What is the Windsor Link? – a one pager
See here for a new one-page summary of the Windsor Link railway as it benefits Windsor. More info on other towns in the region coming soon. What is the Windsor Link Railway
Over 100 businesses support the Windsor Link
The Windsor Chamber of Commerce has organised a letter to the Secretary of State for transport supporting the Windsor Link Railway by asking it to be included as an option for a western link to Heathrow. Over 100 Windsor and Eton companies, large and small, have now supported the letter below. If you are a company and want to add your name to the list, please email us. Chamber Letter to SoS 170412x If you are an individual and want to support WLR but [...]
Restoring Bourne End rail link is easier than HS2
Whilst the focus on the Windsor Link Railway is initially around Windsor, this is only the first part of a wider vision of transport for the region - restoring missing links to provide extra transport capacity at little cost. Re-opening the line from Maidenhead to High Wycombe (and thereby giving a direct link from Oxford to Heathrow) is part of this vision. Hat tip to Ian Smith for drawing my attention to his letter in the Buck Free Press.
A very positive business case
We’ve been keeping deliberately quite here for the last year while we focus on a business case for phase 1 (connecting Slough to Staines via Windsor) of the new railway. The initial results are complete and I thought I would share the headline results. At the beginning of last year WLR started the work to look at the engineering costs. This found that the proposed tunnel would cost around £75 million, of which £40 million would be for the cut-n-cover tunnel under Thames Avenue [...]
See us in Modern Railways
The Windsor Link Railway is featured in the latest issues of Modern Railways (£). The article focusses on solutions for a western rail link to Heathrow, one of which is the Windsor Link and the other is Wandsworth's proposal for 'Airtrack Lite' (£). These two proposals dovetail very well and are mutually supportive. The Windsor Link Railway is also pleased to see the Mayor of London supporting Wandsworth's proposals.
See us in the Windsor Observer
See us in the Windsor Observer
Work in Progress!
Last week engineering work started. This is feasibility work, looking at whether the the proposed tunnel through Windsor can be built at a reasonable cost. It is being done by one of the largest and most respected rail engineering firms in the country. Once this is complete, the next step will be to do initial demand modelling to verify that there is an adequate business case, both for private investors and for Department for Transport. Initial indications are that the engineering will be cheaper than [...]
Options for HS2
Yesterday, the high speed link to the north (HS2) and Crossrail projects were confirmed by the Chancellor. We hope to hear next week from the Secretary of State on the fate of Airtrack. A reader, however, as emailed to ask how the Windsor Link would connect to HS2 and what would be the best option for local people. This is in the context of the Secretary of State asking for a better way of connecting to Heathrow than the plans announced by the previous government. Although it should [...]
28-29 September: Rail Summit
Windsor Link presented at the end of last month at the Rail Summit. We had pride of place, speaking immediately after the Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers, and Network Rail Director, Paul Plummer. If you missed it, please get in touch for a copy of the presentation.
New Website
Welcome to our new website. If you've visited our old site you're notice that a lot more has changed than just the graphics. The content has now been updated to reflect the current focus on the project. Initially the Windsor Link Railway was conceived as a project for ulitmately connecting the Midlands to the south coast with a new strategic railway. This goal still remains for the long term but the focus for now much more strongly on delivering the first link in that [...]