Heathrow link to high-speed UK railway 'must wait'

Heathrow Airport should have a link to the proposed new London to Scotland high-speed railway line only once the network reaches the north of England, a report has concluded. Lord Mawhinney, the Tory peer commissioned to review access to the London airport, said there is "no compelling case" for a direct link in the initial stages. He said diverting the high-speed route via Heathrow would cost between £2bn and £4bn extra and is "not likely to represent value for money to the taxpayer or the train operator". Last August, Network Rail announced plans for a £34bn London to Scotland railway to be built by 2030. The journey to Glasgow would take only two hours 16 minutes. In March, Labour announced that work on the London to Birmingham link would start in 2017. Mawhinney said the case for the Heathrow link would become more "persuasive" once a high-speed rail network is extended beyond Birmingham. In opposition, the Conservatives insisted the network should have a station at Heathrow airport. But Mawhinney said this would not be worth the cost. "As the network expands ... over time there will be greater demand for access to Heathrow from cities in the north and Scotland, which might make a direct high-speed rail connection to Heathrow ... more viable and economically attractive," he said. "The evidence presented to me suggests that this would only be in prospect after the high-speed network had been extended at least to Manchester and Leeds." Mawhinney, whose review was commissioned by Lord Adonis, Labour's former transport secretary and confirmed by his successor, Philip Hammond, said the phasing of the high-speed rail network should be carefully planned. He recommended that the necessary engineering works be included to make it possible for a high-speed loop through Heathrow to be built at a later date. In the meantime, he suggested that Old Oak Common, in west London, could provide an "appropriate, good quality terminus and connection point to the airport". "I am convinced that the nation should have a clear vision for the future high-speed rail network, including, when appropriate, a direct link to Heathrow," he said. Mawhinney said his preferred site for a high-speed rail station at the airport, when it becomes viable, would be in the central terminal area. He recognised the location would "complicate the engineering" but said it would be of "maximum utility to the maximum number of travellers". He said "rapid links" should be installed to help people travel around the airport. In one of 14 recommendations, Mawhinney said an independent review should take place into achieving a "more integrated and greater range" of rail connections to Heathrow, including investigation into how it would link to other public transport.