Heathrow expansion critics unveil rail plans

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Campaigners against the expansion of Heathrow unveiled a 1.5 billion-pound plan on Thursday to improve the airport's rail links to ease traffic congestion and cut the number of short-haul flights.

The 2M Group, a coalition of local authorities supported by London Mayor Boris Johnson, said its scheme would connect the world's busiest international airport with 150 stations within a 25-mile radius.

The campaign group says their "compass point" network would encourage people to take the train to the airport rather than drive, cutting car journeys by one million each year.

Better rail links between Heathrow and the rest of Britain would also lead to a big fall in the number of domestic flights, according to engineer Colin Elliff, who devised the plan for 2M.

"There are no links to the south, no links to the north -- Heathrow is locked in a bubble of congestion" he told Reuters in an interview. "People can only think of aviation solutions to aviation problems. A world without short-haul aviation is perfectly imaginable because people don't need to fly, they need to travel."

Earlier this month, the government approved a third runway and another terminal at the congested airport in an expansion welcomed by business groups and condemned by environmentalists.

The new runway will take about 10 years to build, expand traffic to 600,000 flights a year from 480,000 and create new flightpaths across London.

Ministers and business leaders say the expansion is crucial to Britain's economy, but opponents warn that it will cause more pollution, noise and greenhouse gas emissions.