Stansted Expansion

[furtive]

Murph7355 said:

Doesn't it already have fast links to The City (LivSt)?

It has commuter train services that are jam packed at peak periods, not a dedicated fast non-stop service like the Heathrow Express, on congested double tracks with no room to expand onto 4 rails like they did out to Heathrow.

[Cheib]

CDP said:

bad company said:

Seight_Returns said:

I have some relatives who live near Stansted who were very involved in the anti-expansion lobby thew last time a 2nd runway was proposed - unashamebly from a NIMBY perspective.

There was a widely beleived rumour amongst the NIMBY's that when Stanstead was re-deveoploed from an abandoned milirary facility into a commercial airport, it was developed to a much larger scale than is currently used including the construction of a second runway and associated taxiways/aprons etc - much of which was immediatly grassed over and never used but with a view to being able to expand the capacity "just" by clearing the turfed over concrete.

Seems a bit far fetched to me, but wondered if there's any truth to it.

I have never heard that one before. I just hope that the NIMBYS do not win.

It would easily be seen on aerial photographs if true.

I heard that story literally twenty years ago...urban myth.

Stanstead was a commercial airport of no scale in the 70's and early 80's and was developed in it's current state I think in the late 80's early 90's. I was told that story by someone who claimed to have worked on the airport at that time....load of balls I reckon. It was first developed as a commerical aiport in the 60's I think. It used to have a very long runway in those days as I remember when I was a kid the Space Shuttle landed their on it's 747 piggy back...I believe the length of the runway dated back to it's military days.

I think Stansted expansion is nailed on as it was before it was finally given the go ahead in the 80's.

The M11 was the three lane motorway that went nowhere when it was built in the 70's and miraculosuly turned into a dual carriageway when it travelled north of that metropolis that is Bishop's Stortford. Clearly the need for the three lane motorway was predicated on Stansted being developed which wasn't given the green light for another ten years.

[StevieBee]

I used to work for a company that did a lot of marketing work Stansted around the time it expanded in the early 90s.

There is no hidden runway under grass but all the utilities (drainage, wiring conduits, etc) are there in anticipation of future need.