Willie Walsh, former CEO at BA and now IAG’s CEO, warns that the proposal to link Heathrow and Gatwick via a high speed rail could be inefficient and costly. He expressed concerns about how the high speed rail link would be funded and describes the proposal as ‘sub-optimal’. The warning followed confirmation by the UK Department of Transport that a high speed rail service linking Heathrow and Gatwick is being considered by ministers to maximize capacity. The £5bn service, dubbed ‘Heathwick’, would enable travelers to get from Heathrow to Gatwick in just 15 minutes via 180mph trains that would travel underground along the M25, departing every 5 minutes. The virtual hub between airports is expected to ease capacity problems currently faced by the aviation industry. All this talk – imagine what £5bn could buy in terms of another runway at both London airports. Planes are getting cleaner and quieter. Why is this so hard for UK politicians? Where’s the vision? Where’s the taxpayer value for money?
The problem is that North American still do not get the notion of public transit.
The speed link between the two airport is a brilliant idea and a crying need. I hope this will be adopted as not only this would ease the link between the airport it would help the circulation in London!
There is no such thing as ‘THE’ problem when it comes to anything to do with London airports.
5 billion pounds…that’s more than the cost of an all new international airport including all of the infrastructure, for the price of a rail link alone.
What else could London buy for 5 billion pounds?
It has nothing to do with what notions North Americans have…we’ve had a gallery seat to the past 2 decades or more of squabbling about how to improve London’s airport situation.
It has everything to do with how do you convince London to spend 5 billion pounds on a rail link between Gatwich and Heathrow.
Like Nessie, Yeti, a third runway at LHR or the Thames estuary plan…it will never exist.
London Heathrow Terminal 5 was built at a cost of £4.3 billion and no runway involved but include public transit with other terminals….
I don’t think that’ll make the rail link look any more palatable to Londoners.
As a Londoner having to deal with the hell that is Heathrow, I have no problem with them building a new runway. Just make sure its underground and all the fumes are filtered and all approaching aircraft arrive via sound proof tunnels.
Alternatively as London has been here for a least 2000 years, if its necessary to fly more aircraft to Heathrow, why not move it a few hundred miles out to the North Sea.
Or, how about simply closing Heathrow. Problem solved.