Evaluations
The cost of the Heathrow Hub project (including the costs of tunnelling a High-Speed Rail line from central London to Heathrow and a rail station with international and regional services) was estimated to be around £4.5 billion. In 2008, Arup met with former Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly to discuss how this cost could be private sector funded.
When published in February 2009, the Conservative Rail Review, ‘Getting the best for passengers’, confirmed that " a Conservative Government would support proposals along the lines of the plan put forward by engineering firm, Arup, for a new Heathrow rail hub."
Debate sparked by the Heathrow Hub proposal led to the Government’s 2009 decision to set up HS2 Ltd. The organisation is charged with considering the options to extend the UK’s high speed rail network from London to Birmingham and beyond.
In 2010 the incoming Coalition Government favoured a high speed route via a Heathrow hub, rather than an Old Oak Common interchange. In July 2010 plans emerged for a 12 platform station at Iver with services from High Speed 1, 2, Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line. It would be 3½ minutes from Heathrow Terminal 5 and 12 from Euston.
Read more about this topic: Heathrow Hub Railway Station