‘Support builds’ for new Heathrow rail route

Wandsworth Council’s proposal for a new direct rail services between Waterloo and Heathrow has ‘won support from more London boroughs’, the Council has said.

Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham Councils are ‘backing the scheme as a key measure to improve surface access to the airport and to ease congestion on the Piccadilly Line’.

The service would include stops in the borough at Queenstown Road, Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Town and Putney.

Wandsworth unveiled the rail proposal in October last year which is based on BAA’s ‘Airtrack’ scheme.

The new version – renamed ‘Airtrack Lite’ – would provide four trains an hour from Waterloo to Terminal 5. It avoids routing extra trains through level crossings in Mortlake and Egham which was the key problem with the original scheme and led to it being scrapped in April last year.

The proposals have now been discussed at top level meetings with the Department for Transport (DfT) and BAA.

The scheme has now been included in the tender documents for the Great Western Rail Franchise.

The next franchisee will be expected to help develop the proposal further as a means of improving links to Heathrow.