Construction of the world’s largest integrated baggage system at Heathrow
- 1.2 km of tunnel
- 7,200 pieces of luggage per hour
- 700 meters per minute
When Heathrow decided to develop this pioneering centralised baggage handling system, no other airport in the world had considered before the possibility of building an underground circuit beneath operational terminals. Heathrow’s Western Interface Building (WIB), which connects T5 and T3, and Terminal 3 Integrated Baggage (T3IB) are the two main installations that give shape to the world’s largest integrated baggage system.
The WIB installation consist of 1.2 km tunnel that traverses the inner depths of the airport between T3 and T5, becoming the longest inter-terminal transfer tunnel in Europe.
Ferrovial Agroman in partnership with Heathrow and with Mott MacDonald leading the design, developed an outstanding project in terms of construction as it was executed with the airport operating normally and it was completed in record time and with exceptional safety standards, without a single incident recorded during the more than one million hours required for its construction.
The system has a capacity to simultaneously process up to 7,200 pieces of luggage per hour and is capable of moving bags at speeds up to 700 metres/minute between terminals.
Since it came into operation, this new centralized baggage handling concept based on new technologies has given great results. It has increased efficiency at Heathrow, reducing incidents of mislaid or delayed luggage. It has also resulted in better working conditions for workers in this area who now lift 12 million less pieces of luggage every year thanks to this system.
With regards to sustainability, all the materials removed during the construction phase were recycled and the system has significantly reduced the amount of baggage-handling vehicle traffic on the airport apron, replacing a total of 120,000 journeys each year and exponentially reducing the corresponding emissions.
Heathrow’s integrated baggage system is one of the many innovative projects being carried out by Ferrovial Airports to improve the passenger experience and create more intelligent, efficient, profitable and sustainable airports. This work at Heathrow has received numerous awards in the sector including the 2015 Eco-Innovation award presented by ACI Europe or the 2019 World’s Best Airport Terminal and 2019 Best Terminal in Western Europe awards presented every year by Skytrax.
