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Drivers face being forced to wait at railway level crossings for 40 minutes every hour if a new train link to Heathrow airport is approved.
Concerns are mounting over the proposed £673million Airtrack line linking Terminal 5 with Waterloo, Guildford, Woking and Reading. It would run mainly on existing lines via Clapham Junction, Richmond, Feltham and Staines.
Airtrack's promoter, Heathrow owner BAA, admits that four level crossings - in Staines, Wokingham, Egham and Pooley Green near Egham - would be "significantly affected", with barriers shut for a total of 39 minutes each hour. There is concern this will add to major traffic problems across south-west London and Surrey.
Surrey county council was yesterday finalising its response to a government consultation, while Richmond council told the Standard it feared the borough would effectively be cut in half.
Iain Reeve, Surrey's head of transport, said he wanted a "better Airtrack" that eased rather than worsened traffic.
Airtrack would operate with a dedicated service akin to the Heathrow Express. It hopes to attract 10 million passengers a year, a quarter of them using Heathrow or working there. In total, 15 crossings will be affected, having to close for up to four Airtrack trains an hour - on top of existing services. BAA claims it is "not feasible or justifiable" to build a bridge or tunnel.
BAA admits that four more crossings - including at Mortlake and North Sheen - will see opening times cut by up to 25 per cent. The remaining seven will have opening times reduced by less than 10 per cent.
A Surrey county council report said: "The scheme as proposed will cause unacceptable traffic problems at a number of level crossings. This will lead to traffic congestion, delays, poor bus reliability and access problems for the emergency services." A public inquiry on Airtrack is expected next year. If permission is given, building work could begin later next year and be completed by 2014.
David Trigg, Richmond's cabinet member for transport, said the borough's four crossings could also be closed for up to 40 minutes an hour.
He said: "We are in favour of investment in improved and sustainable public transport. Where we do have concerns is whether this is possibly at the expense of commuter services."
A BAA spokesman said: "Airtrack will improve rail services to the airport ... taking cars off the road. More work is being done to investigate solutions at level crossings."
Reader views (29)
Brilliant idea but the crossings do pose a problem . Surely the answer lies in dropping the height of the track at the approaches and creating a bridge for traffic over the railway . It is all down to cost and political will .
- Notabanker, London
Here in Feltham the extra down times at the Bedfont lane crossings will jam up traffic and affect bus routes which run right into the airport teminals which are free to airport workers cheaper alternatives to rail and heavily used. In addition they propose to build a noisy polluting train depot in a residential area and right over a site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. Myself and my husband and Alan Keen MP delivered a petition of 300 residents to Number 10. Keep the protests up!
- Marianne Lippiatt, Feltham Middlesex TW14 0AE
Wouldn't it better sense to have the roads go under the railroad?
- Suhail Manzoor, Richmond
I can't believe that anyone in their right mind is even considering this. The barriers in Sheen (the one I'm familiar with) already cause problems whenever there's heavy traffic and now they want to keep them closed for an additional 25% of the time. Utter madness that'll end in someone getting killed trying to rush across the crossing.
- Rich, London
Only accessible hospital and ambulance service on the south side of the crossings - anyone needing urgent medical care on the north side will have a bit of a wait as the ambulance will queue both ways for quite some time and there isnt another way around. With the golden hour rule of medical care for the critical I wonder how many will die who wouldnt have otherwise?
- Rt, London
The people who plan this crazy idea might like to come and live in the area. The North Sheen crossing even now causes chaos when the gates are closed with traffic backed up to the A316. It is also close to large Sainsburys Homebase and Currys which attract lots of cars and vans. AND there is not even a pedestrian bridge at North Sheen. It is just NOT feasible.
- Dac, North Sheen
BAA yet again do the flying while west london does the dying and the idling - this is some bad joke surely - or was it that BAA new these issues and never raised them at the time of the great 3rd runway debate when they used these plans to try and persuade our already corrupt government that they had feasable plans in place to reduce traffic - surely that would be just too cynical!
- Christian Ball, London, UK
A third runway at Heathrow is Madness. The whole of the area just growed like Topsy from the time I travelled out of it in a Swissair Dakota in 1957. The government wants it to keep on growing because it employs people from the area who vote Labour not because it is the wrong thing to do but because there are votes in it from a government which has no vision. I am quite happy now to take a short haul flight to Frankfort and travel on from there rather than use the nightmare of Heathrow and I live in Brighton. I am not the only one. Heathrow will wither on the vine. Boris Johnson has it right when he aims for a proper London Airport in the Thames Estuary. The madness of the old Hongkong Airport was replaced by a new one. Why not Heathrow, What does this country have to keep on with same and not "boldly venture out where no one has been before" like the old Britain used to do. We need a Star Trek view of Britain and what we need to do. and where we should rightfully be. Britain has been the creators of so much that has now become common place in the world. The country needs to stop navel gazing and strike out. There is eveything to win and nothing to lose. Let the world follow us. It did once.
- Albert Hall, hove england
BAA as ever have no consideration for those who live around the airport, their only interest is in further expansion and increased profit from the Heathrow Shopping Centre.
- Dave, London
It's clear that there are more risks than benefits in it's current format. Airtrack will make the railway line from a regional to a national service. I hope that they use the Eurostar terminals and also they build bridges/Tunnels etc at every level crossing so that the traffic in the area is actually improved.
