Western Rail Access To Heathrow (WRATH) - merged topics

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Holidaymakers would be able to travel direct to Heathrow Airport from Bristol under a Conservative government.  Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers has revealed plans to link a Heathrow rail hub with the main rail line to the west giving passengers from Bristol a direct service to the country's largest airport.  The rail spur at the London end of the route would connect up with the Great Western Main Line ending the need for passengers to change at Paddington.  Although the party has not fleshed out the costings or timescale for the Bristol link it would expect it to be in place by 2027.

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Tories-want-direct-Bristol-Heathrow-train/article-458649-detail/article.html

[G.Uard]

I bet Adrian Sanders is quaking in his boots.  

[Electric train]

"Although the party has not fleshed out the costings or timescale for the Bristol link it would expect it to be in place by 2027." 

Shock horror that puts at the end of CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) and 10 years after Crossrail is competed so there is quite a good chance it would happen even under the current Government policy as the GW^▸ (Great Western) mainline is one of the top routes for electrification, a direct rail link, at least into the existing Heathrow stations" can only be by electric traction.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Western Morning News:

Tourists and business visitors flying into Heathrow could have a direct rail link to the Westcountry under Tory plans to end the travel chaos endured by many people trying to reach the region.  The move would also mean that people from Devon and Cornwall heading off on holiday would be able to reach the major London airport much more easily.

Shadow Transport Secretary Teresa Villiers told the WMN^» (Warminster - next trains) a Conservative government would scrap plans for a third runway at Heathrow and plough the savings into a massive upgrade for the country's railways.  As well as establishing a headline-grabbing high-speed rail link from London to the North of England, she said the move would see a new rail hub linking Devon and Cornwall directly with one of the world's busiest airports.

If the Conservatives win the next election, they will order a competition for the next phase of high-speed rail to enable construction to start by 2015.  While the full route would take until 2027 to finish, the Heathrow hub could be completed more quickly.

For the full article, see http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/TRAIN-PLANE-PLEDGE/article-459529-detail/article.html

[G.Uard]

Tory Paper and blatant though unimaginative electioneering. 

[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