Heathrow to all parts

With some modifications, Jim Steer’s suggestion of two through rail routes at Heathrow is good ( RAIL 826). But to expect the future provision of direct trains to most parts of the UK - he even cites Glasgow - is unrealistic.

The first step, after construction of the western curve, must be a Heathrow-Reading-Basingstoke (bi-mode) shuttle which would give one-change access between Heathrow and southern Britain from Portsmouth round to Swansea (to which Mr Steer’s wish list of through trains could never be justified), plus the West Midlands and the North West for those prepared to put up with the high price and discomfort of a journey by Voyager.

Mr Steer appears to give the general impression that many European airports have direct inter-city rail services, but in fact only a handful do. The best examples are Schiphol (Amsterdam) and Frankfurt, and to a lesser extent Paris CDG, but those are where the airport happens to be situated by a main line.

Geneva and Zurich airports are well-connected - in both cases by short new stretches of line again assisted by railway geography. Brussels and Vienna are similar.

But in all cases, these lie outside the core section of inter-city routes. This is why it would never be advisable to divert the Great Western Main Line through Heathrow, which others have suggested in the past.

At airport stations such as Dusseldorf and Lyon, few express trains find it worthwhile to call. And plenty other major airports are situated away from a main line - for example, Milan, Munich, Madrid and Stockholm.

I am mystified that Jim Steer contemplates possible future trains from Heathrow to European destinations including Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Quite apart from the fact that it will have taken 23 years since the opening of the Channel Tunnel to introduce (this December) trains between St Pancras and Amsterdam - and then only two trains each way daily, taking an average of four hours - there is still no sign of a train between St Pancras and Frankfurt, which would take five hours. Robert H Foster, Skipton