The Anonymous Widower

A Brand New Railway Line Is Set To Directly Link South West London With The UK’s Biggest Airport – And It Could Be Up And Running By The Early 2030s

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Secret London.

This is the sub-heading.

A shiny new railway line could provide a seamless link between south-west London and the capital city’s busiest airport.

These two paragraphs add some details.

As a south-west Londoner who can fairly frequently be found at Heathrow Airport (or at least dreaming about being there), I can confirm that a speedy service, directly linking the almighty aviation hub with the south west of the city is something that’s been perched at the very top of my wish list for quite some time now. And it seems as though my prayers may finally have been answered in the form of the Heathrow Southern Railway.

London Heathrow Airport is currently in the early stages of a rather hefty expansion. Over the next ten years, the airport (which just so happens to be the biggest and busiest in the country) is set to receive a third runway. And when said runway is up and running, Heathrow is expecting to welcome approximately 66 million more passengers a year. So now is probably a pretty good time to start thinking about how they’re all going to get there.

I have written extensively about Heathrow Southern Railway in the past.

Start by reading Why I Like The Heathrow Southern Railway Proposal, which I wrote in November 2016 and ended with this conclusion.

It is definitely one of those projects, where by creating something a bit out of the ordinary, leads to lots of other worthwhile things.

I still like it and we now have more information, which includes this map.

Note.

1. The blue line is the Elizabeth Line.
2. The yellow line is a direct link from Waterloo to Heathrow.
3. The station in a six pointed star is Clapham Junction.

On the Heathrow Southern Railway web site there is a section called Service Opportunities.

It details two routes.

1. Heathrow and Waterloo via Staines and Clapham Junction
2. Basingstoke/Guildford and Paddington via Woking and Heathrow

These are a few random thoughts.

A ULEZ Avoiding Line

If the Elizabeth Line is extended to Staines, then Heathrow Southern Railway provides a ULEZ avoiding route for Heathrow employees to help get the Mayor out of a hole. A station guy at Staines told me a lot of Heathrow staff take buses to the airport from Staines station.

West London Orbital Railway

I believe that the West London Orbital Railway would make sense to give lots of other routes for Heathrow staff and passengers.

March 11, 2026 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Aviation, Heathrow Airport, Heathrow Southern Railway, Heathrow Terminal 5