Of course, it's another hashed nu-Lab plan to mess up the lives of anyone who lives south of the WAtford Gap because it's not natural Labour heartland and they want to make their mark before they are in the electoral wilderness for decades to come.
- Nick P, Egham
They could just run a shuttle service from Staines to Heathrow every 5 minutes on the new line rather than putting extra trains on existing lines that are already full.
- Steve P, London
Actually, the latest consultations have proved that a tunnel IS feasible for the worst hit level crossing (Pooley Green) - things have moved on since BAA's consultation document of six months ago.
Joe (and others) a bridge is not possible here as the M25 motorway bridge the road then goes UNDER is just 30 metres away, they would not be able to get the road 'down' in time for lorries to get under that bridge.
Tunnels remain the only solution for Egham.
- Russell, Egham
BAA seem to believe that what ever they want they will get the authorities should make sure that the disaster that is Heathrow has no further impact on the people who live close to it.
- Mike M, Bedford England
I guess trains are taking the country back.
Horse and buggy to follow?
- Trunk, US
40 minutes every hour....beats even a snail !
- Edouard, Toulouse. France
I was in Pakistan recently, I was impressed with the "mini tunnels" they have under the rail lines, with the amount of money they are spending on the project, would the extra tunnels make that much differance ?.
- Sadelsor, Hong Kong
First Quote.
"BAA claims it is "not feasible or justifiable" to build a bridge or tunnel."
Second Quote.
A BAA spokesman said: "More work is being done to investigate solutions at level crossings."
Not a bridge or a tunnel? Teleportation maybe…
- Paul B, London
They could re-route the service through Hounslow, which would avoid the Richmond crossings (bar one) but I guess they think they would lose some profitable traffic from Richmond station.
- John R., London SW
The existing crossings are very close to houses and other roads making bridges and tunnels very difficult.
The existing crossing between Egham and Pooley Green is controlled by a signalman further along the line, ever since some idiot tried jumping the automatic barrier and had a big accident. This level crossing is regularly shut for 15 mins at a time when the signalman forgets to open it after the last train. So traffic chaos is nothing new there. Personally I use a different route which avoids the level crossings.
Hopefully the proposed new high speed rail lines through Heathrow will provide better infrastructure for rail comnnections in this area and reduce the number of short haul flights.
- Dannyp, Egham
It isn't just cars who will have to wait for ages at the level crossings, but cyclists and parents with buggys will be stuck as well, wasting a lot of time for anyone who has to cross the railway, but cannot use the predestrian bridge as they have to leave so much extra time because they won't know how long they might get stuck for. Totally unacceptable.
- Aya, East Sheen
The whole proposal is absurd. Airtrack clearly had no idea of what they were getting into as their original documents werent even aware of the level crossings from Barnes all the way to Richmond - 4 of the 6 access roads from the South Circular to the Thames Bridges, Kew and the M4, all being effecively shut down. Not to mention the fact the fire service is on one side of North Sheen Crossing and the Ambulance service and hospital on the other. You cant tunnel or bridge these access points as they are residential streets requiring large numbers of homes to be demolished. North Sheen and Barnes crossings done even have a pedestrian bridge!
- R Tompkins, Richmond UK
I live in New Malden. By car I can reach Heathrow Terminal 5 in 30 minutes. By bus it will still take at least an hour just to reach the Heathrow central bus stop. As the frequency is one an hour, I need to set aside up to 2 hours. On top of that from Heathrow central I have to take the underground to reach Term 5. It involves at least one inconvenient transfer of baggage. By tube or train it is a tortuous journey. The result is I only use a taxi or minicab. Most people in South West London, especially south of Wimbledon, have the same problem The proposed Airtrack will be fantastic. You just come to Clapham junction from Heathrow and thereafter it is quite simple. I strongly support the new train.
- Nat, New Malden
This highlights the issue of Health & Safety as well. The rules have been changed and so much time is required now each time a train is due to cross that cars just sit for up to 10 minutes. Some level crossing near here must be closed for nearly 30 minutes in the hour already. This is a huge over reaction to the slim possibility somebody stalls there car on the junction and needs to warn the signal men I assume not to mention tfl's desire to cause maximum inconvenience to local traffic to help promote public transport.
- Stuz Graz, Wimbledon, London
The tree huggers should be up there screaming their usual abuse at the thought of cars sitting there with engines idling and polluting us even more.
- Aylyn, 03189 Orihuela Costa
Does the BAA spokesman really think building this rail link to Heathrow will have a significant impact on the reduction of cars around places like Egham and Staines? What planet is he on? Or should that be what country is he from? Clearly he has no understanding of the transport logistics of the local area.
- Isabel, Woking
Typical investors /owners that are not from the UK. Save and cut costs at the expense of the UK public and maximise exportable profit, after all the problems created are not in their country.
If they want to create these kinds of developments do it properly or not at all; dig a tunnel.
Usual story of a generation that is trying to live beyond its means. Wake up, if you cannot afford to build using a tunnel then don't build until you can !
- James, City of London
Level crossings barriers down for 40 mins an hour is outrageous. This will just cause gridlock. Build a bridge or 2, or a tunnel.
- Dom, London
Efficient transport planning as usual,closing the roads for 40 minutes in the hour.
Par the course for this country.
- Mr S.Port, London
Then build bridges over the railway track
Joe
- Joe, Kiev, Ukraine
