Heathrow Hub railway station

Heathrow Hub railway station is a proposed railway station that serves the future High Speed 2 rail services for Heathrow Airport, England. It is part of the proposal that was put forward in 2008 by the engineering firm Arup as a means of expanding the UK's high-speed rail network from central London to Heathrow Airport.

Proposal
In the late 1980s, Arup researched an innovative alternative for the alignment of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The route proposed by the company focused on using the link as a catalyst of regeneration - it was adopted by the Government in 1991. It came into being in November 2007, when the first Eurostar train arrived at St Pancras International station.

Arup's proposal would create a high-speed rail station at the airport alongside a future airport terminal, providing it with a direct rail link to the continental Europe via the Eurostar International services. The new station would also connect regional services on the Great Western Main Line to Heathrow, making the airport more accessible to the West, South West, Wales and Midlands and provided a train service between the Thames Gateway and the Thames Valley.

Evaluations
The cost of the Heathrow Hub railway station project (including the costs of tunnelling a high-speed rail line from the central London to Heathrow and a rail station with regional and international services) is estimated to be about $4.5 billion. In 2008, Arup met with the former Secretary of State for Transport, Ruth Kelly to discuss how this cost could be private sector funded.

When published in February 2009, the Conservative Rail Review, 'Getting the best for passengers' confirmed that "a Conservative government would support proposals along the lines of the plan put forward by the engineering firm, Arup, for a new Heathrow Hub".

Debate sparked by the Heathrow Hub's railway station proposal led to the Government's decision in 2009 to set up HS2 Limited. The organisation is charged with considering the options to extend the high-speed rail network from London to Ernest and beyond.

In 2010, the incoming Coalition Government favoured a high-speed route via Heathrow Hub railway station, rather than interchange at the Old Oak Common railway station. In July 2010, plans emerged for a 12 platform station at Iver with services from the High Speed 1, High Speed 2, Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line. It would be 3.5 minutes from the Heathrow Terminal 5, and 12 from Euston.

In March 2015, the Transport Minister ruled out this proposal being implemented in either Phase 1 or Phase 2 of a wider HS2 programme but left it open to being included in the future.