Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL) – the independent venture set up to transform the rail network serving Britain’s busiest airport – has welcomed the publication by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) of a Prior Information Notice (PIN) seeking to develop market-led proposals for a new rail link connecting Heathrow Airport from the south with Waterloo and Surrey/Hampshire.
The DfT’s Market Sounding will explore the appetite for developing proposals and sharing the risk of the development process for a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow (SRLtH).
HSRL Executive Director Graham Cross said:
“This is a further important development in the process of constructing a privately-financed rail link to Heathrow from the south, made significantly on the same day as the launch of the new Sub-National Body ‘Transport for the South East’. We look forward to working with the DfT, Network Rail and other stakeholders to complete this next stage in the development of a project urgently needed to tackle congestion and improve air quality in the vicinity of Heathrow.”
For further information visit www.heathrowrail.com or contact Mark Walker on 01733 767244 or 07742 925753.
Notes for editors:
- 1. The DfT’s announcement may be found here: http://ted.europa.eu/TED/notice/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:196670-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
- 2. The UK Government’s revised draft Airports National Policy Statement requires Heathrow Airport Limited to “maximise the proportion of journeys made to the airport by public transport, cycling and walking to achieve a public transport mode share of at least 50% by 2030, and at least 55% by 2040 for passengers..[and]…details of how it will achieve a 25% reduction from the current baseline of all staff car trips by 2030, and a reduction of 50% by 2040 from 2017 levels”. These conditions will be legally binding on HAL.
- 3. HSRL intends to create fast, easy and relaxing rail access to Heathrow Airport by building 8 miles of rail infrastructure from the west end of the existing Terminal 5 station. Electric trains will operate between Heathrow and London’s Waterloo terminus via Clapham Junction, Putney, Hounslow, Twickenham, Richmond, Staines and other intermediate stations. Waterloo East and Clapham Junction will make Heathrow accessible from Kent and Sussex with just one change of train. The HSR infrastructure also provides a direct fast link for non-airport passengers from Surrey and Hampshire to London Paddington and Old Oak Common (for HS2 and the Elizabeth Line).
- 4. The best rail journey times projected by HSRL are 16 minutes from Woking to Heathrow, 26 minutes from Guildford to Heathrow and 6 minutes from Staines to Heathrow.
- 5. HSRL forecasts that the new railway will remove 86 million car kilometres from the road network each year.
- 6. HSRL forecasts that the new rail link will be used by 33,000 passengers per day and could be open as early as 2025.
