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Heathrow Rail Link withdrawn, but MP vows to carry on

Hopes for a rail link between the Great Western Main Line and Heathrow Airport appear to have finally ended.

The scheme had been on hold since 2021, when Network Rail staff working on it were transferred to other tasks.

At the time, NR called it a “controlled pause”, but a pre-application process has now been withdrawn, according to the Planning Inspectorate website.

Rail passengers from west of the airport have to travel via London Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express, or alternatively take the RailAir Bus from Reading.

The project, launched in 2012 and updated in 2017, involves a four-mile link from east of Langley station, passing beneath the M25 to the station box beneath Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Most of the route would be in a tunnel.

Work on the scheme ended during the COVID pandemic, when Heathrow Airport could no longer commit to its share of the funding.

However, Slough MP Tan Dhesi, a former shadow transport minister, believes the link still has wide support as it would bring 20% of the UK population within one interchange of its busiest airport.

Dhesi led an All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Western Rail Link to Heathrow before the General Election. He now plans to re-launch the group, as some previous members have since lost their seats.



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