Heathrow to begin construction of baggage tunnel

Work on a multi-million pound baggage tunnel is due to begin at Heathrow, expected to significantly reduce lost luggage and flight delays.

The tunnel will connect terminals three and five and, at the cost of £260 million, will handle 110 million bags a year by 2012.

When built, the tunnel will be 1.8km long, making it the largest integrated baggage system in the world. It is due to be completed in July.

Project director of BAA's Baggage and Flight Connections, Dr Chris Millard, said: "This is a highly complex and challenging tunnelling operation that requires absolute precision."

The arrival of terminal five in March 2008 highlighted some of the problems Heathrow airport had to overcome after thousands of bags were misplaced, resulting in extensive disruptions and over 500 cancelled flights.

The new system is a part of the £4 billion facelift for Heathrow airport to be realised over the next five years.