January 5, 2009
The British government's plans to expand London Heathrow Airport could include a new, GBP4.5 billion pound (USD$6.5 billion) rail hub as well as a third runway, transport minister Andrew Adonis said in remarks published on Sunday.
Britain is expected to rule later this month on whether a new runway should be built at Ferrovial-owned Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports flying more than 65 million passengers a year.
Adonis told the Sunday Times newspaper the development of the airport -- currently packed to full capacity -- could also include investment in new rail links.
"It's vital that we have an integrated approach to planning new rail capacity and any new airport capacity that's also required," Adonis told the newspaper, suggesting that a joint rail-runway proposal could be in the pipeline.
"It makes good sense to plan improvements to Heathrow and the rail system together."
The Financial Times newspaper on Monday interpreted the comments as putting Heathrow central to a proposed new high speed rail link between the UK and mainland Europe.
New Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon postponed making a decision on a third runway last month amid mounting political opposition to the project, which would have an environmental impact as well as increasing traffic to the airport, west of London.
The opposition Conservatives have come out against the proposal, arguing Britain should instead invest in high speed rail links between London and northern England.
The expansion of Heathrow comes at a time of major upheaval at London's airports. The Competition Commission has proposed that Spain's debt-laden Ferrovial sell its other two airports in the capital, Gatwick and Stansted.
The building of a third Heathrow runway would require the demolition of the village of Sipson, which has over 700 homes.
(Reuters)