A battle is brewing over plans to build a £1 billion rail link which will link Dorset with the UK’s biggest airport.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling recently opened the floor to bids from private companies to build a £1.2 billion southern rail link from Heathrow Airport.

The scheme will give people living in Dorset direct access to Heathrow Airport through a new route could see trains from Woking head directly to Heathrow Airport from the South Western Mainline which runs between London Waterloo and Weymouth.

The concept was originally put forward by Heathrow Southern Railway Limited (HSRL), an independent venture set up to build the rail link, which expects it could be used by as many as 33,000 people per day, and remove 86 million car kilometres from Britain’s roads every year but now more companies are battling them with rival plans to build the scheme.

Hong Kong rail operator MTR, which co-owns the South Western Railway franchise with FirstGroup has also expressed interest in joining the bid to design, build, finance and operate the southern rail link.

MTR chief executive for Europe Jeremy Long confirmed to the Dorset Echo that the company had “ideas for how to extend the route” and it was “looking closely about how to do more at Heathrow to provide a direct rail link for people across the south including Dorset.

It comes at a time when South Western Railway is investing more than £1.2bn investment package to improve services on the network.

But Heathrow Southern Railway bosses say they have submitted a strong bid to the Department for Transport.

Graham Cross, HSRL Director, said: “This is a further important development in the process of constructing a privately-financed rail link to Heathrow from the south, made significantly on the same day as the launch of the new Sub-National Body ‘Transport for the South East’.

“We look forward to working with the DfT, Network Rail and other stakeholders to complete this next stage in the development of a project urgently needed to tackle congestion and improve air quality in the vicinity of Heathrow.

“HSRL’s scheme for southern rail access to Heathrow is well developed, and the work carried out by AECOM and the rest of our expert team confirms it is a viable, deliverable and affordable proposal for growing the proportion of passengers accessing the airport by train.”

At the same time, the Department for Transport will share a report outlining the risks of the development process for a Southern Rail Link to Heathrow (SRLtH).

As previously reported, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said earlier this year that he is now “committed” to bringing forward the proposed Southern Rail Link.

Commenting on the bids, Mr Grayling, said: “Governments do not have a monopoly on good ideas for the railways.

“’I have been clear that I want the knowledge and expertise of investors and local partners to contribute to delivering new connections, more services and better journeys for passengers.”

South Dorset MP Richard Drax welcomed the news and stressed that improving rail links to Weymouth was vital to creating wealth and prosperity.

He added: “Better connectivity for South Dorset is welcomed particularly from Heathrow as the implications for business and tourism would be extremely good.”