Spelthorne Councillors seek to choose Airtrack electrification
voltage. It reminds me of the days when London had conduit trams
because overhead wires were considered unsightly - but then at least
they owned the streets and the trams - unlike Spelthorne. This is
surely a technical rather than a political question. Note also Mr
Livingstone's response.

http://www.epsomguardian.co.uk/news/...r_airtrack.php

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Concerns over Airtrack
By Chris Caulfield
There will be no overhead power cables on the Staines and Stanwell
moors, the council has vowed.
Preliminary Airtrack plans - designed to provide new rail access to
Heathrow from the south and west - were discussed at the meeting of
Spelthorne Council's executive committee on Tuesday.
It voted to strongly oppose overhead electrification on environmental
grounds.
Instead, the council will insist the entrance of Terminal 5 will be
where the shift from overhead to in-track power will come.
Airtrack could run across Spelthorne land worth as much as £15million.
Council leader John Packman said: "This is an extremely complex
consultation on a very large scheme which would increase the
proportion of air travellers, staff and visitors using public
transport to get to and from the airport.
"The council has taken some considerable time to provide a detailed
assessment of these proposals.
"It is too early to give an overall view about Airtrack as a whole and
we will not do that until we have seen the proposals in full, but our
comments thus far reflect the many issues and concerns that a project
of this size raises."
The consultation covered track alignment options, station locations
and engineering issues at key Spelthorne sites.
The executive also considered the impact on Staines town centre.
It voted to support track alignment that minimised the loss of common
and SSSI land.
The council rejected BAA's station placement options and instead
proposed more visible locations.
Quizzed in the yourlocalguardian newsroom earlier this week, London
Mayor Ken Livingstone said Airtrack sounded "a lovely idea" but he had
not received any formal presentation of the plans.
He said before he could give it his support, he would need to see the
full financial details and also the impact on nearby residents.
"It's one of the those schemes that have been around forever," Mr
Livingstone said.
"In principle it sounds a lovely idea.
"(But) I have yet to have any proposals from anyone.
"I'm not sure they've got the money for it.
"And you'd need to know the impacts on the area it goes through."
unquote