Heathrow Airtrack
The last stumbling block from stopping the construction of a new line to Heathrow Airport has now been passed. Surrey County Council have now agreed to allow for work to proceed; the council now not have to make a contribution to the project that is being funded by BAA the operator of Heathrow Airport.
Aitrack is a new line approaching Heathrow from the west that will utilise two of the six platforms below Terminal 5 which was originally opened in 2008.
Trains will be able to arrive and depart from Heathrow to a variety of destinations to the south and west of London including regional centres such as Reading, Wimbledon, Richmond and Guildford. In total 12 stations will come under the Airtrack network across the three branches. The majority of the work will involve new chords, a new depot for rolling stock in Feltham and modifications to stations to ensure that commuter services aren't disrupted.
One of the three branches will terminate at London Waterloo, creating a third heavy rail route between Central London and Heathrow (the other two being the Heathrow Express into London Paddington and the Piccadilly Line on the London Underground). Image sourced from
londonreconnections.blogspot.com.
Crossrail
During the Spending Review, the government fully committed to the Crossrail project. The timetabled opening is now 2018 due to the use of two tunnelling machines (instead of four).
An update of works at the Canary Wharf station site - the concrete platform has been built and work is being undertaken on the level below. Pictures taken by
nauticat at SSC.
