A brand new railway line could serve London’s biggest airport

With Heathrow Airport currently working on a gargantuan £49 billion expansion over the course of the next decade, there will be millions more people needed to use public transport to get to and from London’s busiest airport. The aviation titan reckons that once its new runway is open, an extra 66 million travellers could go through the airport every year. And it’ll need more transport routes to help it handle that huge boost in footfall.  

That’s what the Heathrow Southern Rail (HSR) scheme hopes to do. Right now, the airport isn’t directly connected by rail to Surrey, Hampshire or south and southwest London. The proposed route would rectify that. And it’s just been given crucial backing from a local council, provided certain conditions are met. 

HSR would start at Heathrow Terminal 5. It would make use of existing railway infrastructure and require eight miles of new railway line to be built, connecting Heathrow to London Waterloo via Clapham Junction, Putney, Hounslow, Twickenham, Richmond, Staines and other intermediate stations. 

Spelthorne Borough Council has said that it will give its backing to the project on the condition that there’s a 100 percent guarantee that trains will stop in Staines, and that there will be no damage to Staines Moor, a local country park and designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

The council says that independent studies must prove that work won’t damage Staines Moor or increase flood risk before it gives it final approval. Right now, proposals say that the route would use the existing line between Staines and Windsor then go through a tunnel underneath the moor, which would avoid spoiling the landscape. 

Developers say that HSR can be financed privately and could operate ‘at no cost to taxpayers’. If it gets the backing it’s after, it could be open by the early 2030s. 

ICYMI: London’s best airport is set to get bigger, quieter planes. 

Plus: Inside the radical plan to power London’s tube network with solar energy. 

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