Channel Tunnel planners have drawn up a blueprint for a fast rail line connecting Heathrow and Paris.

Arup, the engineering firm responsible for planning the Channel Tunnel link to Stratford, is expected to release the Heathrow-Paris proposal at the launch of a history of the existing rail link.

The Right Line, a history of the high-speed rail link is being launched tonight at a parliamentary reception.

According to media reports, the Arup plan would see the Eurostar line, which terminates at St Pancras, extended to a new Heathrow station via Paddington.

From the airport, it would head back towards Marylebone then on to Birmingham and Scotland.

Travel time from Heathrow to Paris would be under two-and-a-half hours, reducing the need for a controversial third runway at the airport.