just a thought
The Mayor of London insists on building the Thames Estuary Airport as a future solution for London. How much would it cost? Some 11 billion pounds. Now, how long does it take to travel from London St. Pancras to Ashford on board of Eurostar train nowadays? Just 30 minutes. What if they decided to build a rail junction from, say, Charing to Chilham and to upgrade the present Chilham - Canterbury - Minster track extending it to the KIA terminal instead? If such a link were constructed, the fast-train travel from the centre of London to Manston would take less than 40 minutes. How much cheaper would it be if compared to the construction costs of a completely new airport?
Many say KIA is too distant to be considered as an alternative for London. Well, everything is relative, the distances too.