OAG Travel News

BAA has started work on the £260 million baggage tunnel which will connect the baggage systems at Terminals 3 and 5.

A £3.3m tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Beatrice, has started boring the 1.8km tunnel at a rate of 15m per day. BAA says that once completed the 5.6m-wide tunnel will be able to transport baggage at a rate of 800m per minute, and will enable the airport to handle 110 million bags annually by 2012.

The airport operator says that the tunnel is part of a £900 million baggage improvement plan, with work underway to replace the baggage system at Terminal 3, along with the refurbishment of the existing system at Terminals 1 and 4. A new system is also due to be installed at Terminal 5C when it opens in 2011.

For more information visit baa.com.

Source: businesstraveller.com Report by Mark Caswell