Funding row means Crossrail may never be built

The long-delayed Crossrail link may never be built because of serious cash wrangles, a damning report reveals today.

The Corporation of London report lambasts consultants behind the project for failing to secure funding for the scheme. Its estimated cost has soared from £2.7 billion to £11 billion.

The Corporation - the local authority for the City - says: "There is every possibility Crossrail will fail to progress beyond the drawing board."

Crossrail would link Heathrow to Stratford and Canary Wharf via the City. It would cut travel times from the airport, and ease Tube congestion.

This month the Government appointed a troubleshooter to the project, and said it wanted a Bill before Parliament by the end of March. But trains are unlikely to run until at least 2013, missing a possible 2012 Olympics in London.

Today's report accuses Cross London Rail Links (CLRL), the private firm set up by the Government to manage the project, of wasting time tinkering with extensions to Berkshire and Kent, and promoting an expensive idea that "risks never being capable of implementation".

It said such delays had caused costs to "rocket". With the Government prepared to invest only up to ?3 billion, the Corporation suggests a simpler ?4 billion scheme between Heathrow, Canary Wharf and Shenfield in Essex, postponing extensions.

A CLRL spokesman said: "There is no such thing as a cheap alternative to Crossrail."