Stansted accused of lack of rail funding to profit from car parking
01.07.08
The main campaign group fighting against the expansion of Stansted has accused the airport of deliberately under funding rail links to the airport in order to profit from car parking. Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE) says it believes there is a close link between BAA's reluctance to pay for rail improvements and the profit the company earns car parking.
BAA earned £164m from airport car parking last year and SSE estimates that Stansted accounted for about £40m of this. With over 27000 short term and long term parking spaces, more than the world's biggest airport in Chicago which has three times as many passengers, it is still one of the most expensive airports to park at in the UK.
The proportion of Stansted passengers travelling to the airport by train has declined from 29% in 2004 to 24%. SSE argues that this reflects BAA's reluctance to support investment in rail infrastructure over the years.
BAA says that a second airport rail tunnel and a fourth platform for the airport station will not be needed for another 10 years and, even then, only if a second runway is built. But SSE's says that these improvements, as well as major track improvements on the West Anglia Main Line between Cambridge and London, are long overdue.
John Rhodes, SSE’s rail adviser, said: ‘The Department for Transport should insist that BAA puts its hand in its pocket to fund urgently needed track improvements. We need rail services that can comfortably meet the needs of both airport users and local commuters. We don't need massive new airport roads designed to keep car parking revenues flowing into BAA's coffers.’
A BAA spokesperson responded: ‘Some 44% of Stansted passengers currently use public transport for their journey, which is the leading figure for a major UK airport and one of the highest in Europe.'
‘This is a fact that we are extremely proud of and as part of the planned surface access strategy for the G2 [second runway] project we aim to improve on this excellent achievement, which will firmly secure Stansted's position as the best performing major airport in the UK.’
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