Plans for £500m Welsh train link to Heathrow
05.09.11
Plans for a £500m rail scheme linking Wales directly to Heathrow Airport are being drawn up by the Government, the Western Mail reports. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is reported to be in the early stages of developing a new railway station at Heathrow that would bring the Great Western Mainline and the new High Speed Two line – set to connect London to the north of England – together to form a major new transport hub.
A branch of the Great Western Mainline takes passengers from London Paddington to Swansea, via Newport, Bridgend and Cardiff. Under the new plans, passengers would be able to travel directly to the airport – slashing journey times and avoiding the need to travel into London first. The link could take more than 30 minutes off travel times from South Wales to the airport.
Preliminary work by Network Rail reportedly suggests that the new line could accommodate four shuttle services an hour between Reading and the airport – and could also handle direct trains from Cardiff and Bristol. The hub system would also give passengers travelling from Wales to the Midlands, northern England or Scotland the option of joining the high-speed line from Heathrow.
The new hub would be based at the airport and connected to one or more terminals to minimise disruption for travellers moving around the airport. Network Rail were informed of the scheme only a week ago, but despite the plans being in their early stages, the Department for Transport believes the hub and link could be up and operational by 2021.
A 'Whitehall source' told the newspaper: ‘Together with the Crossrail project and the addition of a high-speed rail link with services from Heathrow to Scotland, the north and the Midlands, as part of the second phase of the proposed High Speed Two network, this would transform Heathrow into a truly international transport hub.’
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