"Roland Perry" wrote in message

In message , at 11:23:29 on
Sun, 9 Oct 2011, Recliner remarked:
How exactly does a rail link between LHR and LGW increase *air*
capacity? The problem at Heathrow is said to be that the runways
are 98% fully used. Gatwick is already the world's busiest
single-runway airport. So how is this capacity increase achieved?

Indeed, this link only makes sense if Gatwick gets its second runway.
Equally, it would greatly strengthen the business case for that
second runway. It's not allowed until after 2019, but of course,
even if they started planning for it today, it wouldn't open this
side of 2020.

As far as I can see, 2019 is the earliest they can start building.
Otherwise the point holds, and they'd need to rely on bigger planes to
increase the passenger throughput - which Gatwick is already
expecting.
Of course, they aren't exactly breaking ground on this airport link in
the foreseeable future, and it would probably take 8-10 years to
complete.

Yes, both the link and the airport expansion would have to be planned
together.

For example, would the new LGW runway be to the south or north of the
existing runway? Would a new terminal be needed (I assume so)? Would
the link carry both land-side and in-transit pax (in separate, secure
compartments)? If the latter, its stations would have to be closely
integrated into the terminals, with separate, segregated areas for both
types of pax. I wouldn't expect it to open until well after 2020, even
if the plans were well advanced already.