Tunnel under Richmond

The proposal to construct a southern railway link into Heathrow from the main WaterlooStaines railway has gathered significant support ( RAIL 849).

But there remains a problem. Management of the main line from Waterloo, which passes through Richmond, is substantially impeded by four level crossings within a short distance of each other.

These crossings are themselves the subject of increasing public concern. They cause substantial traffic congestion, significant delays, and consequential pollution. There is also anxiety over the vehicle-pedestrian conflict at the crossings.

A bold scheme is being canvassed. This is to tunnel the length of the railway between Barnes (White Hart Lane) and North Sheen (Manor Road), thus removing the four crossings and addressing both the environmental concerns and greatly facilitating the management of the railway.

There is one other important benefit. Development land in the Borough is extremely valuable, and the surface railway land released by tunnelling is in a residential area already, with additional commercial development possibilities at Mortlake and North Sheen. Thus the tunnel would secure additional housing for the hard-pressed Borough, and make a significant capital contribution to the scheme.

These are straightforward objectives. No doubt there will be those who would see this as a slightly self-indulgent solution to a local nuisance. But in the scheme of things, and in the context of the major engineering achievements of railway and tunnelling engineers round London, this is a selfcontained and doable project with a lot of goodwill already on-side.