Heathrow Airtrack

Heathrow area rail services
mi-ch from Paddington Elizabeth line via Whitechapel 0-00 Paddington Heathrow Express Elizabeth line Old Oak Common under construction 4-21 Acton Main Line 5-56 Ealing Broadway 6-46 West Ealing 7-28 Hanwell 9-06 Southall 10-71 Hayes & Harlington Piccadilly line to Cockfosters 11-10 Airport Junction Great Western Main Line to Reading Hatton Cross Heathrow Junction closed 1998 Heathrow Airport: Terminal 4 16-30 Terminal 4 Terminals 2 & 3 14-40 Terminals 2 & 3 16-20 Terminal 5

Heathrow Airtrack is a proposed new UK rail link from Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 (T5) to Staines High Street railway station built on the disused southern portion of the former West Drayton to Staines railway line with direct services to Reading, Guildford, and London Waterloo.

Plans

The T5 railway station has two safeguarded "heavy rail" platforms for use by a west-facing connection to the National Rail network, which would be utilised by Airtrack to offer direct services to Reading, Guildford, and London Waterloo.

The original proposals for the AirTrack link included a new station, to be called Staines High Street railway station, to be built between the existing Staines and Wraysbury railway stations near to the site of a former station of the same name. However the plans for this new station have been dropped from the revised proposals in the second public consultation, published on 20 October 2008. Proposals for a new rolling stock depot on the site of the former marshalling yards at Feltham have been included in the consultation for the first time.

BAA have indicated that they also want to extend the Heathrow Express service from terminal 5 to a new terminus platform at Staines.

Current status

BAA are conducting a public consultation into the scheme, with an aim to have the link open by 2014. The AirTrack Forum, a group of local authorities and businesses, including BAA, are also undertaking work to support the opening of the rail link. This has included commissioning consultants to study the economic benefits of the scheme.

Level Crossings

The rationale for a rail link is obvious , but the economic case is heavily dependent of the fact that Airtrack should be a low-cost option[1]; only 4 km of new line will be required, mostly within Spelthorne, the remaining new infrastructure consisting mainly of station improvements and associated facilitates. The scheme is expected to cost about £ 400m [2]of which about £ 150m is expected to come from the operating surplus and the rest still needs to be found. As the bulk of the construction work will affect Staines and Stanwell Moor, which includes a Site of Special Scientific interest, extensive consultations have taken place in Spelthorne, with major modifications of the scheme resulting. The remainder of the project will consist of upgrading some of the stations where the trains will stop. It is intended that after leaving Staines the trains will use existing lines operated by Network Rail.

The new services proposed are (each way) 2 trains an hour from Heathrow through Staines and Richmond to Waterloo; 2 an hour through Staines, via Egham and Virginia Water to Reading, and 2 an hour via Egham and Virginia Water to Guildford.

The Airtrack route uses 15 level crossings, of which 7 are expected to be not seriously affected, with decreases in barrier opening times of less than 10%. Of the remainder, 4 will suffer decreases of between 10% and 25%, and 4 are identified as more "significantly affected".. Of the last group, 3 are located between Staines and Virginia Water, in what Airtrack's maps imply is an unnamed no-man's-land. (Because the Reading and Guildford lines branch after Virginia Water, the line between Staines and Virginia Water will have 8 additional trains per hour).

Airtrack originally envisaged that by investing in new signalling technology, they could keep level crossings down-times to a manageable level. This was accepted as a reasonable proposition by the local authority, Runnymede Borough Council, and by the Highways Authority for the area, Surrey County Council, both of which actively supported the Airtrack scheme.[3] It has since been acknowledged that new signalling cannot make a significant contribution to reducing crossing down times.

Egham

Opposition to Airtrack in Egham has been focused on the issue of traffic gridlock caused by level crossing closures

Immediately after Staines the westward line goes through the town of Egham. About half of Egham's 10,000 residents live south of the railway track. The railway bisects the town and can be crossed via 4 level crossings in a 3 mile stretch of line. These are described by Airtrack as Thorpe Road, Staines (which has a Staines postcode but is geographically and administratively in Egham Hythe); Vicarage Road, Pooley Green, (in Egham); Station Road, Egham; and Prune Hill, Rusham (also in Egham). The first three, together with Barkham Road, Wokingham are identified by Airtrack as the 4 level crossings worst affected by their scheme."..

There are currently no alternative means of crossing the railway such as bridges or tunnels. When the level crossings cannot be used, the shortest alternative routes are via Staines Bridge roundabout, (4.5 miles) or via Virginia Water (7 miles). The shorter of these, using narrow residential roads, is unsuitable for emergency vehicles.

Airtrack has advised residents and business representatives at a public exhibition that if the project proceeds as planned the three significantly affected level crossings in Egham will be closed an average of 40 minutes per hour between 7 am and 7 pm. (No figures have been provided for specific peak hour closures wthin that period, although the results are based on empricial observations during rush hour traffic). The closure down-times suggested are 37 minutes per hour at the Thorpe Road Crossing, 39 minutes at Pooley Green, and 44 minutes per hour at Egham Station. The first two have been accepted by Airtrack as correct, the figure for Egham Station was disputed by them on 11 November, but their alternative estimate was not made available.

Airtrack consultation with affected residents, businesses and emergency services outside Staines and Stanwell has been according to the legally required standards. As yet, the results of studies to assess the economic costs of increased level crossing closures, or the social costs of reduced access to the emergency services, medical centres, shops, post office, and other services have not been publicised.

Airtrack have been explicit in presentations to local residents and business forums, and in conversation with councillors, that demands for a bridge or tunnel as an alternative to the level crossings should be addressed to the Highway Authority, as the railway operators are not required to provide these.

The legal situation was verified by Philip Hammond, M.P. for Runnymede and Weybridge, who has asked for changes to the legislative framework, which currently gives Network Rail, who operate and own the track, absolute and unqualified priority at level crossings, their responsibility towards road users and residents being limited to preventing collisions with trains. [4]

Based on resident objections, in December 2008, Runnymede Council became the second authority (after Richmond Council) to raise concerns. Council leader John Furey said the wait at crossings would rise.

See also

• Superlink (railway network)

External links

• BAA Heathrow website: Heathrow Airtrack page
• AirTrack Forum website