During 2007, the AirTrack Forum commissioned consultants SDG to undertake a detailed study in to the Wider Economic Benefits of the AirTrack proposal (the WEB study). The objective was to assess benefits which may not have been captured by previous studies, in line with guidance from the Department for Transport current at the time.

This project was made possible by generous financial contributions from the then SE England Regional Assembly on behalf the SE Regional Transport Board and from the SE England Development Agency.

The study was based on data from work previously undertaken by Atkins for the AirTrack Forum - the "Outline Business Case", published in 2004, as this was more readily available than that subsequently developed by Arup for a later study undertaken on behalf of the (now defunct) Strategic Rail Authority. The Atkins data resulted in a lower level of benefits than that resulting from the Arup work and, as a result, the associated Wider Economic Benefits calculated by SDG may also be under-reported. (see Reports and Publications, What is AirTrack and About Us for further information on these previous studies).

The initial WEB study results, announced at the Forum's 2007 Annual Meeting, indicated that the Benefit:Cost Ratio for the project would improve by around 30% if the additional benefits assessed by the study were included.   It also found the potential for further additional contribution arising from improved access to Heathrow; a potential for additional employment generation in the immediate local area to the second station in Staines, which at the time formed part of the scheme (see Infrastructure Requirements), and increased productivity throughout the AirTrack corridor.