The Crossrail delivery, which is the east-west underground rail link proposed to improve the transport connections for the London Heathrow Airport, has made a big leap forward with the agreed investment of £230 million from the British Airports Authority to the project’s total £15.9 billion cost. In return for the investment, Crossrail has been promised to provided a minimum of 4 fast trains per hour for a majority of the day to connect the London Heathrow Airport with the City and beyond.

This deal will see that the United Kingdom airport operator of 7 airports, which is Spanish-controlled, becomes the first private business that agrees to a major investment in the project to link Heathrow and Maidenhead to Abbey Wood and Shenfield via a series of tunnels under London.

The funding from the British Airports Authority is a major boost for the £16 billion project due to the project depending on the private-sector for money on top of funding from the Department for Transport and Transport for London, which are the main backers of the Crossrail. While £5.1 billion is coming from taxpayers through the Department for Transport, as well as another £7.7 billion from Transport for London, a majority of the rest depends on funding from the private sector.

Mike Forster, the Strategy Director for the British Airports Authority, said that this new link is vital and will directly connect Canary Wharf and the City to the airport, complementing the existing Heathrow Express and taking thousands of vehicles off of the road.

Get more information about the British Airports Authority at: www.baa.com