rail link
How far off of the ' Javelin Train ' routes is Mamston anyway, I know they can run on classic lines being the basically same train well 90% as an IEP (as told to me by A train driver in the know ) who had actually had the chance at driving both the Javelin and it's twin the IEP, plus the Scottish 385, anyway I raise that as that is a fast reliable train service that then runs into the HS1 into central London .
So first off how far is it to a ' Southern rail ' operated station from the Airport?, Is it like DSA, where it's not to distant to the ECML and thus the possibility of a rail link and freight , so could this idea work for manston ?.not being familiar with the area , and only visited the airport once , that was August 91 our Britannia 737 had a low fuel emergency and the pilot had to land at manston , after s long wait we continued onto LBA but back then it looked very quiet and you could see grass growing through the concrete taxiway and Apron.
So after not being in use for how many years now,? How viable is it as I'm sure they'd have to sort out a major refurb for pax flights .
As people have said it might attract KLM and Ryanair, but it's not much good without a decent rail link .
I could see it getting Loganair , but then with Southend having a fantastic rail link , plus the new faster trains coming onstream, if the idea of Manston is to alleviate pressure from Gatwick and maybe Heathrow , it seems it's going to need miracle .
Southend got lucky as they got easyJet , hence the very rapid growth and extra terminal.
Surely though there are old RAF or current RAF like Northolt , why is that not being looked at , and again with a direct rail spur off the new ' Crossrail or GWR ' to it , they could do away with that third runway at Heathrow, if the site was developed and Runwsy extended , new taxiways , Terminal etc .
Perhaps domestic flights could be moved there , freeing valuable slots . It just seems crazy to open manston stuck so far out .
When you have Southend as an alternative and noone can argue that it's not doing well.
But the third runway is going to add to conjestion still in terms of stacking aircraft for LHR . Hence my question about the viability of a redeveloped Northolt Vs this Manston idea .