Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of a dedicated rail link between Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

The Department continuously reviews the operation of the network and this includes access to airports. As part of the rail Market Led Proposals ‘Call for Ideas’ we received a range of proposals, including ideas relating to airport access. Proposals, which were commercially confidential, were assessed in terms of the Call for Ideas criteria that they should not need financial support from Government and promoters have been given feedback directly on their submissions.