Heathrow-Paris rail link would 'reduce air traffic'

Proposals for a high-speed railway linking Heathrow and Paris will be officially aired today.

The plan is to extend the Eurostar line which terminates at St Pancras to a new Heathrow station via Paddington.

It would then loop back towards Marylebone and run parallel to the existing Chiltern Line towards Birmingham and on to Scotland.

Travel times between Heathrow and Paris could be less than two-and-a-half hours, it is predicted.

Experts claim the proposed link would reduce short-haul flights to the Continent and ease pressure on Heathrow's third runway. Arup, the engineering firm which has drawn up the project, was responsible for planning the Channel Tunnel link to Stratford.

The new link will be proposed at a parliamentary reception which is being held to launch The Right Line, a history of the high-speed rail link.

But the scheme is still in its infancy and does not have backing from the Government. Mark Bostock, director of Arup, said: "There is total logic in seeing how Heathrow can be connected to the national and international rail network."