Railways to runways
The benefits of short-term projects to link transport modes
AVIATION capacity in the South East has been the subject of debate for years, and last month we saw two welcome signs of progress.
One was the approval for a new Heathrow runway. The second was the Government’s Beyond the horizon: the future of UK aviation paper, which encourages all airports to make best use of their existing runways.
Both these commitments will make a material difference to meeting the UK’s growing capacity demands. But amid all the talk about runways, it’s easy to forget that there is a cheaper and more immediate means of making more of our existing resources… the railways.
The Department for Transport has estimated that all major airports in the South East are expected to be full by 2040. For regional airports to make the most of their latent capacity in the shortterm, one answer is to improve links between rail and air.
I was delighted to see that the importance of the relationship between planes and trains has been recognised in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the new East Midlands rail franchise. Published last month ( RAIL 855), it includes the specification that there will be incentives for bids that aim to increase the modal share of rail transport to London Luton Airport (LLA) and to East Midlands Airport.
LLA currently has the lowest modal share of passengers using rail to access any London airport. At just 15%, it is considerably lower than Gatwick (35%), Stansted (29%) and Heathrow (28%).
The East Midlands ITT goes one step towards closing this gap. However, we can’t stop here. This is why LLA is calling for four fast trains per hour to stop at Luton Airport Parkway (LAP) station under the new East Midlands rail franchise, a change which could be achieved through timetable change alone, with no additional expenditure or infrastructure required.
Four fast trains per hour has the potential to deliver an increase in LLA’s rail mode share to 25%. LLA is already improving transport links to the airport, and construction has begun on a Direct Air to Rail Transit (DART) system that will create a seamless link between the station and the terminal. This £225 million project, funded by Luton Borough Council, is due to be complete in 2021. Combined with an express-style rail service, it would deliver a total modal share of more than 30%.
What’s more, the House of Commons Transport Select Committee has identified inadequate rail links as a significant limiting factor for the ability of airports to meet their full potential. We are already delivering a £160m transformation to increase our annual capacity by 50% by 2020, but we need the support of surface access to help us deliver it.
It is not just capacity that will be increased by improving rail links to the UK’s regional airports - we know that access by rail has a direct impact on airports’ economic contribution. Data from the Airport Operators Association has shown that even a 5% improvement in average journey times to and from airports could generate an additional £1.9 billion for the UK economy and support an extra 32,000 jobs.
Indeed, improved rail links, along with the current transformation at LLA, could double our economic contribution to the national economy by £1bn in addition to supporting nearly 40,000 jobs. It also has the potential to generate an extra £110m for the DfT and future franchisee over a ten-year period.
The benefits will not only be felt economically, but also environmentally. By providing passengers with more efficient, faster rail travel to LLA, the number of cars on the M1 could reduce by an estimated 70,000 each year. As well as reducing congestion, this would help cut CO emissions by 500 tonnes a year.
As the Government comes under pressure to improve services for passengers and to prioritise projects that offer the best value for money for taxpayers, increasing the number of fast trains to LLA would be a small but significant step towards easing the capacity pressures and supporting economic growth.
While the country needs infrastructure projects such as Heathrow’s third runway for the long term, more needs to be done to ensure that short-term needs are met as well. If implemented, increasing the number of fast trains to LLA can act as a model for other projects that could benefit from a similar simple change.
The DfT has recognised that improving rail links to airports will help the UK to thrive. It is now up to East Midlands franchise bidders to ensure that this once-in-a-decade opportunity is not lost. Trains may just be the key to securing a stronger and better future for UK aviation.