City unveils rail-link plan

The City today demanded the go-ahead for the £3 billion CrossRail project as it unveiled a report backing its version of the proposed eastwest rail link.

The viability study, by engineering consultants Halcrow, backs the Corporation of London's plans for a link from Heathrow to Stratford.

It rules out an alternative route through Canary Wharf to the socially deprived Thames Gateway area - backed by Ken Livingstone and the Canary Wharf Group - as too expensive and lengthy.

Halcrow is proposing an amended version of the Corporation's plan with a "gateway" created in the line out of Liverpool Street to allow future links to Canary Wharf.

With funding for the long-delayed project still unclear, the Corporation of London seized on the findings of a report it commissioned as evidence that having two rival options is confusing the issue and putting the entire project at risk. It is concerned that if the Government senses London is divided over the scheme, it would give ministers the excuse to withdraw support from what was a Government election manifesto pledge.

It is widely perceived that the scheme must be in place at the beginning of the next decade to cope with a 15 per cent rise in rushhour passengers forecast over the next 20 years.

A spokesman for the Corporation, the City's local authority, said: "This is the most feasible and costeffective proposal but it needs unified support to get Government support and private sector backing.

"This project is too important for it to be derailed by further delay or problems,."

The Government has put forward £150 million for preliminary studies for a CrossRail-style project.

More than a decade has passed since the basic principle was proposed of a twin-bore tunnel linking Paddington and Liverpool Street to alleviate congestion on the Tube.

Both sides agree on the basic proposals for five key central stations to be built at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street.

Some 24 trains an hour could run in each direction, which would add 15 per cent more seats to existing rail arrivals in central London, with at least four trains running to and from Heathrow.

Where they disagree is the routing of the line after Liverpool Street.

The Corporation wants the line to continue on to Stratford to alleviate overcrowding on the Central line between Holborn and Stratford and to link with the Channel Tunnel

Rail Link which should be completed by 2007.

The Corporation envisages commuters coming in from Essex being able to bypass congested Liverpool Street on their journeys to the City and West End.

Mr Livingstone and the Canary Wharf Group want the line after Liverpool Street to link to the Thames Gateway area - which is central to the Mayor's vision for changing the focus of investment from west to east.

Halcrow's report says the City's "Classic CrossRail" option has the advantages of a "relatively low construction over-run risk" and could be completed within 101/2 years.

The alternative, it says, "almost doubles the length of tunnel compared to Classic CrossRail and costs at least £2.3 billion more".

The planned upgrades of the Jubilee Line Extension and the Docklands Light Railway will be capable of meeting the demands from an estimated 100,000 jobs at Canary Wharf in the meantime.

The report is the latest blow traded in an increasingly acrimonious power struggle between Canary Wharf and the Square Mile, which has long backed CrossRail and is anxious to preserve its status as the capital's business zone.

In contrast the Mayor envisages the City and Docklands as a single business zone connected to Heathrow at one end, and improved links to Gatwick and Stansted at the other.

Who will run the scheme is still unknown. It will carry an estimated 150 million passengers a year. The next stage arrives in January when Transport Minister John Spellar reviews the proposals being prepared by the Mayor's Transport for London body and the Strategic Rail Authority.