Paul Kehoe wants to move Birmingham Airport passenger terminals one kilometer
Paul Kehoe, of Birmingham Airport, wants to move the airport’s passenger terminals more than half a mile east to be closer to the planned HS2 interchange. The airport’s runway and airside operations would remain where they are. He said this would free up space for more passengers and flights. He plans to start a consultation about moving the terminals. HS2 Ltd considered moving the new station closer to the airport but ruled it out because of the “very significant knock-on effects” it would have to the local community. Moving the terminals would need environmental impact assessments. Plans for HS2 involve building a new Birmingham Interchange station to connect to the airport.
Birmingham Airport could move to be closer to HS2
- by Cillian OBrien, Birmingham Post
- Jun 5 2012
Birmingham Airport passenger terminals could be moved more than half a mile east to be closer to the planned HS2 interchange.
operations – such as check-in, baggage handling and security – would move closer to Birmingham International station, according to chief executive Paul Kehoe.Mr Kehoe said this would free up space for more passengers and flights.
He told a New Civil Engineer’s Airport Design and Engineering conference in London, that he wanted to embark on a consultation about moving the terminals.
“This could result in moving the airport one kilometre eastwards,” Mr Kehoe told delegates. “It may sound daft but it has to happen.”
HS2 Ltd, the Government company implementing HighSpeed Two, considered moving the new station closer to the airport but ruled it out because of the “very significant knock-on effects” it would have to the local community.
Mr Kehoe said that proposals to move the terminals closer to the station would be less contentious although environmental impact assessments would be carried out for the new station and new terminus.
“This is an opportunity we want to exploit,” added Kehoe. “We’re keen to talk to consultants about how we would plan the move.”
Plans could also include creating an Enterprise Zone around the airport and station said Kehoe.
Any development around the new station would be led by Solihull Council, not HS2 Ltd, according to an HS2 Ltd spokesman.
Plans for HS2 involve building a new Birmingham Interchange station that would connect train passengers to the airport and the National Exhibition Centre.
The airport operator has begun a £33 million runway extension project – due for completion in 2014 – to allow it to handle larger aircraft.
A £45 million pier was completed in 2009.
Map
There is DfT map of the area, showing the location of the airport, and the route of HS2 past Birmingham at
http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/hs2-maps-20120110/hs2arp00drrw05200issue1.pdf
Earlier:
Birmingham business leaders jubilant on HS2 – but rail link does not go to the airport
January 10, 2012 Birmingham believes it will benefit from the HS2 link. However, the rail link will not go to the airport, or even to the main rail station but under the plans, a new station will be built in Curzon Street, which is about a 15-minute walk from New Street Station. This is the so called interchange station which is on the other side of the M42 and will be linked to the airport and international station by a people mover of which we know little else but it could be a futuristic monorail or something similar … Birmingham Friends of the Earth want money spent on transport within the city – what is the point in a super-fast link to London if it takes an hour to reach the station, across the suburbs? Click here to view full story…
The end of the HS2 track will not be at the airport and not even at the Birmingham International station (which serves the airport via a mass transit link that was in the 70′s a maglev system but as a result of that particular version not selling elsewhere had to be taken out of service as they could not / would not service the cars with spare parts etc resulting in the link reverting to a good old single decker bus to be replaced by a an Austrian-built cable-driven system in 2003) but at the so called interchange station (map shown on last page – rough version below – north is to the left and the airport is off the map at the bottom) which is on the other side of the M42 and will be linked to the airport and international station by a people mover of which we know little else but it could be a futuristic monorail or something similar …
