"So a rail link to satisfy the HAL ego, when they provide excess space for car parks which provide income for HAL."
It was also backed by GWR and the local councils - more folk on trains less cars and buses on the M4 towards Reading
If anyone had any sense they could have preserved a west turn chord where the Heathrow Express meets the GWR main line but did they? Of course not ... then they sold the land for building...................................