Third Heathrow Runway to Put $23Bln Burden on London Transport

The proposal to build a third runway at Heathrow airport would give rise to an almost 16-billion-pound ($23 billion) burden on the Transport for London (TfL) system if implemented as road and railway links to the airport would need to be upgraded, local media reported Monday with reference to TfL documents.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to The Telegraph newspaper, Heathrow had significantly underestimated the total construction costs of the additional runway when it had calculated the figure of 2.2 billion pounds.

According to TfL documents obtained by Greenpeace, the third runway would require the development of highway and rail systems to service the airport at an estimated cost of 18.4 billion pounds.

TfL says that the expansion of Heathrow could also severely worsen the ecological situation in the London region.

The proposed third runway has sparked repeated protests from local residents and environmental organizations.