Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL) – the independent venture set up to transform the rail network serving Britain’s busiest airport – has submitted to the UK Department for Transport (DfT) its market sounding questionnaire on providing a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow (SRLtH).
HSRL Chief Executive Graham Cross said:
“HSRL’s scheme will provide the DfT and the public with high quality rail capacity to and from Heathrow whilst being privately financed and avoiding any need for government subsidy.
We also offer more than just an airport rail link with our unique and original idea of connecting Surrey and Hampshire via Heathrow Airport to Old Oak Common and London Paddington.
Railway development experts in our team – including those provided by our investor AECOM – have spent two years refining HSRL’s proposed route. We know how to allow trains to operate over our railway without needing new paths into congested London termini. This is a mature proposal for bringing urgently needed surface access relief to the congested two-runway Heathrow and is essential for the planned expansion of the Airport.”
For further information visit www.heathrowrail.com or contact Mark Walker on 01733 767244 or 07742 925753.
Notes for editors:
- The UK Department for Transport is currently conducting a market sounding exercise with potential private sector promoters of a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow (SRLtH).
- 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, enabling trains to run from Woking, Guildford and Basingstoke to Heathrow Airport and on to Old Oak Common (for HS2) and London Paddington (for the Elizabeth Line).
- Heathrow Southern Railway will also enable electric trains to operate between Heathrow Airport 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 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.
- HSRL forecasts that the new railway will remove 86 million car kilometres from the road network each year, will be used by 33,000 passengers per day and could be open between 2025 and 2027;
- Shown outside the UK Department for Transport is Graham Cross, Chief Executive of Heathrow Southern Railway Limited, holding the company’s completed market sounding questionnaire on SRLtH.
