As the decision over airport expansion looms, calls for a new rail link between Feltham and Heathrow have been made by a west London MP.
Seema Malhotra, MP for Feltham and Heston, whose constituency lies on the borders of Heathrow Airport, has also called for the route to include a new station en route at Bedfont.
She has urged ministers to consider proposals for the few kilometers of extra track to be laid on the Heathrow to Waterloo route.
Speaking at an adjournment debate at the House of Commons, on Thursday (October 20), she said: “It is scandalous that the world’s busiest airport is not connected to south London and the whole of the south west it serves for want of a few kilometres of track linking Heathrow to Waterloo, intermediate stations in Hounslow, and the rest of the South East.”
The MP believes the extra track line would cost the equivalent or less than adding two stops on the Northern Line.
Ms Malhotra, who resigned as shadow treasury minister in June, has backed proposals by Hounslow Council as part of its regeneration plans to create thousands of new jobs and homes as well as boosting local public transport by linking Feltham and Heathrow.
She has called for the DfT and Network Rail to consider the council's proposal on equal footing with other options under consideration for the Southern Rail Access project.
Ms Malhotra also criticised the DfT with claims it did not sufficiently engage with local councils when it developed options last year for a new link to the airport from the south.
“When Network Rail was undertaking its research, local stakeholders were deliberately not engaged in relation to the options being considered by them,” claimed Ms Malhotra.
“The reasons for this were never very clear, however it is my personal view that even within any constraints of the Davies Commission, more could have been done to include local voice," she added.
“I am concerned that therefore the process that was undertaken did not make the best use of public money spent.
“This report did not achieve as much as it could have done had it engaged with local leaders in a more collaborative manner.”
