
April 12th 11, 07:47 PM
posted to uk.railway,uk.transport.london
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2009
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Airtrack shelved
On 12/04/2011 08:19, Paul Weaver wrote:
On Apr 12, 7:16 am, wrote:
On Apr 12, 12:53 am, wrote:
wrote:
How about the PRT at T5, has that also been shelved? I wonder,
considering that it is almost two years delayed.
Airtrack, like the PRT, was probably no more than a ruse to get
planning permission for some major development work at Heathrow.
The PRT was going to revolutionise journeys to and from the Central
Area - the T5 installation was just a trial. But BAA got planning
permission for the redevelopment of the Central Area, so the PRT trial
seems to have worked for BAA, even if it has never carried any of
Terminal 5's Business Car Park users.
Airtrack was probably intended to help BAA gain planning permission
for the third runway and associated works. Now the coalition
government has made it crystal clear that the third runway project is
dead and buried, there's no point in Airtrack.
Of course there will be myriad other excuses why Airtrack could not go
ahead, but I believe that the coalition government's refusal of the
third runway is the primary cause of the cancellation. The recent
confirmation of the ruling that BAA must sell Stansted is another
possible factor in the decision to curtail investment.
I saw the PRT running last Thursday - at least 10 cars on the move
(empty)
Certainly running trials in Januray:
http://www.ultraprt.com/news/86/149/...vehicle-trips/
If it does open, it will be a personal incentive to use the business
parking rather than longstay.
IIRC, they plan to have staff on site for the first few weeks to keep
the gawkers away.
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