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Overview

Crossrail 2 is a proposed new railway serving London and the wider South East. It would connect the National Rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire via new tunnels and stations between Wimbledon, Tottenham Hale and New Southgate linking in with London Underground, London Overground, Crossrail 1, National Rail, High Speed 1, High Speed 2, London Trams and international rail services.

Crossrail 2 will bring huge benefits. It will ensure that London can grow and remain globally competitive, driving growth across the national economy. It will do this by providing new homes and jobs across the region, and by improving the quality of life. It will make it easier to travel around, and encourage people to make greener journeys.

Why do we need Crossrail 2?

London and the wider South East are growing rapidly. In London alone there are now a record 8.6 million people; this will increase to 10 million by 2030. These extra people will mean five million more journeys each day on the transport network. Overcrowding on the Tube is forecast to double by 2041, and National Rail services will face similar challenges.

Transport improvements already underway across the network including Crossrail 1, which will help offset the pressure in the short term. But we need a plan to cope with longer term growth. Crossrail 2 will give our transport network the extra capacity we need to keep the wider South East working and growing, and to make life here better.

What are the benefits of Crossrail 2?

Crossrail 2 would:

* Transform travel across London and the wider South East, providing direct train services to destinations across the region

* Grow the UK economy, support 60,000 full-time jobs across the UK while Crossrail 2 is being built and, when operational, support 200,000 new jobs

* Provide new capacity for up to 270,000 more people travelling into London in peak periods, helping relieve crowding and congestion on the transport network

* Free up space on National Rail lines, allowing towns and cities like Cambridge, Southampton, Basingstoke, Woking, Guildford and Portsmouth to potentially benefit from more frequent services

* Provide step-free access at all stations on the proposed Crossrail 2 route

* Support regeneration and the development of around 200,000 new homes across the region

Err ... no views expressed here?   Anyone??

Yes, it is probably needed but the questions is how do you stop it making London even more attractive to some pepole and hense filling up the capacity again? I think London is very much big enough and it should be prevented from growing further if possible, with other cities being encouraged to grow in importance to ease the traffic burden on London.

Do the 'Crossrails' come out of a national financing pot anyway?  Isn't the big thing that London business rates and council tax pay the majority?   That's usually how they get spun anyway...

Paul

A very small part of Crossrail was developer funded.  I think some came from supplementary business rate (can anyone provide more information). However, I think most came from a national pot. 

The funding framework for Crossrail was put in place in October 2007 when the Prime Minister announced that Crossrail^s cost will be met by Government, the Mayor of London and London businesses.

Following the Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010, a funding envelope of ^14.8bn was agreed to deliver the Crossrail scheme in its entirety.

The key elements of the funding package are as follows:

The Mayor of London, through Transport for London (TfL) and the Greater London Authority (GLA), will contribute ^7.1bn. This includes a direct contribution from Transport for London of ^1.9bn and contributions raised through the Crossrail Business Rate Supplement (BRS), section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Crossrail farepayers will contribute towards the debt raised during construction by TfL.

Government will contribute by means of a grant from the Department for Transport of ^4.7 billion during Crossrail's construction.

London businesses will contribute ^4.1bn through a variety of mechanisms, including the BRS.

Over 60% of Crossrail^s funding will come from  Londoners and London businesses.

Network Rail will undertake works costing no more than ^2.3bn to the existing national rail network raised through projected operating surpluses from the use of Crossrail services.

There are also considerable additional financial contributions from some key beneficiaries of Crossrail:

    The construction of Crossrail is part funded by the City of London Corporation, which has agreed to make a direct contribution of ^200m and in addition will seek contributions from businesses of ^150m, and has guaranteed ^50m of these contributions.
    Heathrow Airport Holdings Ltd has agreed to a ^70 million funding package.
    Canary Wharf Group has agreed to contribute ^150m towards the costs of the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station at Canary Wharf.  Canary Wharf Group will also design and build the new station.
    Berkeley Homes has agreed to construct a station box for a station at Woolwich.

The ^14.8 billion funding envelope for the project is a fully inclusive cost, allowing for both contingency and expected inflation.

We all benefit from a strong London.

London is one of the most important cities on the planet and the main driver for the UK economy, you can't and shouldn't prevent a city from growing, it's a healthy sign but the infrastructure needs to keep up.

Cities like Bristol have been extremely successful in reinventing themselves and are now booming - it's for others to follow their example and catch up, not the leader to slow down. We all benefit from a strong London.

Err ... no views expressed here?   Anyone??

Cancelling Crossrail 2 will ‘cripple’ Northern line, DfT warned

London Underground’s Northern line will “simply cripple” due to “chronic overcrowding” if Crossrail 2 is not built, London Assembly Transport Committee deputy chair Caroline Pidgeon has warned.

Responding to government commitments to rebalance infrastructure investment in the Midlands and the North, Pidgeon warned of the implications of scrapping the proposed line connecting north and south London.

She said: “Without Crossrail 2 many Tube stations, especially on the Northern line, will simply cripple over due to chronic overcrowding.  These stations will have no choice but to resort to regular temporary closures and other measures such as the introduction of one-way systems.

“Without Crossrail 2 overcrowding on trains will also become even more severe for thousands of commuters every day.”

She added: “Despite my enthusiasm for Crossrail 2 we can’t hide away from the fact that this new Government has in so many ways set itself against London. Moreover even before the General Election there were clear indicators that its enthusiasm for Crossrail 2 was waning.

“The failure of [former transport secretary] Chris Grayling in particular to champion the project has been clear for a number of years.