The Heathrow Express rail link was a £350m investment by the British Airports Authority aiming to raise the proportion of passengers travelling to Heathrow Airport by public transport from 34% to 50%. Built between 1995 and 1998, by 2001 it was carrying 14,000 passengers a day taking an estimated 3,000 cars off the roads to improve traffic congestion. High speed trains leaving every 15min complete the journey from Paddington Station in 15min. Balfour Beatty bored the 11km tunnels and Tarmac laid the track whilst Laing in a joint venture with N G Bailey Design were responsible for the installation of all mechanical and electrical services in the tunnels and the construction of two underground stations, one serving the Central Terminal Area for Terminals 1-3, the other serving Terminal 4.
The coffer dam erected to allow the construction of the CTA station was 60m in diameter and 35m, large enough to accommodate the Albert Hall. The interior of the 5 storey station was clad with 10,000 Glassfibre Reinforced Concrete panels and foundations for a potential 7 storey building above it were incorporated into the construction. It links directly to Terminal 1 and joined existing rail links to Terminals 2 and 3.
This image was catalogued as part of the Breaking New Ground Project in partnership with the John Laing Charitable Trust in 2019-20.
This is part of the Series: JLP01/11 John Laing Photographic Collection Colour Negatives and Contact Sheets; within the Collection: JLP01 John Laing Photographic Collection
© Historic England Archive. John Laing Photographic Collection
Late 20th Century Underground Railway Station, Late 20th Century Airport, Construction
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