Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL) has responded to the announcement yesterday, Wednesday, 4th December, from the Department for Transport (DfT) that South Western Railway (SWR) is to be taken into public ownership.
The announcement followed the passing of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024.
In its response, Heathrow Southern Railway Limited, which is an independent private sector venture set up to transform rail services to Heathrow, called for closer alignment and renewed vigour in improving rail access to the airport.
Heathrow Southern Railway’s plan is to link up with the South Western Railway network by constructing up to 8 miles of new railway from the west end of the existing station in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 to connect with London Waterloo via Clapham Junction and other destinations, including Woking, Guildford, Farnborough and Basingstoke.
The new ink would also create a new route from the South Western main line via Heathrow Airport to Old Oak Common, where it would connect with HS2 and the Elizabeth Line, and to London Paddington, and provide for an extension of the Elizabeth Line to Staines-upon-Thames.
Projected times for the new link would be 19 minutes from Woking to Heathrow, 29 minutes from Guildford to Heathrow, and 6 minutes from Staines-upon-Thames to Heathrow.
According to Heathrow Southern Railway, the new Government has expressed interest in finding ways to harness private sector finance to make the delivery of major infrastructure schemes more affordable.
The company understands the opportunities for this kind of collaboration, having worked on them for the past 8 years.
In September 2023, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, gave his support to the project with its potential to reduce road congestion and contribute to a more sustainable transport system.
Another proposal has also been put forward for a Western Rail Link to Heathrow to connect the airport with Slough on the Great Western main line.
In its manifesto for the 2024 General Election, the Labour Party pledged to reform the railways and bring them into public ownership.
“The UK Government has begun the process of putting track and train back together by announcing the timetable for public ownership of South Western Railway following the earlier creation of Shadow Great British Railways. Our engagement with politicians, public bodies, the aviation industry and other stakeholders confirms their desire to see greatly enhanced rail travel opportunities to and from Heathrow for airline passengers and aviation workers which would align totally with the Government’s ‘Growth’ and ‘Opportunity’ Missions.”
Baroness Jo Valentine, Heathrow Southern Railway Limited Chair
Responses
Would be ideal for a Heathrow Southern Railway or Heathrow Southern Rail Link from London Waterloo to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and South Western Railway to provide a direct service using their current rolling stocks. Maybe they could use a mixture of Class 458 Junipers, Class 701 Arterio, and Class 450/Class 444 Desiro.
About time
Such a shambolic Railway run by Fat cats endorsed by ORR
Let’s take everything into public ownership but then expect private sector finance. Sounds like a Gordon Brown scam.
Valentine has landed herself a nice job that explains why she is sucking up to Stasi Starmer’s agenda so she can stay in her role!
More railway fantasy never going to happen
Too much money spent down South to the detriment of other parts of the UK
I don’t think the people who travel on the trains that trundle even more slowly that they did 50 years ago in this part of SW London would agree with you
Boris Johnson who was Mayor of London wanted the Heathrow Southern Rail link to happen as well as extending the runway over the M25 London Orbital Motorway. Since Terminal 5 was built.
There should also be a service from Milton Keynes Central via Bletchley and Winslow, then via the proposed spur linking the Winslow route to the Aylesbury line; from there the service would go via Princes Risborough to High Wycombe, from where the line to Bourne End would need to be reinstated; from there the service would go to Maidenhead and Slough to West Drayton, from where the proposed spur would link into Heathrow.
You do realise the junction at Risborough faces the wrong way. You’d come in from Aylesbury via Monks Risborough (a single track branch) then reverse via Thame Junction, then through Chinnor (the track is still there on this section) then on towards Bourne End. Do-able but very, very expensive. Justvlike everything else on the railway, costs 10 times what it needs to after far too much talking.
But Bourne End is not on the Chinnor line. My proposed service would continue from Princes Risborough to High Wycombe. It would be the line from there to Bourne End that would need to be reinstated ( as has already been proposed in some circles).
Too much route is built over from high Wycombe towards Bourne end be very expensive go down route compulsory purchase order, compensation to anyones properties in the way that have be bulldozed. A look at latest Google maps show u the route has virtually disappeared under development.