock and would presumably be able to use LHR T5 as through station and run to hopefully Reading not Maidenhead.

Does anyone know if the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) will be compatible with LHR T5.

Not sure if you'd want to go very far on an old 319 which are likely to run the non Crossrail electrified local services on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) even if they are compatible with LHR  T5.

Until the wires go North of Oxford then XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) would be excluded being diesel. Unless the dreaded bi mode was used.

As an aside HEX and Connect will find electrifying the Reading traingle will be very useful as they will be able to turn their units to even wheel wear on the tight curve after Airport Junction.
 

[Electric train]

319's will be more than compatible as they are The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 section 12 compliant, also they have cab end doors for evacuation in the Widen Lines, Clarkenwell and Snow Hill tunnels, they we also used as test train in the Channel Tunnel when the signaling and electrification was commissioned.

The IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) may not be compatible as they unlikely to be built to The Fire Precautions (Sub-surface Railway Stations) Regulations 1989 Section 12 and my not have guage clearance

[rogerpatenall]

"due to insurmountable problems surrounding the level crossings in the Hounslow area"
insurmountable problems have a habit of being surmounted at a later date when the will is there. Current example is the quadrupling of the Charing Cross lines at Borough Market after at least 50 years of procrastination.