4:36pm Monday 3rd December 2007
By Guardian Reporter
Channel Tunnel planners have drawn up a blueprint for a fast rail line connecting Heathrow and Paris.
Arup, the engineering firm responsible for planning the Channel Tunnel link to Stratford, is expected to release the Heathrow-Paris proposal at the launch of a history of the existing rail link.
The Right Line, a history of the high-speed rail link is being launched tonight at a parliamentary reception.
According to media reports, the Arup plan would see the Eurostar line, which terminates at St Pancras, extended to a new Heathrow station via Paddington.
From the airport, it would head back towards Marylebone then on to Birmingham and Scotland.
Travel time from Heathrow to Paris would be under two-and-a-half hours, reducing the need for a controversial third runway at the airport.
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